Help me save my car

CIP4

Without getting into how it happened completely not my fault which makes it worse. About 50% of my cars paintwork every panel has been covered in if you like tiny iron filings which looks like it came from cutting steel with a grinder not right beside the car but the wind carried them. This has resulted in 100s of tiny orange rust like marks all over the paint work, you have to be close to see them.

Some will rub off if you spend a while. So far all I've done is washed it twice, tried some tar remover that didn't help then tried to polish it with AG SRP which didn't do a whole lot.

How fcuked am I ? I know hard to tell but if it highly likely that's these have just melted the clear coat. The car is white in colour and non metallic it's a 161 Leon should I try a clay bar or go straight to machine polishing which I would have to get a professional to do.

I am fairly devastated over it up close it looks like the whole bloody thing is rusting.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated it can I even do anything. See picture of a spot obviously black spots are just tar. Hard to get any decent photos.

clubberlang12

First port of call after safely washing it down for me would be to apply iron fallout remover to break down the bond formed between the heated iron fillings contacting the paintwork. These product are plentiful.....Bilt Hamber Korrosol, Carpro IronX,etc. Autopia and Reflectaoutocare also carry their branded lines which i can't recall the names too. Spray onto panels, let dwell for 2 to 3 minutes(you should see a discolouration forming), power rinse off. You may need to repeat this cycle a few times. After that you can clay the surface to help remove even more stubborn iron and other contamination.

Autoglym SRP is really just a glaze and has little to no abrasives. I think the above steps should help the removal. The issue with machine polishing is that there may be "pick up" issues on the pad from lifting contamination and thus possibly carrying that on the pad surface while polishing.

CIP4

Thanks for that seems like the best road to take. I will try iron fallout remover then clay see how we go from there.

Foxhole Norman

Was their any telephone poles removed from any area the car has been in recently? This has happened to cars I know where the ESB were removing boles and cutting them down, the sparks landed onto the paint and glass and melted into them, effectively ruining the paint and glass.

CIP4

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Was their any telephone poles removed from any area the car has been in recently? This has happened to cars I know where the ESB were removing boles and cutting them down, the sparks landed onto the paint and glass and melted into them, effectively ruining the paint and glass.

No I reckon it may of happened at work but can't be sure. Think I have got away with it after the above advice and my first experience claying I have removed the vast majority of it and I'd say a second go should fully sort it. Paint doesn't appear to be damaged seems to be more of a residue sitting on it then bedded into it so most of cooled down before hitting the car. No damage to any glass. Hopefully it will be ok wasn't a very nice feeling this morning thinking the whole car might of be ruined.

Foxhole Norman

CIP4 wrote: »

No I reckon it may of happened at work but can't be sure. Think I have got away with it after the above advice and my first experience claying I have removed the vast majority of it and I'd say a second go should fully sort it. Paint doesn't appear to be damaged seems to be more of a residue sitting on it then bedded into it so most of cooled down before hitting the car. No damage to any glass. Hopefully it will be ok wasn't a very nice feeling this morning thinking the whole car might of be ruined.

I'd go ahead and clay the glass too to be sure, it'll do it no harm anyway! You're lucky with it so!

Curran

That is an awful lot of iron contamination - I wouldnt have clayed the car until I knew that the majority of the contamination is gone. The clay will remove some of the iron, but anything that is drawn out, is now bonded to the claybar, and effectively making it like a sandpaper...inspect the paintwork under a strong light; you may have cause minor swirling in the paint which wont be too obvious on white.

I would have soaked the car in a good fallout remover - CarPro IronX or Bilt Hamber Korrosol; let it dwell and power washed off. Repeated this again, with not such a heavy coat applied and check for further removal and power washed off. Then I would have inspected the whole car. Any very heavy contamination that wasnt lifted could have IronX Paste applied. This is a far more concentrated product and perfect for localised contamination. Once happy that the car is free of the iron, I'd have clayed turned to a fresh surface frequently, washed, dried and re-applied a wax or sealant.

CIP4

Thanks Curran I figured that alright. Couldnt actually find anywhere in kilkenny selling Ironx or similar I will have to order some. I couldn't actually see any particles at all just marks but of course they may have been too small to see. The clay didn't get as dirty as I would have expected it was fairly clean at the end I just kept remoulding it throughout (it was an 80g block) and used a whole bottle of the quick detailed that came in the kit to keep the surface well lubricated. But for the next few washes I'll hit it with ironx to get rid of the last of the marks. I know a bit late now but lesson learned I suppose.

There was already light swirl marks on it from when I got it as a demo but as you said It's not as noticeable on white. I don't think I made it much worse yesterday but they are there.

JoeA3

Are you sure a lot of that wasn't already on it when you bought it? It's very common on new cars as they are transported by rail from the factory to the docks and then might be sitting in the docks for several weeks before getting shipped. So as you can imagine, lots of potential for iron fallout to drop on the car.
It's more obvious on white - just like tar spots are. The best solution is always the one that involves the least amount of elbow grease. Going at it like a lunatic with Autoglym polish, you're as likely to do more harm than good.
As others have already recommended, get yourself a decent sized bottle of Iron-X. It's very effective and actually kinda satisfying to use - you'll see your paintwork going all purple as it breaks down the bonded iron. You might need to do it 2-3 times in bad areas or try agitating it in bad areas with a soft pad / small sponge.
Then let it dwell for a while and blast it off with the power washer. That should do it.

After that, and all the claying you've done, the paint should be very smooth. Ripe for a coat of sealant / wax and it'll look great.

vectra

Trade it in for a new one

CIP4

JoeA3 wrote: »

Are you sure a lot of that wasn't already on it when you bought it? It's very common on new cars as they are transported by rail from the factory to the docks and then might be sitting in the docks for several weeks before getting shipped. So as you can imagine, lots of potential for iron fallout to drop on the car.
It's more obvious on white - just like tar spots are. The best solution is always the one that involves the least amount of elbow grease. Going at it like a lunatic with Autoglym polish, you're as likely to do more harm than good.
As others have already recommended, get yourself a decent sized bottle of Iron-X. It's very effective and actually kinda satisfying to use - you'll see your paintwork going all purple as it breaks down the bonded iron. You might need to do it 2-3 times in bad areas or try agitating it in bad areas with a soft pad / small sponge.
Then let it dwell for a while and blast it off with the power washer. That should do it.

After that, and all the claying you've done, the paint should be very smooth. Ripe for a coat of sealant / wax and it'll look great.

Thanks for the advice. Definitely need to get Ironx going forward. There may have been a certain amount of it from when it was new but a lot of it was fresh as I started to notice it over the last week. To be fair even before I done anything you would have to be quite close to the paintwork to see it you wouldn't see them from even a metre away the marks are tiny. Initally I noticed them on the boot door when opening it.

vectra wrote: »

Trade it in for a new one

Sure any excuse to buy a new one