Tiny rust spots on a new Mazda3

[zingyginger]

I bought a sunlight silver 07 Mazda3 6 weeks ago, had it clayed and sealed the same week I picked it up. It`s a daily driver parked outdoors at night. I don`t know if it`s rail dust or fallout, but while washing I noticed a a few rust spots (pinpoint dots). I used sonus green to clay out most then cleaned some more with KAIO (took me over an hour) but a few are a little stubborn and I don`t want to risk marring using sonus gray.



So I sealed them off with KAIO/AJT for now but I`m trying to decide between these options:



- repeated spot claying (risk marring)

- cleaner wax (saw a thread on someone who used one of megs on rust spots)

- paint decontaminant (based on the threads, ABC sounds more effective & smells better but how often can it be used without risk to the car/glass/me?).



Any advice would be welcome - just keep in mind I`m a newbie and am working on the car in the street with no hose & no electrical outlet, just buckets and supplies.

[mikelea4ever]

Where are the rust spots in your car? Isnt that suppose to be covered by your local dealer? I would bring it in their attention that you`ve found some rusting so that they would fix it. Other than that yah I would try some paint cleaner to see if it will get removed.

[zingyginger]

It`s on the top and the hood of the hatchback. I`ll try to see what the dealer says. I am wondering if it`s fallout and something I`d have to deal with on a regular basis as my other car also developed it after I moved from Texas to San Francisco.

[mikelea4ever]

yah I would check with them. Any rust occurence in a brand new car should be cover by them!

[qballjr13]

It`s on the top and the hood of the hatchback. I`ll try to see what the dealer says. I am wondering if it`s fallout and something I`d have to deal with on a regular basis as my other car also developed it after I moved from Texas to San Francisco.

I had the same issue on my white Toyota 4-Runner and I pretty much tell you the dealer will explain that it is "environmental fallout". I got mine off pretty easy with clay but maybe your are embedded more. You may have to use a more aggresive clay to get them out.

[zingyginger]

qballjr13,

After you removed them, they didn`t return? What`s the next step up in abrasiveness to Sonus green? Sonus gray was pretty abrasive on my fifteen year old Corolla.

[grimmster]

Sounds like fallout to me. I get that here in the midwest even. Shows up on my silver car, I use clay to get rid of it every other month.

[imported_Bence]

You should do a proper decontamination and the problem won`t come back. With clay, you just shave off the top part of the ferrous particle, and the embedded part will continue to rust. The blooming returns.



One solution:



A FK1 or AutoInt decon. And when using such systems, don`t be interested in the smell of the products. They are serious chemicals which aren`t suposed to smell nice. They serve a specific purpose and it is definitely not olfactory satisfaction. As I heard, both work great. The AI contains oxalic acid like lots of other fallout removers, but there are some worries about the long term effect of oxalic acid on paint systems. Other monitored the system and have found no contraindications.



So, you have to basically burn out, dissolve, aka corroding out the ferrous contamination - and then you should seal the paint very well, because the particles cause micro-pitting as they go through the film build. When you are lucky, the rail dust is just sitting in/on the very top layer of the clear, and the damage is only minor.

[Accumulator]

I`d suggested the ABC, but zingyginger`s lack of hose/etc. gave me pause.



It suddenly occurred to me that, IIRC, Mazda is one of the companies that uses AutoInt/ValueGuard products for warranty work. So a *good* Mazda dealer should presumably be able to do the ABCing..but who knows if/how that`ll work out in the real world :nixweiss

[zingyginger]

I`d suggested the ABC, but zingyginger`s lack of hose/etc. gave me pause.



It suddenly occurred to me that, IIRC, Mazda is one of the companies that uses AutoInt/ValueGuard products for warranty work. So a *good* Mazda dealer should presumably be able to do the ABCing..but who knows if/how that`ll work out in the real world :nixweiss

I`m starting to think the $600+ Resistall package the Mazda dealer was offering with five year warranty on fallout & interior stains may be a good value after all (Mind you, I`ve never been a big fan of dealer add ons) if they can do this treatment once a year for five years.



I will try to contact the dealer regardless because after speaking with Ron Ketcham of AutoInt (nice guy, BTW). I realized I`ll be needing gallons of hose water to rinse the paint decontamination product off (he estimates fifteen gallons ). The product also cannot be allowed to dry on the car so running up and down the stairs with buckets of water to the street may not be feasible (Mind you, I haven`t ruled out doing a panel at a time if that`s the only option to keep it from reblooming.) If Mazda can do the job, then so much the better. All I have to do is stay on top of it in between (On the plus side, my arms and legs would get buff from all the exercise with the buckets )



If I go the non paint decontamination route, what process would you folks recommend and how often should it be done (wash weekly, clay monthly?)?

[CARWAX]

Could be rail dust

[Accumulator]

I`m starting to think the $600+ Resistall package ..may be a good value after all ..

I will try to contact the dealer regardless because after speaking with Ron Ketcham of AutoInt (nice guy, BTW). ..

Yeah, this might be one of those cases where the dealer package isn`t a bad idea.



And yeah#2, Ron K. is a good guy; he`s my go-to contact at AutoInt and has always been very helpful.

[dshreter]

Maybe I`m on my own here, but I think you`re escalating this too quickly. I get these same spots on my car, and I suspect a lot of other people do too. They`re especially easy to identify for me because my car is white. I think this is just fallout, and you don`t need to be too concerned about it. Your car isn`t actually rusting, this is just specs of rusty junk from the sky that are landing on your car. Wash a bit more frequently, and when they do show up just plan on spending some time with the clay bar. If you get a little bit of marring, you can use a light polish on the area if its really necessary. More importantly, I highly doubt you need to decontaminate your car or subject it to some other harsh process.

[qballjr13]

qballjr13,

After you removed them, they didn`t return? What`s the next step up in abrasiveness to Sonus green? Sonus gray was pretty abrasive on my fifteen year old Corolla.

Mine never came back. I think it was probably from transport. I am not sure about the caly, I will leave that up to the experts to answers.

[zingyginger]

Maybe I`m on my own here, but I think you`re escalating this too quickly. I get these same spots on my car, and I suspect a lot of other people do too. They`re especially easy to identify for me because my car is white. I think this is just fallout, and you don`t need to be too concerned about it. Your car isn`t actually rusting, this is just specs of rusty junk from the sky that are landing on your car. Wash a bit more frequently, and when they do show up just plan on spending some time with the clay bar. If you get a little bit of marring, you can use a light polish on the area if its really necessary. More importantly, I highly doubt you need to decontaminate your car or subject it to some other harsh process.

O.K. Got this new car 6 weeks ago. Had it clayed 5 weeks ago. Clayed it this weeked with a third of sonus green and the roof alone turned this clay light orange and still had a few spots that I tried to remove but couldn`t completely and would have to go back to this weekend.



Questions:

What`s the worst thing that could happen if I left the spots alone and just wash weekly, seal and clay quarterly? BTW, I`m planning on keeping this one for a while - the Corolla I had for 15 years.



Is is possible to tell the difference between rail dust (can be "cured" with ABC) and fallout?

It would be worth it for me if I don`t have to clay for an hour every weekend when I wash the car.



I can also go inch by inch (Accumulator, I`m trying to channel your patience in detailing) and remove every spot without ABC but I don`t know that it`s possible for me to do this every week.