Rust

[YuiEdie]

I have tons of little rust blooms all over the top and rear parts of the car. really tiny specs. anyways, i was just wondering if these tiny things could turn into full blown rust like how you see on really badly kept old cars where there is holes being eaten away by rust? I just had the car clayed a few weeks back but where i live there is tons of road grime, dust and other crap being blown around in the wind so my car gets covered by all that every day. car is only 6 months old so i`m just afraid of having it rusting so soon. so far, even with paint chips and such, there is no visible rust, only the rust blooms. any advice is appreciated.

[Tasty]

Do you mean this car is six months old to YOU, or six months old PERIOD? Big difference. If it is just six months old to YOU and has rust spots developing that are that widespread, then sorry to inform you that it`s only a matter of time now. Rust removal (if possible) and repaint is the only hope. If the car is just six months old PERIOD, then go back to the dealer that sold you the car. Most carmakers have in their warranty some kind of rust warranty for a certain amount of time, and 6 months is nowhere near what it should be.

[White95Max]

Those tiny specks are probably from rail dust (brake dust from the train which shipped your car to the dealership) and will get bigger as time goes on. Get a clay bar and use that to remove the specks from the entire car. If you HAD it clayed (as in somebody else did it) they may have done a half-*** job with the clay. Get some clay and do it yourself until all of the specks are gone.

[YuiEdie]

I bought the car new so it is only six months old period. I did see the brown specks after i brought the car home so yeah some of it is probably rail dust, but these things seem to come back after claying it off. and unfortunately some of them appear in the hard to reach places with a clay bar, right in between the trim and the paint. the detailer i took it to did a good job, but as i mentioned, the car gets bombarded with crap daily so really, not their fault. anyways, my guess is i should just wax and clay car often so it is protected and easy to take all the stuff off. thanks.

[ptim]

I have a 2004 Oxford White Mustang, I have been taken care of since I bought it (new). I have noticed in the last month that I am getting rust blooms also, I have clayed them and have removed them, but they have come back. I can rub them out using a light abrasive type of wax. :buffing:

[White95Max]

I would recommend you clay it once a year or more. More specks of rust will show up, especially near the wheels and on horizontal surfaces.

[ptim]

Does the rust come from the paint itself or is it coming through the paint from the metal, because my deck lid and hood is fiberglass.

[Tasty]

If it is rail dust, which I am not very familiar with, why would it continue to return time and again after claying etc.? This doesn`t make much sense to me. Is it embedded in the paint? I have never known anyone with "rail dust" issues before.

[Accumulator]

Clay doesn`t always get *all* the ferrous contamination out of the paint. Any that`s left embedded in there will cause recurrence of the rust blooms.



A (more likely to be) permanent solution than clay is a "decontamination system" such as AutoInt`s "ABC" or the one from FinishKare. I too battled recurring rust blooms, using clay and paint cleaners/polishes, but the only way I really *solved* the problem was with decontamination.



These systems have three parts- the first is alkaline for thorough cleaning and to neutralize deposits from acid rain, the second is acidic to "burn out" the ferrous contamination that causes rust blooms (don`t worry, it`s pretty mild stuff, but I do wear gloves and keep it off the glass), and the third is a ph-neutral final wash.



Note that if you wait *too* long, nothing will offer a permanent solution- the corrosion becomes too deeply established. So get a decontamination system ASAP and hope for the best. I also clay while the "acidic" step is dwelling on the surface.

[imported_themightytimmah]

Nuke `em! :). Clay only hits the head of the bloom, whereas a good decon kit will burn it right out, as Accumulator said. Both AutoInt and Finish Kare USA sell kits, I`d reccomend the FK1 kit because you can get it in half gallons. I think its about 50 or 60 bucks for the small kit, and compared to a repaint, it`s money well spent. If you clay monthly, and use the kit once in a long while (once claying stops working), you`ll get MUCH longer out of the paintjob.

[Tasty]

This thread continues to baffle me. Does the rail dust from the train hit the paint so hard that it embeds itself that deeply and can eventually ruin a paint job? If so, why don`t they find a better way to transport the cars? Cover them better, something!

[White95Max]

Most people never see the tiny rust specks, and even the ones that do probably don`t care. There`s no reason for the manufacturers to spend money on a better mode of transportation.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, most people don`t notice or care. And it`s sorta funny now the ferrous contamination really *does* seem to get everywhere; even when the cars are well protected it can still show up. And in the winter you can get similar effects from particles off snowplow blades. Plus, some people claim you can get it from iron dust off brake rotors.



These days some Porsche/Audi models are being shipped in "bags"- they`re pretty well covered, but you still have to be able to drive them on/off the trucks. If you care about ferrous contamination, it pays to just do the decontamination.

[YuiEdie]

damn, so a decon kit is what i need. just curious, does this only happen to white colored cars or is it just easier to see on them? also, how much worse can the specks get if they are left as they are? just curious, if i miss a spot i don`t want to end up with a big rusty hole on the paint haha.

[White95Max]

It happens on all cars, regardless of color. It`s pretty easy to see the rusty brown color contrasting with the white paint.



If you miss a few spots, they will worsen over time, but it won`t go from pencil-tip size to quarter size in a weekend.