Roughness on Paint

[stamford]

After washing my car today, I thought of just moving my hands over the paint. I observed heavy roughness. My car is 3 months old now and waxed my car just once(Five Step Cycle) and this feel never existed even before waxing it. The feel is so harsh now that it feels I'm moving my hands on some plastic rug! However, only 1/4th of the car feels like this. Other sections are smooth.

What may be the reason and what could I do to fix this?

[dc2_]

Re: Roughness on Paint

try claying it...that should make it feel smooth as glass

[BillE]

Re: Roughness on Paint



Remember, you'll have to probably have to reapply wax/sealant etc.

Bill

[Shawn T.]

Re: Roughness on Paint

Clay it and it will be smooth again. That will help wax bond better to the finish and allow polishes and waxes to be wiped off much easier.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Roughness on Paint

The roughness is most likely due to above surface bonded contaminants, and claying will remove them. These contaminants come about due to exposure - whether that's industrial fallout, paint overspray, etc. While they usually accumulate slowly over time, it is possible for a single event to cause them. Since just a small portion of your vehicle seems to be effected, it could very well be that at some point in time it was parked in such a way that just that part of the vehicle was exposed to some event that caused these deposits. Partially into a car port, along the side of a building, even next to a large truck and it could have been mostly shielded from someone using spray paint or something similar. You probably never even knew that event was taking place, and it could have happened several days or weeks ago, but you're just now discovering it after washing your car.

[dc2_]

Re: Roughness on Paint

^ wat he said lol

the rear spoiler,trunk,and rear quarter panel also feels rough to the touch on my bro's car...i polished it the other day and waxed it a few days before this.
he said at work they were doin some kind of construction of some sort...dont got clay right now but it will be removed...does using something like UC or swirlx fix this also? or am i just wasting time and i should go straight with clay?
since clay removes above surface contamination
and polishing removes under cont.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Roughness on Paint

Definitely go with the clay, and for the exact reason you yourself stated:

does using something like UC or swirlx fix this also? or am i just wasting time and i should go straight with clay?
since clay removes above surface contamination
and polishing removes under cont.

While a paint cleaner may do the trick on fairly fresh contaminants that aren't too strongly bonded, it will also be spinning those contaminants against the paint. Clay won't do that since it basically abrades these deposits and pulls them into the clay, using the QD as a lubricant to buffer the whole process. Claying is also the faster and easier way to remove these contaminants.