Acid Rain and other problems need help??

[n1976jmk]

Hi all,

I will be detailing my car in the next few weeks but I figured I would give a shot at the people here to help me determine what methods maybe best for getting rid of some trouble spots. Over the next few posts I will be showing everyone pictures of the the worst spots that I am not sure what exactly to do with.

I think I may have a little acid rain on my hood, it is only maybe 6"X6" but it is almost in the middle of my hood.

Another spot is on my drivers door and not sure how it came about .

And the last spot is on the driver's side rear door(4DR)(the molding below) and looks like some type of overspray after it was masked and went past the masking tape.

OK just to let everyone know, the car was in an accident 3 years ago but they did a great job repainting it. They had repainted the hood, the left and right front fenders and front bumper and stopped there. But the spot on the drivers door appeared after I received it back from the body shop. And they didn't even repaint there and of course they said they didn't do it and I had no proof they did it so, I have been stuck with it the last 3 years and would hope to get rid of it this spring. Also the spot on the driver's side passenger door on the lower molding seems like some type of overspray mistake when they taped off the car and maybe didn't do a through enough of a job because, there is a very straight line and that's might makes me think it was taped. And lastly, maybe someone can tell what the spot in the hood is.

Thanks for everyones help in advance.

see all photos below.....

[n1976jmk]

Below is 4 pictures of the same trouble spot, just maybe some differnet angels. This is the hood and where I think I have the acid rain.


this is one...



This is another one.....

[n1976jmk]

Here is another one....(and probally the best)



and the last one...

[n1976jmk]

These next few shots are of the drivers door, with the mysterious spot....


this is the first one(a close up)...




this is another one(the wierd thing is that the clear coat does not seem to be damaged??)...

[n1976jmk]

and the is the last shot of the sport from the drivers door(the spot seems to be lighter in color then the rest of the car's color)...






This last series of pictures is the spot I talked about earlier which might be overspray, on lower rear drivers side passenger door molding, these shots were hard to get and maybe hard for everyone to see....

well here is the first of three.....

[n1976jmk]

And here is one more...




And last but not least(maybe you can tell by the changes in color???)...



They may not look that bad in the photos but in the sun, that spot on the lower modling is very easily seen.

[n1976jmk]

Lastly is a shot of my car from last fall(September) so you can get the big picture. Hopefully this spring with all the steps I am doing it will look even better. And I will provide some more before and after shots when it comes time to detail.

thanks all and hope to get some good answers to help me out,

[n1976jmk]

any help?

[rusty bumper]

Hi n1976jmk,
Have you tried ScratchX?...Some of the board members have had good success removing certain stains with it.

Do you have a DA Polisher? (PC) If so, then I would try some
#83 DACP, with a W-8006 polishing pad to see if that will remove the spots if ScratchX doesn't work.

As far as the overspray is concerned, I would try to use some over spray clay to try and remove the overspray....Be sure to use a lube with the clay.

[n1976jmk]

will using the following clay also work, or do I have to get the one that says overspray??

G-1116 Quik Clay Detailing System 16 oz.

[jfelbab]

Looking at the door blemish, it appears to me that the clear coat could be worn or polished off in the spot.

As far as the drops on the hood? have you tried to use a cleaner like Body Scrub on it?

Do you have a jewelers loupe? It might be interesting to see what the surface looks like up close.

A couple of years ago I was parked in the historical part of a nearby city. A crew of building restoration guys came and started spraying stuff on the brick exterior of one of the buildings. It was a windy day and the over-spray covered about 100 cars in the lot. Turned out that this stuff was a very caustic hydrofluoric acid. Classified as a level 8 hazardous waste by the government, this acid melted a lot of paint and glass. They didn't tell anyone what they had done. Many cars had marks like that on the surface. Talk about acid rain. A lot of people never knew what happened to their cars as the restoration company and their insurer kept it quiet to avoid claims. I pressed the issue and made them repaint my car and replace all the trim and glass.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by n1976jmk
will using the following clay also work, or do I have to get the one that says overspray??

G-1116 Quik Clay Detailing System 16 oz.

That's a good question...I have used the Quik Clay System to remove light overspray, but I'm not sure if it will remove heavy overspray.

To be truthful with you, I am not a clay expert at the moment...My advice to you would be to try Quik Clay, and if that doesn't work, then try the more aggressive clays.

I like the QC system myself, but I don't think you would be out anything if it doesn't work for your problem, for it is a good product for prepping a car with before buffing.

Maybe someone else can offer their opinion on the matter.

[Billorlando]

Jfelbab is right the doors Have what is generally called polisher burns and there is extremely low or none at all clear left. Normally the heat from the polisher pad causes this discoloration and it definately looks as if someone tried to hard. Probably there was a scratch there and they decided to get it out. ( be extremely careful in those areas you could soon se paint on your pad and primer on the car. About the acid burns. I can not tell normally Acids reduce the clear coat on the paint so you would see something like a water spot but it would be lower the the rest of the clear on the car you can tell by taking yellow construction paper and placing it behingd the effected area then you should really see the pits in the paint. Now if there is no pit marks then it could be a chemical reaction to the Clear something was left on the vehicle and it has created a burn mark in the Clear coat. Most people call this acid rain but it is not .It only discolors the clear coat but does not erode it. The only way to remove the discoloration is to use a cleaner and polish.Normally if you have a DA polisher a speed about 5.5 to 6 will be generous enough to remove the problem quickly. Be sure to tape up that car that vehicle has a bad temperment on black areas and wax or polish.