HELP - Speckled pain on the S3

[macdoug]

Hi

Pretty much as the above says - I have a Ming blue S3, about a week ago i washed the car and found that it was covered in speckles. Over the paint, trims, wheels, everything.

At first i thought it could be concrete/cement dust or paint overspray. But it is on all sides of the car which would suggest otherwise. Now really clutching at straws - I left the car at airport parking (ajacent to the runway boundary) for a few days. Could the fuel or something in the air leave a deposit on the car?

If i run my hand over the paint i can just feel the speckles but they do not polish off (Autoglym polish). Could i use "T-cut" or similar without dmage?

I know this probably hard to answer but any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Iain

 

[WX51TXR]

Hi Iain, nope, it's easy to answer, and fear not, the solution isn't difficult. To remove bonded surface contaminants (whether overspray, tree sap, fallout, etc) requires the use of a clay bar and lubricant. The clay bar is effectively an applicator pad full of polishing particles - as you glide it over the paint these particles are able to cut away any particles sitting proud, while the underlying paint is left untouched. In a sense it is selective polishing of the contaminants, as opposed to the whole mass of paint - hence why normal polishing doesn't fix this type of problem. Here is a guide about how to clay your car safely and effectively...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/guides_clean.html#

...and if you are a novice to claying, I recommend you start out with this clay, as it is mild and safe to use, yet very effective against most types of contaminant...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/pb100clean.html

Hope that helps, let us know if you need further advice.

 

[macdoug]

Thanks Rich

Those links are handy. I am a clay novice so i will probably go for the product shown.

I do have a couple more questions - would one bar be sufficient and could i use it on the trims?

Thanks again

Iain

 

[Clark@Polishedbliss]

One bar should be fine. Break it into 2 or 3 bits as you will more than likely drop a bit (if or when you do make sure you chuck it in the bin). One bar does us dozens of cars, just keep kneeding it over into a clean area

It doesnt work that well on plastics, although some are ok - a pencil eraser is a good trick though (just make sure you do a test section first )

Hope that helps