At a loss.

Cass

Young lad bought himself a new car. Lovely Lexus IS250. Car was well minded, low mileage and good service history. He left it with me while he sorts out his insurance and asked me to give it a quick clean.

So I gave it a good foaming, wash, clean, etc. Brought it to the garage and applied Vasco because I found tar spots and rough feeling on the bodywork in the usual places. Took it out the next morning and rinsed the vasco off. The tar on the exhaust tips, doors/sides, and other spots were gone but the bonnet, roof and top of the bootlid still had these, what I now know not to be tar, spots.

I found an inconspicuous area and picked a spot. They're absolutely tiny, about a mm or two wide, but an odd mix of yellow/red/brown. I tried clay barring a sport and it removed some of them but only after a lot of work and time. It also destroyed the clay bar.

I thought it might be tree sap or some other sort of "plant" debris, but nothing seems to shift it. Even toyed with the idea of petrol, but if it were to work I don't want to go spraying that on the bonnet. roof and bootlid.

The other issue is there seems to be a residue on the car. Not sure if its related to the spots or not. I clay barred another (lowkey) area. Then set at it with the DA. The residue left a horrible black "scum" on my pads. It looks to be old black polish or similar.

The car looks fine, but its driving me nuts. Without being able to see it, which is nigh on impossible, anybody come across anyting like this or any solutions.

TIA.

Atlantic Dawn

I assume they are not grindings from an angle grinder that have bonded to the paint? These appear like rough 'pixel' sized spots where rust starts, rubbing your finger over them you would feel the blemish, paintwork is basically completely destroyed in these areas. These would all appear blackish if fresh and rusted if there a while, would be on the windows too.

Lovely cars, hope he enjoys it.

Cass

Thanks for the input.

I cannot say for sure what they are, but I don't think its grindings. When you "pick" off the blemish/spot it leaves no mark behind and comes off cleanly.

However I believe you're on the right track. Its definitely from something, but I'm convinced it organic in nature. However to test your theory perhaps I should try a little Iron out/Iron-X or similar product on an unnoticable area. It about the only product I didn't use. There will be run off from the years the car has been on the road but depending on the amount it will let me know if the spots are what you say.

Thanks again, and any other suggestions, kepp them coming.

Cass

Tried a little Iron out tonight. It didn't react (change colour) but it "softened" the bits. When I watch closely and pic one off with my fingernail there is a momentary "puff" of dust as it comes away form the roof. So possibly not organic and metal based as you suggested above.

They're not everywhere on the bodywork and this could explain the lack of response from the iron out (only bout two or three bits of fouling in a 6-8 sprayed area. The bits being, as said above, less than 2mm in size.

So will try a larger area when I get a chance.

CJhaughey

Could be Paint overspray, I had this before. Spray carries a long way in windy conditions and it absolutely destroys paintwork.

Try a small amount of thinners in an inconspicuous spot and see if they soften.

Cass

You actually be onto something there, as I read back through the thread and remember the condition of the clay bar/pads when I was finished.

I tried a small area of the bonnet with a paint correction process and my pad came up black after the first pass. The pad also was "sticking" to the bonnet and I was getting smearing that was not caused by the products I was using.

As I had started I had to finish and when I studied the bonnet I noticed it was a shade different than the wings/rest of the car. My thinking is the stone chips were getting on someone's nerves (cause they are bad along the leading edge of the bonnet) and they tried some sort of non professional paint/touch up to cover them all. I checked the car and the joints/alignmnet and other areas show but they show no signs of damage or having being moved/removed (my dfear was a small crash that wasn't reported and didn't come up with the car check).

The young lad said he is not too pushed. The car, in his words, is a stop gap from something better than what he had but only until he can afford the car he wants. Still its bugging me.