Advice for cleaning construction dust off car?

the_amazing_raisin

Hi all,

My neighbour is having his back garden paved, so there's been a load of dust getting deposited on the cars in the street this week

It's that delightful mix of gravel dust, sand, cement and concrete dust from construction work which is great for both car bodywork and my lungs ☹️

I'll be washing both our cars afterwards and I'm wondering if there's any special considerations for getting all that dust off without damaging the paint?

Normally I'd give the cars a good rinse with the power washer at the start, but since the dust would contain a lot of abrasive particles, would it be better to do a low pressure rinse with the hose to prevent it being blasted against the paintwork?

Cass

Little late given the time of the OP, but haven't been on the forum in a while.

I live not too far from a quarry and now and then, when the wind is just right, I awake to find my car(s) covered in a fine layer of dust much like you're describing.

I tried, a good few years ago, a few methods to remove it without damaging the paintwork by testing inconspicuous areas but it was abbrasive and took too much effort not to mention I risked damaging the paintwork. One morning, after the dust had fallen the previous morning, I noticed the dew had softened the dust and a low pressure rinsing took a lot of the dust off without any scrubbing or effort. It left a fine "film" but it was nowhere near as abbrasive nor tough to remove.

Luckily those days are few and far between but when it does happen I spray/soak the cars at night either simply soaking in water from a garden hose or even foaming them and letting it sit overnight. The foam doesn't last too long, but surprisingly if I get the mixture just right it can last most of the night. The following morning I get up very early and rinse off the car(s) before the Sun rises and the dust gets time to be "baked" back on. I also parked the car on the other side of the house which is always sheltered from direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning. I then foamed the car, rinsed it off using a low pressure rinse, then a normal power washing straight after keeping the car as wet as possible while avoiding hand washing for as long as possible. When it came to hand washing I took care by using three buckets, not just the two, it [dust] came off without damaging the paintwork, leaving swirls, etc.

Key points would be keep the car wet, very wet, throughout the wash, keep the micrfibre mits as clean and rinsed as possible, avoid direct sunlight throughout, and if you feel and "resistance" or "catching" when handwashing stop immediately.

I realise you may have resolved this issue since the OP, but if this is ongoing, the building, then I'd suggest waiting until it ends before going at this. Even if it works and you avoid damaging the paintwork having to do it all over again in a couple fo days will break your heart.

the_amazing_raisin

Thanks for the advice, thankfully the building work finished up after a few days so I was able to clean the cars

I did something very similar to you, I used the shower setting on the garden hose to wet down both cars at low pressure

After giving them a good soak the dust turned a little sludgy and then risned off. Afterwards I washed the cars as normal and they looked grand afterwards

Then of course the birds spotted my work and were so offended then did multiple bombing runs on my car 😭

Cass

Get your own back...............