Clay bar turning green?

[flyboy320]

I have just recently bought a used XC90, and as such do not know the vehicles history.

The car looks to be in good shape, but I have noticed that there are small "bumps", about the size of the tip of a pin all over the surfaces, so when you run your hand along the paint, it feels very rough. My guess is that the car was stored outside, perhaps even under trees, and it might be from sap/insects.

So now when I go to use the clay bar (white bar), I notice that after some use, the bar is picking up some green color off the paint. I'm almost %100 sure the car has never been re-painted (the cars color is light green/silver, but mostly silver), so I'm left wondering what this green could be from. I'm fairly sure its a different color than the paint itself. After using the clay, the surface is as smooth as glass.

Anyone have any idea, or seen this happen before?

[Ranger72]

Being as that you car is basecoat/ clearcoat, its not the green paint cathcing on the claybar... It just cant be because there a "clearcoat" on top of the greed basecoat. Its more than likely some sort of sap, or overspray of sorts.

[thejazzguy]

I would venture that it is pollen. I used to park under a big maple tree and the car was always coated in sticky, messy sap. I'd guess that pollen in the air would stick to the sap, though I can't say for sure. I agree with Ranger72 that the bar is doing its job by removing this stuff that has bonded to the clear coat. It doesn't sound like a problem to me now that you've clayed.

[flyboy320]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Never thought that it may be pollen, but that could be it. My only concern was that it may be picking up paint, in which case it may have had a cheap paint job in the past, perhaps from an accident. So I look all around the car, and can't see any evidence of a re-paint (looked very thoroughly), and a report from carfax said that it has not been involved in any accidents.

Like I said, my main concern is as long as it's not paint from the car, I'm happy.......

[Mike Phillips]

If it was parked outside for any length of time, it could be paint overspray you're picking up as overspray can drift in the wind for miles before landing on a surface.

To test for a clear coat or a single stage, simply rub some paint cleaner like ScratchX onto an inconspicuous area and then turn your polishing cloth over and inspect for color or nothing. If your car is red for example, with a clear coat you will see nothing. If it's a single stage finish or if the clear is missing, you will see red pigment.

For white colored cars, you should probably used a dark colored cloth as it may be difficult to see white paint on white cloth if you are in fact testing a car with a single stage finish.

[Lt1Corvette]

Clay is great for removing overspray. I was claying the vette a few months back and all of a sudden I turned the bar and it was solid red. Can thank my neighbors who resprayed their house.