Help...stains in silver paint...

[06tacosport]

Ok so as i've said before my parking situation is horrible...i'm going out and getting a cover this week for my truck...meanwhile this past weekend i've noticed about 5 or 6 little "yellow" stains on my trucks front bumper that have gotten there as a result of this mullberry tree (as seen below)...now before these where there i did completely clay and wax the truck with 2.0 hoping it would shield any potential problems...but the tree stikes again...i've tried using scatch X on them quick, but they won't go away...sorry for the blurry picture but you can kinda see what they look like...it almost seeming like the stains go into the silver paint...is there anything i can do to get rid of them??? also i did wax it about 3-4 weeks ago with 2.0...i'm planning on washing it this week, is it too soon to rewax it again?

[Mr Mustang]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

try giving it a few dawn baths, to take away the current wax, then try scratch x, and cleaner wax, then redo the wax. I think that the stains may be under your current wax?

[Murr1525]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

Clay and bug and tar remover are also ideas....

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

If we break the stain down to understand what's taking place, here's what's going on...

A stain introduced to the surface of the paint starts out topical, that is it's just on the surface of the paint, this means a product like ScratchX should remove it as you work the product and start removing paint off the surface.

The deep the stain goes the more paint you will need to remove.

Because modern clear coats are a very solid film it's highly unlikely that any stain can actually seep or penetrate into the clear layer of paint and actually past it to where it will reach the color coat and thus stain the pigmented layer of paint.

So at this point the best bet would be to try applying and working ScratchX some more to just one of these stained areas, you may have to apply multiple applications in order to remove enough paint to remove the stained portion of the paint.

Another option would be to try M105 as it is more aggressive at removing paint by hand than ScratchX. ScratchX works but requires you to put some passion behind the pad, that's usually where most people fail when drying to remove defects out of a clear coat by hand as they don't work the product aggressively enough and they try to tackle to large of a section at one time.

Not saying this is what you're doing, just pointing out where most people make a mistake with it comes to technique.

Because M105 uses a different type of abrasive and is more aggressive, it requires less work and even less technique to remove defects using M105 versus ScratchX. Because M105 is more aggressive sometimes a second polishing step must be used before going to wax when this product is used to remove defects by hand.

So give the ScratchX another chance and if you can't get the stains out using ScratchX then there is another option you can try.

[gioprivatemove]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

i think i will try applying bug and tar remover first. and if it wont remove the stain, i ll go what Mike P. instructed.

[06tacosport]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

well after work i tried the tar and bug remover that i had with no results...so i spent about an hour scrubbing with the scratch x...it lightened up some, but didn't get rid of it...in fact i think i rubbed so hard i put some scratches into the area i was working on...when you rub the area u can feel the grooves...yeah i'm sorta new to this stuff...the stains weren't there when i clayed and waxed it bout 3-4 weeks ago, they just showed up over the weekend...maybe i didn't get to them fast enough...i'm just surprised how fast they seeped into my finish...i'm not even sure what force of nature caused them...i guess i'll have to try the M105 and see if that helps...um do you think that since it's the plastic bumper where the stains are, that could be why i'm having more difficulty then say if it were on the sheet metal?...does that even make a difference? and for the rest of the stains (there's 5 or 6 of them) is there a way to use the scratchx without creating more scratches? ( i was using both a foam applicator pad and microfiber towel...but my stupidity i tried a terry clothe towel i think that's when i created the grooves )

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Help...stains in silver paint...

well after work i tried the tar and bug remover that i had with no results...

so i spent about an hour scrubbing with the scratch x...

it lightened up some, but didn't get rid of it...in fact i think i rubbed so hard i put some scratches into the area i was working on...

Not good, polishing paint, is more or less an art forum when the goal is to create a beautiful finish, you need to apply some pressure when trying to remove a defect but no so much pressure you cause damage... that's the art form part of the process.

As for the bumper question, the underlying material used to make the bumper doesn't matter as all you're working on is the surface coating.

It's hard to imagine some kind of liquid staining so deep into a layer of clear paint that it can't be removed but it is possible as some people have found out the hard way with brake fluid.

It would be good to find a seasoned professional detailer that could take a look at it for you and give your a second opinion.

It could be that it can't be fixed, if it can be fixed and ScratchX isn't working then M105 would be the next product to try short of a more advanced procedure that would include wet-sanding.