Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

[lancerplayer]

I have a 2011 VW Jetta in Candy White. I noticed there are small, orange rust spots on various sections of the car. How would I go about removing these?

I read a clay bar works well, but I do not have one on hand. However, I do have Scratch X and Color X. Would these two products be enough or should I not even bother with those and just get a clay bar kit?

Thanks for the help!

[Shawn T.]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

No, Scratchx and/or Colorx will not remove the rust. A clay bar may remove it but if it doesn't there is a product called Ironx (not Meguiars) that will take care of it.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

I have a lot of those on our Nissan Altima as well. Clay removes them but it takes a lot of elbow grease to do so. Not to mention it eats up the clay pretty quick.

As Shawn suggested, try using IronX and see if it removes it for you.

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

If they are just little rust "stains" then a compound will remove them. Put a little on a MF towel and just try rubbing it. Then add some wax on the spot you rubbed. I do it all the time on auction cars for wholesalers.

[lancerplayer]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

If they are just little rust "stains" then a compound will remove them. Put a little on a MF towel and just try rubbing it. Then add some wax on the spot you rubbed. I do it all the time on auction cars for wholesalers.

The spots I am referring are the following:

"The orange dots that most white car owners see and many other car colors simply hide is called Industrial Fallout (IFO) and is also known as Rail Dust. IFO occurs when particles from the atmosphere land on an unprotected car surface and then embed themselves in the paint. Typically this kind of thing is caused by brake dust if you do a lot of freeway driving. Hot brake dust coming off your brakes and the brakes of other drivers will land on your paint and melt right into the car much quicker than other forms. Rail dust is similar. Rail dust is named such because it is commonly found on cars that are transported by rail. Metal shavings from the rails fly up and melt into the car the same way brake dust does. It is protection from these kinds of IFO that cars are shipped with those protective plastic sheets on the hood and side mirrors and other parts of the car."

I think I am going to try some Scratch X to see how it performs. If the results are not what I want, then I will give a clay kit a try.

Also, I will try to post some pics to give you guys a better idea of what these rust spots look like.

[rst08tierney]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

I have a lot of those on our Nissan Altima as well. Clay removes them but it takes a lot of elbow grease to do so. Not to mention it eats up the clay pretty quick.

As Shawn suggested, try using IronX and see if it removes it for you.

Did you try the mild clay or just the smooth surface clay? My wife bought a new GrandAm back in 2003 and I clayed the rail dust off with very little elbow grease.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Did you try the mild clay or just the smooth surface clay? My wife bought a new GrandAm back in 2003 and I clayed the rail dust off with very little elbow grease.

I was using the smooth surface clay bars.

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

The spots I am referring are the following:

"The orange dots that most white car owners see and many other car colors simply hide is called Industrial Fallout (IFO) and is also known as Rail Dust.

Rail dust is different than rust. If it's IFO then claying is your answer. Good luck, Should be an easy fix.

[JoeDirt]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Yep- as BB said, it's just raildust. Claybar will remove it, it's not that bad. This is a before/after on my 1995 Explorer, before I removed the emblem to put on a new one during restoration. This is claybar only, and before compound. You can see the spots around the emblem vs. the clean area above it.

[TOGWT]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Detailers Clay

Polishing and detailer's clay are very different processes; although they both use abrasives, detailer’s clay removes surface contaminants by abrasion and then encapsulation.
Using detailer’s clay is the most often used process for removing environmental contaminants, by abrading the top section of an iron particle, leaving what is below the paint surface to remain. Once water and heat (reactivity) is added the corrosion process is started.

Signs of Paint Surface Contamination-
• Dark coloured specks
• Brown or Orange (rust) coloured stains or specks(rust blooms)
• Yellow stains
• Small metal coloured flecks
• Rough texture
• ‘Water spots’ or marks
• Surface etching
• Oxidation
• Paint ‘stains’
• Paint overspray

Paint decontamination system was developed as a method of removing paint contamination beyond what can be removed by washing or claying alone.

If you are familiar with detailer’s clay, you know it’s capable of removing above surface contaminants (paint overspray etc) that have bonded to the paint. A paint decontamination system is formulated to remove what lies below the paint surface. Paint decontamination systems are used by detailers and body shops for pre-cleaning prior to detailing and by dealerships for new and used car prep

a) Detailer's clay – was formulated to remove paint surface contaminants like paint overspray, when it’s used to remove brake / rail dust it abrades the top section of the sintered (heat fused) iron particle, leaving what is below the paint surface to remain; acting as a conduit for acids to erode the paint matrix. Once water and heat (reactivity) is added the corrosion process is started

b) Decontamination - the imbedded (below paint surface) iron particles are released by the exothermic reaction between the acid and moisture, the heat opens the micro-pores of the paint, thus releasing the sintered iron particles, and to neutralize caustic compounds that have developed in the paint's subsurface. Ongoing damage is immediately stopped and future damage is prevented by removing the ferrous particles

[PursuitSE]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Like other said, those orange dots are present on all cars, but we only can see them on light colored cars.

On this white Toyota Yaris, I used a product specialy made to remove those. It was called "Liquid Fall Out Remover" by BodyPro. Sold at all Napa stores here in Canada. It works great and faster than clay for this particular duty.

[lancerplayer]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Yep- as BB said, it's just raildust. Claybar will remove it, it's not that bad. This is a before/after on my 1995 Explorer, before I removed the emblem to put on a new one during restoration. This is claybar only, and before compound. You can see the spots around the emblem vs. the clean area above it.

This is basically what I have on my Jetta.

So the Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay Kit at any auto parts store will do the trick and remove the spots?

[JoeDirt]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

That's what I used. I didn't find it difficult, I also did the back of my Dad's 2010 F150, either vehicle took maybe 5-10 minutes? I didn't feel the need to get any other products to do it.

[Schark]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

I'm a boat captain and I take care of a lot of custom yachts.
Rust spots on paint and fiberglass are a common problem in a salt environment.

Here's what we do, it's quick, cheap, and readily available.

1. Carefully remove any big chunks with clay or a mild polish.
2. Go to the supermarket and buy Whink Rust Stain Remover.
3. Squirt the Whink on the trouble spot. It should go away rapidly.
4. Rinse area with ample fresh water.
5. Dry, and apply Meguiar's wax.

The Whink is pretty caustic stuff but if you limit the exposure time to the paint you won't have a problem.
As I said, we use it on some expensive custom yachts with expensive paint.
Haven't had a problem yet and neither have the old timers that taught me the trick.

[JoeDirt]

Re: Remove Small Orange Rust Spots

Whink is also the absolute best stuff to remove the rust run down on glass from rusting strut buttons- see my vid HERE