Wheel Well Cleanup and Mud Guard Removal - SG APC Ate My Paint?

[jfdelacruz]

Hi Guys,



Yesterday I decided to remove my front wheel`s mud guards and thought to clean up the whole wheel well and brake caliper while the wheel was off. I used Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner (Concentrated) straight from the bottle without diluting but I washed the whole area as much as I could with a pressure washer before I sprayed SG APC. After spraying SG APC, I used a parts brush to meticulously clean every nook and cranny and occasionally blasted the area with water to avoid SG APC from drying up. I did this about 3x for each front wheel until I was satisfied of the cleanliness of the area and made sure to waste as much water as possible to flush SG APC out of the wheel well (you never know if there`s a spot you missed).



However, today when I went to clean the car (it`s been raining for a week now) I noticed this on the wheel well of the driver`s side. I didn`t notice any of this yesterday as it was a bit dark (I clean at night because it`s so friggin hot here) but it looks like the paint had been eaten away. I cant find anything like this on other parts of the car nor on the passenger side wheel well. This "blemish" is only on this spot. Not even the adjacent sides have this blemish.http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i7/jfdelacruz/DSC_00381-1.jpg



This is a relatively new car (2 years old) and very well cared for in an Autopian standard and is garage kept at home and at work. As for reference, this is the SG APC I used -> http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i7/jfdelacruz/DSC_00391.jpg



The car is still under warranty and I`m not really sure what caused this. I don`t even know if SG APC is to blame. But is there anyway I can fix this without repainting the whole panel?

[Accumulator]

jfdelacruz- Welcome to Autopia!



While I wouldn`t use that product on one of my vehicles, I somehow doubt that it caused the problem, though it might have made an existing problem more obvious.



The area in question looks to me like the paint was somehow rubbed through, compromsing the clearcoat and maybe the colorcoat too.



I`d inspect it under good lighting using magnification and try to see what`s truly going on.



Depending on the car, I`d think about doing a touchup and just living with it. I mean...how much does it bug you? IMO >99% of the fender is fine, so repainting the whole thing over that is opening a big can of worms and things don`t always go smoothly. Are you willing to spend, say a thousand bucks on it if it comes to that? And then live with a whole fender that might not match the rest of the car?

[jfdelacruz]

Thanks for the welcome! I`ve been here for quite awhile just being a lurker and all. I believe that`s the same thing that happened as well. It may just have been something I went through while driving (it has been raining a lot) which may have contained acid or something (still doesn`t explain why it`s just at that spot).



I`ll try polishing it off and see if it comes off, wouldn`t hurt anyway if it`s already burned.



Cheers!

[Accumulator]

..I`ll try polishing it off and see if it comes off, wouldn`t hurt anyway if it`s already burned.



If there`s any chance that it might just be some kind of contamination stuck to the paint (back to that rigorous inspection advice ;) ) you might try claying it first.

[tom p.]

Agreed. That really does look like abrasion.



I, too, would never use Simple Green on a car I cared about.

[jmsc]

2-yr old car. Are you the only owner of this car? Bought new or used?