Paint gurus, come on in.

Before pics...






I was doing some work on the car today and noticed a couple of rust spots on my car and it took me a few minutes to figure out what had happened. I was doing some metal working in my garage a couple of weeks ago, and paid no attention to what was happening. Some of the metal dust had floated over to the car and settled on it (it has been on stands the last few weeks, so it hasn't been washed). Well, it has been pouring here for a few days and now the metal dust on the car has rusted and oxidized the paint under the dust. I tried to remove a little bit and it was making all kinds of scratches (in inconpicuos places), so I stopped.

MY question is, what can I do to remove this? Some of the spots are really stuck and I'm afraid to worsen the problem, some advice please ?


After:

 

if thats the factory paint job, thats in great shape few spots here there. it kind of helps u can tell us if it the factory paint job or repaint. at least its not that oxidize, i rather have small chips than a whole car w/ oxidize paint. is the whole car like this or just the front? if its just the front just repaint the fiberglass parts that are damaged. doesn't look too bad it could be alot worse. didn't know that could happen guess u learn something new everyday

 

Those aren't chips! That's what I am saying, these spots are from metal flakes falling on the car and rusting over the past few days. They are now stuck and oxidized the paint under them and when I try to wipe them off, they are scratching the paint.

Not ALL the paint is factory. The pass rear quarter has been replaced, and I think the front clip was re-painted at the same time. Berfore the incident, there was only a chip on the light cover, one on the hood, and two spider-web cracks on the valence. The scratches on the very tip in the front is from when I towed it home on a trailer, the crank on the toung of the trailer swung around and rubbed vertically (I'm glad I cought it in a couple of miles).

 

If I was in your situation, I'd try a claybar on a small area. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in with a suggestion of a chemical to (safely) loosen the metal dust.

 

Your car looks the same as mine. Although, I need 2 rockers, and a piece of my 1/4 lip welded in..

 

Id take the bumper off and sand it all down properly till you reach the undercoat / primer and removed all the bad parts of the paintwork and then coat it again with a dust coat (light coat) rub that down with some 1200 sanding down paper leave it a hour then put another coat on let that dry for a good few hours and then put a nice clear gloss lacquer over it.

 

The middle pic in the after photos is the roof. I'm not repainting until I get the ram air hood and modify the front bumper cover to flow more air to the intercooler.

I was hoping for a temporary remedy.

 

I run a used car lot but I used to deatail cars for a living. Personally I'd take and buy some 3m polishing compound and use a high speed buffer on low(so u dont get any swirl marks) and hover the whole car it should come off with no problem whats so ever. If u need anything just pm me...ok

 

That will remove the metal dust? If I try wiping it with a terrycloth towel, they just scratch it. You think the polisher will remove the spots, or should I try something on them first?

 

It's called rail dust and we remove from cars all the time. Start by hand washing it first to remove all the particles you can. Just make sure the bigger ones don't stick to the sponge and do more damage. Next go to your local auto body paint supplier and get a product called Aero Clay. Follow the directions on the can and it should take care of the problem. Finish it up with some quality hand glaze or wax and it should look as good or better than before.

 

I'll try clay, but I guess the pics aren't doing the job. When I remove the spots, the paint is oxidized underneath of them. This is far from "dust".

 

Did the sparks hit it directly or did they just float onto the car from a distance? As long as they aren't burnt into the paint the clay should remove them. It may take 2 applications if it's real bad. It usually looks worse than it acually is.

 

I would think any high preassure washer would remove the metal pieces without further scratching. Then it's just a matter of buffing out the oxidation that's left behind.

 

I have two pressuer washers, I was going to try that first .

Yes, the oxidation is what I am worried about.

I'm going to have at it tomorrow now that I have the bottom of the motor back together.

 

The coumpound will take care of the oxidation, just dont stay on it long cause u will have swirl marks and dont push hard.

I usually use my high-speed on 1300 and lightly press not using much pressure at all. For the prep i sually pressure wash it also b4 i start the compounding! pm me if u need anything further!

 

Any updates?