Reappearing brown spots on horizontal surfaces?

[element626]

Hey everyone, I have a problem on a car I used to drive daily. A month I stopped using it daily, and didn`t get a chance maintain it for about a month. When I got to washing it, I started noticing these irregular brown spots all over the car. I washed it away, only to check back in a week and found that anything horizontal on my car is covered with these spots again. On recently waxed surfaces they come out relatively easy, but if I don`t keep a fresh coat they won`t even come out with a clay bar. The only thing that seems to work is to use bug/tree sap remover or some polish, but neither seem to be a good long term solution. Does any one have any ideas what I should do? I believe it might be coming from some tree nearby, but I can`t park elsewhere due to city code.



The car is a white 2007 Toyota Corolla

[C. Charles Hahn]

Sounds like in your particular situation, a quality car cover might be the best option (to prevent re-contamination). How often do you drive the car now?

[Ron Ketcham]

Ferrous metal particles.

They may come from a variety of sources.

Are there any plants or such around were the car may set that do work with steel or iron?

Do you ever drive through puddles of water in the area?

Lots of questions need to be answered to be more specific.

It appears that all you are doing is like using a clay, when you use the polish-just removing the stain, not the particles that have become imbedded in the vehicle`s paint.

A little moisture, a little heat and the imbedded particle starts corroding once again and produces the "stains" you observe.

Grumpy

[element626]

Sounds like in your particular situation, a quality car cover might be the best option. How often do you drive the car now?

I drive it maybe once a week now, but it will go back to being used daily in 2 months.

[Accumulator]

element626- Decontaminate with something like "ABC", polish, apply a sealant like FK1000P (several coats), problem should be solved.

[element626]

Accmulator -



My usual routine is to wash the car, clay bar it, and then apply Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax to it. I have been considering a different sealant, since the Meguiar`s doesn`t seem to last very long. I`d be very happy to learn some better products. How long does FK1000P last?



It`d mostly sit in the suburbs this summer, but most of the year it sees a drive on the freeway within Los Angeles into an almost rural area. There is a minor industrial area a few miles away, but none that vent a significant amount into the air. Being in LA, there`s little rain or puddles. I had not noticed the marks to be a significant problem before when I took the car for daily drives, so contamination is probably occurring at home. I just suddenly started seeing a lot of these once I stopped driving so often.



I`m unsure of concluding it`s metal particles, though, since the marks come off easily if the surface is freshly waxed. I do notice the affected areas are unusual in how specific they are. Anything perpendicular to the ground is completely unaffected. The more a panel faces the sky, the more affected it is. It`s as if it`s coming down directly from the sky in a straight line, unaffected by wind.

[Ron Ketcham]

Ok, I lived and worked in LA for over a decade.

Ferrous metal particles are everywhere in the air in the basin.

Lived in So.Orange co, worked in El Monte and traveled all over the area working for Finish Kare Products at the time.

Particles are generated by car engines, plants that make metal products, some come out of fossil fuel power plants, on and on.

They are ferrous oxide particles and as one who made his name in the car care industry by being "a recognized expert" (was called in by all the vehicle manufacturers in LA and the rest of the country to deal with this issue, as well as other corrosion issues), that`s what I am telling you.

At one time my company car was a Fleetwood Caddy, white. After that I moved on to dark paint vehicles as they didn`t show as much of the concern, but were still there.

I would decontaminate it every three months due to the, here`s another term for the concern, "IFO" in the basin. IFO is "industrial fallout" and a wide spread problem in the area.

After I had remove the deposits with an OEM approved chemical decontamination system, would apply a quality "amino functional resin based sealant" due to that type of sealant being "anti-corrosive" chemically.

It would help, but after some time of exporsure, the marine layer coming in and producing dew on the vehicle, the sun would come out and the "very, very small particles -(looks like plain dust when they land on the vehicle) would start corroding and "eating into the sealant" and after about three months, got through it and started eating into the paint finish.

Only "proven, tested and accepted" manner or product to safely remove not only the particles, but the "acids" they generated, is a 3 stage decontamination system. The only one that is currently tested and approved by the vehicles manufacturers is the ValuGard ABC system.

Clay does nothing more but remove the "blooming" of the particles, not the actual particles.

Accumulator is on the right track by suggesting FK-1000 paste wax, as it is not really a wax, but a high temperature melt point material with amino functional resins in it.

Grumpy

[Accumulator]

Accumulator is on the right track by suggesting FK-1000 paste wax, as it is not really a wax, but a high temperature melt point material with amino functional resins in it.

Heh heh, couldn`t you talk Floyd into calling it a "sealant" or something? At least they say "High Temp Paste Wax" and "Great White", you know... product names using words, along with the "FK1000P" part number tag.

Accmulator -



My usual routine is to wash the car, clay bar it, and then apply Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax to it..

Using a decontamination system is much more likely to really get the contamination *resolved* whereas clay, which I use/like/recommend, just isn`t a permanent solution for this kind of problem. Yeah, I know...but it`s not. Even the ABC might be hard-pressed to do a 100% job, depending on how long the [stuff] has been soaking into your paint. Sure worth a try, and it`s basically as easy as doing three washes with their special stuff.

I have been considering a different sealant, since the Meguiar`s doesn`t seem to last very long. I`d be very happy to learn some better products. How long does FK1000P last?

Let`s just say it`ll last at least as long as any other wax/sealant/Last Step Product HOW long depends on the circumstances, but this stuff really is as good as it gets in that regard. Whole `nother world comared to that Meguiar`s stuff!

[Ron Ketcham]

Floyd went to that big detailing site in the sky years ago.

JJ bought the company and runs it now.

The ABC will remove it, but as I stated, new deposits will occur and a strong "anti-corrosive" coating will slow them down for a few months.

Nothing anyone can put on will hold up forever.

If there were a way, the paint companies would have come up with such, years ago.

Just reality, which I am aware of, is something that most here, do not wish to hear.

Grumpy

[imported_Automania]

Floyd went to that big detailing site in the sky years ago.

JJ bought the company and runs it now.

The ABC will remove it, but as I stated, new deposits will occur and a strong "anti-corrosive" coating will slow them down for a few months.

Nothing anyone can put on will hold up forever.

If there were a way, the paint companies would have come up with such, years ago.

Just reality, which I am aware of, is something that most here, do not wish to hear.

Grumpy

Are you parked next or under a bradford pear tree?

[Ron Ketcham]

Gina, look closely at the various spots. Notice the "small dark" spots inside of the stain.

That little dark spot is the basic ferrous metal particle, which is creating the "brown/rust" colored staning that is easily visable.

Not a tree sap or other issue, it`s ferrous metal fallout, common in the LA Basin.

Grumpy

[imported_Automania]

I thought it was something like this

[Ron Ketcham]

Nope, look closely at the photo`s.

Not as big, and various progressing of the ferrous particles corroding.

Plus in the LA basin, not that many fruit trees around unless out of the main city areas.

The fruit trees out there are lucky to survive, even the orange and other citrus trees.

I think in 11 years I only saw a few apple trees in the main basin and can`t recall ever seeing a fruit tree that you mentioned.

I lived there, I went through the whole IFO issue of LA, which due to the issue is how I got to know and work with Hughes from Ford, Porter from Chrysler, Straum from Hyundia, Hartman from GM, and on and on.

They all were having to find what it was and how to deal with it.

Grumpy

[element626]

Thanks, I`ll give it a shot. Where should I buy this ABC system? Also, is the "C" part of the system optional, or is it important to the process? (I`m sorry to have to ask, but I`m a broke college student).



My father, who works in manufacturing, also reckoned something similar, but at the time I dismissed it since I hadn`t seen the problem when I drove often. I think driving on the freeway blew off a lot of the particles before it settles in, and now that the car sits there baking all day, it has a chance to eat in and really corrode.



In the meanwhile, I`ll try gentlely raising the car down daily now. Hopefully it`d slow down the problem.

[togwt]

Phone / Website: 513-489-7883 / www.valugard.net



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