Aggressive "dust"

[RX-Men-8]

Hi,

I've just noticed this week while washing the car that the whole car is covered in small grey specks. They are about the size of the metallic particles of the paintwork. I cannot scratch them off, it looks like a cloud of gray spray paint has landed on the car! With my fingertips I can feel the little specks as a rough surface.

Since it is also on the windshield and rear window I had a safe try all the solvents I could find in my shed. Unfortunately paint thinner, spirit (alcohol), ammonia and gasoline/petrol did nothing to it. It seemed I had to find the harsher solvents in the house: Sticker remover did the job!

Sticker remover is an unknown oily mixture of solvents to me, and the bottle doesn't say what's in it. So I am not really inclined to try it out on the paintwork yet. So I went on a little search on what types of solvents there are for cleaning paintwork.

- Chloric hydrocarbons (like Tri) are very dangerous, I'd probably wipe off the paint with it.

- Strong solvents like resin remover, acetone are to be used with caution, at least that's what I've been reading

- Solvents like alcohol, gasoline, thinner can be used for cleaning if you don't rub too hard. But they don't work for me.

Finally, I tried my girl's nailpolish remover, which is acetone. That did the job as well (on the back window, that is). Anyone ever used acetone for cleaning car paint?

Cheers,

RX-Men-8

A Pic:

[Bazza]

acetone .....no

try using a clay bar :)

[RX-Men-8]

I think I will, it was suggested to me before...

I doubt if it will get it loose though, I cannot scratch it off the back window with my fingernails, it's really rock-hard.

And if it should come off, won't it leave scratches as the speck rolls between the clay bar and the paint? :o

Thanks,

RX-Men-8

[Bazza]

its amazing what a clay bar can do

keep it well lubed up

and keep turning and washing it out

:)

[RX-Men-8]

Thanks,

The next challenge is now how to get some McGuiars clay shipped to the Netherlands.

Lexuscare only ship to US/CA/UK/AU :( and the only other reference seems to be http://www.mcguiars.co.uk which doesn't come up with a page (neither does mcguiars.com)

I'll keep searching... ;)

RX-Men-8

[Scorpion]

To get the paint off the glass just use soapy water and a loose stanley blade.!!

[aido]

To be honest mate the Meguiars clay is a bit crap since it's so small - you may be better buying some from here:

http://www.seriousperformance.co.uk/sp/pro...maintenance.php

It would be worth buying some clay bars and some Quik shine to use as the lube.

You can get bigger bars from there - probably worth dropping thema pm to see if they can ship over to you.

[ColinBarber]

Thanks,

The next challenge is now how to get some McGuiars clay shipped to the Netherlands.

Lexuscare only ship to US/CA/UK/AU :(  and the only other reference seems to be http://www.mcguiars.co.uk which doesn't come up with a page (neither does mcguiars.com)

I'll keep searching... ;)

RX-Men-8

Your spelling is out which is why the web sites aren't working. Try:

http://www.meguiars.co.uk/

As for using acetone make sure you wash it off straight after and apply some polish and wax. It will remove any existing wax and may eat into the clear coat if left on.

You will probably find the clay bar will do the job. May need to go over it twice and then remember to give it a full polish and wax after. The Meguiars clay bar is very hard, makes it difficult to use.

[mudzs]

To get the paint off the glass just use soapy water and a loose stanley blade.!!

I can imagine RX men 8 at B&Q right now ."Can i have a pack of loose stanley blades please "

[RX-Men-8]

To get the paint off the glass just use soapy water and a loose stanley blade.!!

I can imagine RX men 8 at B&Q right now ."Can i have a pack of loose stanley blades please "

Thanks for the infos! (Thanks Colin for the pointers, I ordered with www.meguiars.com/europe) And I won't use the loose Stanley blades on the paintwork then ;)

RX-Men-8

[RX-Men-8]

Got it sorted last Sunday with the clay ball. It was 5 hours of hard work, but once you get the hang of it, you don't miss a spot. Rub and rub and rub until there's no friction from the rough specks anymore. Bonus: the car has never looked so clean.

I got a lot of attention from the neighbours as well.

"Hey, you like polishing, do you? Wanna do mine next?" :duh:

"No I'm actually a very lazy car cleaner, but see/feel this. It's a disaster! Takes a lot of elbow grease to get it off."

As the neighbour across the street gets into his grey Passat, he says: "***** this **** is on my car as well!"

Speaking to the people in my neighbourhood, it turns out 2 weeks ago my next-door neighbor has been spray-painting his lawn furniture (white) with his hobby compressor I guess he'll be buying some more people a Meguiars clay kit....

Thanks for the tips!

RX-Men-8

[ColinBarber]

Glad it's all sorted out. :)

[Scorpion]

To get the paint off the glass just use soapy water and a loose stanley blade.!!

I can imagine RX men 8 at B&Q right now ."Can i have a pack of loose stanley blades please "

Thanks for the infos! (Thanks Colin for the pointers, I ordered with www.meguiars.com/europe) And I won't use the loose Stanley blades on the paintwork then ;)

RX-Men-8

No that was meant for the.....GLASS!!!!!. :P

[mudzs]

[RX-Men-8]

To get the paint off the glass just use soapy water and a loose stanley blade.!!

I can imagine RX men 8 at B&Q right now ."Can i have a pack of loose stanley blades please "

Thanks for the infos! (Thanks Colin for the pointers, I ordered with www.meguiars.com/europe) And I won't use the loose Stanley blades on the paintwork then ;)

RX-Men-8

No that was meant for the.....GLASS!!!!!. :P

:D I know I know, but as you could already have read I had already tried and used the much more dangerous chemical stuff to accomplish that

And it saved me from losing a finger ;)

[harlowrog]

This is quite possibly one of the funniest threads I've read on these forums! :D

[Scorpion]

This is quite possibly one of the funniest threads I've read on these forums! :D

Why.?

[Fargo]

"Aggressive "dust", on the paintwork" imagining little dust particles fighting each other and generally running amock..

[Scorpion]

"Aggressive "dust", on the paintwork" imagining little dust particles fighting each other and generally running amock..

Scary aint it,especially those with black belts..

[javadude]

I know the feeling. I had some sort of tar like stuff finely sprayed along the bottom half of one side of the car and at the rear. Guess the front wheel had thrown something up and it got sucked along the car and around the rear by the aerodynamics. Even with tar remover it was a real pain to remove. Took two attempts.

[harlowrog]

QUOTE (harlowrog @ Sep 23 2004, 08:51 PM)

This is quite possibly one of the funniest threads I've read on these forums! 

Why.?

read the posts again and tell me they dont make you smile!!!

[Kazi]

T-Cut or Proffesional Scratch remover paste.

Kaz. :D

[Kremmen]

Some years ago I had this on a Xantia.

It turned out to be me parking near a train station where the tracks were raised.

When the trains were braking coming into the station there were hot tiny fragments from the brake shoes becoming airborne and descending around.

Once I found out I checked all the other cars in the car park and they all had a finish like sandpaper but in varying degrees depending on how long they had used the car park.

Nothing would shift those because they were burnt in.