Body Rust ….Magnesium Chlorideb

[flash4490]

I have a 2003 Sub Outback. I waxed it a month ago was surprised that I found extremely small dots of rust on the back hatch door, and under the driver’s and passenger’s front door handles. We took it to a body shop and they looked at it with a magnifying glass and found microscopic dots of rust all over, even on the roof. This was strange as we live in Colorado were rust usually isn’t a problem, we garage the car, and had another 12 year old Sub wagon which had almost no rust issues.

We thought it was a defect in the paint job, so we took it back to the dealer and ask them to fix it. The Factory Rep said they would take it to a detailer and have them get the rust out. We thought it would need a whole new paint job.


My first question is: Have you heard of detailer’s being able to get the rust out? If so is this a good solution or does it merely put off the problem for a while. It seems to me you would need to repaint the whole car to make sure you got the rust out. It seems if the factory rep is just getting a low cost temp solution to the problem and later the rust will come back and the car will be too old to have the dealer pay.

Second question is: I have heard there are these types of rust problems where they use Magnesium Chloride on the roads. How do you protect your car from this?

[Murr1525]

Was it rusting through the paint, or just bits of rust/metal sitting on the paint?

[flash4490]

I think it is bits of rust sitting on the paint.
Its hard to tell it is just these little specks. It isn't rough to the touch

[the other pc]

Sounds like it might be rail dust or something similar. Rail dust is microscopic particles of steel from wear of railroad tracks that embed themselves in the surface and rust. It's common to find anywhere near train tracks but I guess you can get it anywhere you have wear and tear on ferrous metals. (I wouldn't be surprised if they came from a brake shop where they were turning rotors and drums.)

I would try using clay and a paint cleaner first. If the same old specks come back after few rounds of clay (as opposed to new specks, which you won't get rid of until you find where they come from and avoid them) there are companies that make acidic decontamination products.


PC.

[Murr1525]

It is possible you simply got a coating of fine metal from something.. perhaps fallout from a factory, or off a train, etc. With this being a 3 year old car, I wouldnt think it has been in the paint the whole time and jus trusted now.

If possible, you might try something as simple as claying the paint to remove any bonded contaminants from the surface, and see if the metal is just sitting on the surface.

As this would be lots of metal bits, you would want to use extra lube, and turn the clay more often.

[RamAirV1]

Originally posted by Murr1525
It is possible you simply got a coating of fine metal from something.. perhaps fallout from a factory, or off a train, etc. With this being a 3 year old car, I wouldnt think it has been in the paint the whole time and jus trusted now.

If possible, you might try something as simple as claying the paint to remove any bonded contaminants from the surface, and see if the metal is just sitting on the surface.

As this would be lots of metal bits, you would want to use extra lube, and turn the clay more often.

This is an excellent point, and it happens more often than detailing enthusiasts realize. Since you have white, you can see the rust spots from the metal. On a darker car you might not see it.

I would try clay before anything else. You would have to remove too much paint to get that off with a buffer.

RamAirV1