Any damage from ash?

W

weegee

New member
Not sure if anyone's asked yet. I live pretty close to the fires burning in LA area. Not close enough to get burned, but close enough to see smoke, smell the carnage and get ash landing on the car.



It looks like the ash accumulates on the car, but blows off as soon as you start driving. Any precautions that should be considered, besides the obvious of having some protection on the car to begin with?
 
I don't speak from experience, but if the car ever gets wet while it still has ash on it, I'd hose it off ASAP since I'm pretty sure that ash is always really alkaline. Not a problem when dry, but when wet it'd make a solution. I think ash is what you use to make your own soap out in the bush. ;)



Stay safe! :wavey
 
Having lived through the Mt. St. Helens eruption, I can

tell you ASH IS BAD! Hopefully you have some good protection

down already. Ditto on the wet stuff, get it off asap.

Also, when the fires end wash your engine bay out and change

your air filter and oil filter (ash is abrasive to the max). I

would not recommend using anything other than air or water

to remove the dry stuff either, too many abrasives in ash.



Good luck and stay safe!
 
Fire ash and Mt. St. Helens ash are 2 different things. I got them both here from the erruption and the recent BC fires. The fire ash is a little abrasive but what 4DSC says is the concern here so try to keep it clean and if it rains on it even a hose off is better than wet ash sitting on the paint.



Once it all settles out .. yes do check the air filter and some cars like newer VW's have a very fine screen prefilter which ash can clog up.
 
Weegee thank you for asking this question, it's been on my mind as well.



And for everyone who's responded, thank you for the tips.:up
 
At the risk of sounding stupid- I would put something over air intakes at the base of the windshield so the ash doesn't get sucked into your AC system. Just be sure to remove it before driving off.
 
BK, great tip, the fires have somewhat abated where i am....Im in the next town south from Simi, ash was terrible...Never seen so much in my lifetime, it was like living next to a campfire all weekend...Couldnt open the windows in the house for 4 days....Today is a somehwat decent day out where im at, I can actually see clouds.....and not so much smoke and ash.....I even posted a couple pics in the Gallery for those of you who care to look....
 
Patrick, after looking at those pictures, I can only imagine what it's like closer in. Stay safe out there..
 
great remarks. thanks so much. sometimes you miss the obvious, like the whole air filter thing.



I've got a pretty fresh 3x Poorboy's EX coat on there (maybe 5 weeks old) and 2x S100 coats on there as well so I think I'm okay. I purposely didn't do my weekly wash this past weekend because of the ash. From the looks of it, I may have to skip this weekend as well.



Anyway, thanks again and yes to those closer to flames, be safe.
 
hope your ok, i have been moving my car every hour and using my california duster. Im in double trouble cuz i go to school in san diego and when im not living down there i reside in the san fernando valley (northridge) which is right next to simi valley. Just try to keep it off the car.
 
Ahhhh… An opportunity to answer a question without even mentioning a product.



Last week, I asked one of the chemists about the Ash residue as far as it relates to automotive finishes. Here is what he said,



The ash we in SoCal are experiencing right now, mostly comes from burnt wood. It’s called, Potash, and specifically it is Potassium Carbonate. It has a high alkaline pH level. One of the other chemists told me that he collected some of the Ash and tested it’s pH and it measured, 11.5



Basically, it is equivalent to putting Drano on your car’s finish.



The problem with this ash is, it will react with very little moisture, even relative humidity of 20% will activate it and potentially cause the ash residue to etch into your car’s finish. It will have the same effect as Acid Rain etching, except in this case, it will be Alkaline etching.



In order to protect your finish, you must wash the ash off thoroughly, and completely. Any remaining residue that collects in body seams, cracks and crevices, could potentially become a concentrated pocket of high alkaline water, and when it eventually dries, or runs down the side of your car’s finish, it could leave behind a chemically etched spot or streak.



That said, I had a lot of ash deposited on the finish on my Blazer after it rained over the weekend because I had the misfortune of parking under a tree and the rain collected the ash on the tree and deposited it onto my truck.



It must have already lost it’s potency because I haven’t noticed any damage to my trucks finish since washing it.



Mike
 
Just to follow up Mikes posting on the possible but lack of damage from the ash . After the fires in Kelowna BC that weren't as big as the ones down there but big enough. ( they lost 240+ houses). I had an opportunity to speak with a few hi-end dealers in Kelowna about the ash. VW/Audi didn't see anything for damage after rain wetting of cars. Toyota did but it was very slight and more to the darker truck line. Mercedes nil. Volvo/Hundai had some very slight streaking as the ash leached out on the Volvos but none on the Hundai. A Harley Davidson owner who has 3 bikes that park outside said the ash bothered the 2 metallic painted bikes but not the black one. I don't know if Harleys are cleared or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top