Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

[Saar12]

Hello,

As described in the title, I've used this product (bought roughly two years ago) on my white car and it left sort of faded yellow stains on the paint - about 20-30cm wide in one place. It is not visible from every direction but when it is - it is fairly visible and quite noticeable to the eye.

I have used the product specifically as noted in the guide on the back of the bottle - dilute with water, apply on the car, wash with water and then wipe with a dry fabric cloth to help it dry and not leave water marks.

It is when I was during the drying that I noticed the stains which would not leave. I have tried re-applying the product several times at the stain area, but it had no effect; nor did the Meguiar's scratch remover (though I doubted it would).

I have read a thread in this forum from 2005 in which this has happened to some other folks in the past, but couldn't find any specific solution for this and I am pretty disappointed.

I'd appreciate any ideas on how to solve this or if there is any other product that might remove this..

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance,
Saar

[Lydia]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Hi Saar,

Welcome to the forum!

First, if there's any way to get a picture, that would be helpful. I understand it can be pretty difficult to get pictures of stains but that would help.

Regarding your process, just to confirm: you rinsed the vehicle, put some UWW in a bucket with water (a couple ounces in a bucket of water or so - I don't remember the dilution ratio for sure but I'm guessing around 1 ounce per gallon?), washed the vehicle with a wash mitt or towel, rinsed with water, then dried. Is that correct?

Did it leave stains only in one area? Is it possible those stains were already present and you weren't able to see them until you washed the vehicle?

When you reapplied, did the stain change any or did it look the same?

When you applied the Meguiar's scratch remover, how did you apply it?

Last few questions: Could you give us a little more information about the vehicle itself? What year is it? Has it been waxed or cleaned anytime recently?

Sorry for all the questions but this information would be helpful to find a resolution for this.

I can say with 99.9% certainty that the thread you saw from 2005 indicating this product stained a vehicle is not referring to the same product because the Ultimate Wash and Wax was not released until 2010.

[davey g-force]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

:iagree with Lydia.

Photos would help a lot. You didn't say you rinsed the vehicle after washing with UWW..... did you?

I find it hard to believe that UWW would do this...

I'm willing to bet the stain was already there. My logic says that if you applied the product to the whole vehicle, it would be unlikely to have this effect only in one area.

[Saar12]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Hi Lydia,

Thank you for trying to help.

The car is 2014 VW Golf (white).

I can assure you that the stain was not there before - 100% - the car paint was flawless; I had washed the car just the day before myself and if it had been there already, I would notice it; I wash it every week so this is definitely something I would notice. It showed up right after I used the UWW.

As for the process - it is exactly as you said.

As for a picture, I will try to upload one today.

Thanks,
Saar

[Saar12]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Just to add to my last comment -

Yes, the stain appeared only at one place. After re-applying UWW, it had no effect whatsoever. The stain remained as it was.

[Lydia]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

I agree with Davey in that I'm very surprised UWW would do this. While I use Hyper Wash predominately, I've used UWW a fair amount of times with no issues. Nevertheless, obviously something happened so hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.

Did you apply the UWW directly to the paint undiluted when you first washed it?

How did you apply the Scratch Remover and which one specifically is it?

It sounds like you take pretty good care of your vehicle. When is the last time you have waxed it?

[Saar12]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

It was diluted when I first used it - exactly as it said on the back of the bottle.

It turns out what I used afterwards to try to fix it wasn't a scratch remover but actually "ultimate compound color and clarity restorer" which I bought the same day after the stain appeared in the hopes of it fixing the problem. Unfortunately, it didn't.

As it is a paste-ish substance, Applied a small amount at the stain area and rubbed it moderately.

The last time the car was waxed was roughly 3 months ago.

Have you any suggestions on how to remove the stain? How about a wash with a pressure washer hose (don't really know how to call it in English so my apologies)?

As for a picture, I tried to capture it but it seems rather impossible on the phone camera because of the reflection and because it is a pretty faded-yellow which is hard to spot on the phone.

Saar

[Lydia]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Ultimate Compound (or something similar) is actually what I would suggest, hence why I asked how you applied it. Calling it a scratch remover isn't out of line, in my opinion.

Sorry if it seems like I'm always asking more questions instead of providing advice but since this is a rather bizarre situation I want to make sure I'm pointing you in the right direction.

Quite frankly, I'm very baffled that UWW stained your car, applied the way you applied it to a relatively well-maintained vehicle. If it hadn't been waxed for a long time and the paint was very dry, and you applied UWW directly to the paint, undiluted, I could possibly see it staining. Even then I really doubt it would stain, and would expect that re-cleaning the area would fix the problem. That's why I've asked so many questions, to try to find out what's really happening.

You could try washing it with a pressure washer (no need to apologize - you used the correct term! I'm always impressed at how many people who speak a different language are more fluent in English than native-speakers. It seems like you all try harder in general, which always makes me a little ashamed. But I digress). However, if you already re-cleaned the area with UWW and a wash mitt or towel, plus applied Ultimate Compound, I doubt a pressure washer will make a difference.

When you applied the Ultimate Compound, what specifically did you use to apply it and how long did you rub it in? I would suggest using a quality microfiber towel or foam applicator pad, putting a small amount on, and rubbing it into one area (say, 15 cm by 15 cm) for 1-2 minutes. Rub it up and down, then from side to side, then back, etc. This will give a good application of UC. Then wipe off the residue and check the area again to see how it looks.

I see Brian Hann and The Guz are also on this post - they might have some other suggestions that would be helpful.

[Brian Hann]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Saar12,

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have to say that this is very odd and difficult to diagnose. This product has been on the market for nearly a decade now and is very popular. We sell thousands of bottles each year. I cannot say I have seen or heard of a similar situation related to this product or any wash for that matter.

The only time I can recall something remotely similar was our Gold Class Car Wash being used on a very old vehicle with paint failure. The customer applied Gold Class Wash directly on the vehicle in concentrated form and the paint was is such bad shape it soaked up the wash and left a darker spot. This of course is not the situation you find yourself in.

There are other rare occurrences involving specific paste waxes on insolated areas of some white vehicles but we are not aware of any kind of history related to a car wash. It would be premature to draw a correlation but it would not hurt to explore the idea for a possible resolution. Is this spot on the metal body or on a bumper or trim piece that is not metal? Typically when this occurs with a wax, although rare, the best solution is exposure to the sun and UV rays. We have never seen a situation where this kind of staining was permanent and the best cure is direct sunlight for a few weeks. This is not an immediate resolution but hopefully brings some comfort with the knowledge there is no permanent damage. Again, I do not think we can assume the same thing has occurred on your VW but with a little patience it is probably worth a shot.

Diagnosing these types of situations is difficult. There are usually unique factors we attempt to uncover but some times we are a left with no confident understanding of the true cause. If you can leave your car in the directly sunlight for a few weeks I would recommend that.

Thank you for your patience. Please keep us posted.

[Saar12]

Re: Ultimate wash & wax yellow stains left on paint after use

Hi guys,

Thank you Lydia for the compliment and assistance

I too, work as a support engineer so asking a lot of questions is the right thing to do and I am more than willing to answer all of them; finding the solution is the only goal for me. I have tried using the UC exactly as you noted. I can try so again later on to see how it goes.

Brian, thank you for looking into this as well. It is without a doubt an odd issue and I can say for certain that I am as surprised at this as you are. This is not the first time I have used UWW. In fact, I have been using it for years.

I will try a pressure washer, as well as the UC, as Lydia as suggested.

As for the sunlight - I thought about that as well. All I can say is that I'll have to wait and see.

I will update you on the results later on, as if that is the case and some sunlight does resolve the issue, I am sure you guys may want to document this.

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Thank you for your help on this.

Saar