DCS#1, applicator pad turns black

[sherwin]

I've got a car here that has been clayed, given the Deep Crystal System treatment of #1 Paint Cleaner, #2 Polish, followed by NXT Tech Wax. DCS #3 Carnauba Wax was then layered on top of the NXT after 24 hours.

the car has been clayed, cleaned and polished 3 times so far. Now there seems to be some weird reaction going on where the panels (roof & hood) with DCS#3 layered on top of NXT have this dark, cloudy look. Happens after about 2 weeks or so. So I took out the Paint Cleaner and cleaned the hood, and the applicator pad just turned black. Is this some form of oxidation?

The other panels with NXT wax only were fine however. Oh the car is washed every week with NXT wash.

From my experience of using DCS#1 Paint Cleaner on other cars with dirt in paint, it never turned the pads this black. What could be happening here?

[Mike Phillips]

How old is the car?

What color is the car?

Does the car have a clear coat?

Or, did it have a clear coat?

If it had a clear coat and the car is black, could it be that the clear coat have been worn thin, or worn through and you're now working on the basecoat?

[sherwin]

The car is about 2 years old, color's in silver(bright metallic silver) and clear coated paint.

This has happened twice so far, 2 weeks after I layer DCS#3 over NXT.

i'm pretty sure the DCS#3 Carnauba Wax that I have is fine as I have used it on other cars and it was alright.

[Don]

It kind of sounds like fallout...I used to live near a Goodyear plant and EVERYTHING in the area got covered with a black soot.

[Mike Phillips]

I would agree with Don. If your car is only two years old, then chances are extremely high that it is clearcoated, especially since its a metallic silver paint.

This being true, if after cleaning, polishing and waxing your car's finish, if later down the road you're seeing a blackness on your wax applicator pad, this would indicate something is in the air, settling on your car's horizontal surfaces and at some level bonding or penetrating the wax/paint on the car. Then when you re-apply any product, you're removing this fallout and seeing the built-up contaminants on your wax pad.

If this is only happening on the horizontal surfaces and you're not seeing the same thing when you work on the doors for example, then this would be a pretty good indicator of airborne contaminants accumulating on the finish.

Where do you park the car? What kind of environment?

Here at our Corporate office in Irvine, California we are within a mile of the John Wayne Airport; if you wash your car the day before and then park it at work from 8:00am to 5:00pm, at the end of the day you can walk out and discover a black dust that has settled on the car. This would be the accumulation of airborne contaminants from jet exhaust as well as all the pollution in the air caused by the high concentration of traffic in the SoCal region.

If this black dust in not removed by washing in a day or two, it will continue to build-up and as it mixes with moisture formed by dew overnight, it will become a paste or film on your car.

[sherwin]

This car is a daily driver and is parked outside 24/7. There is a 6 lane expressway just nearby (less than 100 metres). And during at night and in the morning, dew droplets will form, and as you have mentioned, this would have caused it to build up a layer of this film on the horizontal panels. Seems like its very much caused by fallout. I guess I've got a clearer picture now of what's happening, thanks!

Now I have to give the car a wash at least twice or 3 times a week