Magically re-appearing paint damage???

brumma

brumma

New member
A couple months back I was vacationing in Fort Lauderdale and something dripped on my car while it was parked in the hotel lot. It looked like it hazed and cracked the clear coat--you could see spiderwebs in the drip mark. Anyway, I had my detailer have a go at it when I got back home. It seemed to both of us that he had completely removed it. I washed my car a couple days ago, and lo and behold... it's back!! Any ideas on what's going on here? Could whatever was in the drip be continuing to eat away at the paint somehow? Or could oils in the polish somehow have filled in / covered up the blemish that completely?

Oh yeah, I've tried to take photos of the damage, but just can't get them to turn out. The best I've been able to do just shows up as a blur. The car is dark blue (Tour de France blue to be exact).

Thanks,

-brumma
 
Welcome to AutopiaForums!!

First question: probably not - assuming he did a really good wash.
Second: Very likely. Many products contain fillers to hide defects and subsequent washes will remove them.
 
mjlinane said:
Welcome to AutopiaForums!!

First question: probably not - assuming he did a really good wash.
Second: Very likely. Many products contain fillers to hide defects and subsequent washes will remove them.
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That's what I figured. It's just weird that the polish stage would hide it. I would have thought that would happen with a wax or glaze.

I really wish I could get a photo to turn out. :wall
 
mjlinane said:
Welcome to AutopiaForums!!

First question: probably not - assuming he did a really good wash.
Second: Very likely. Many products contain fillers to hide defects and subsequent washes will remove them.
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This is my thoughts to the point, those areas where mostly likely masked with a glaze or similar

brumma said:
That's what I figured. It's just weird that the polish stage would hide it. I would have thought that would happen with a wax or glaze.

I really wish I could get a photo to turn out. :wall
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There are fillers in lots of products. I have polish / wax combo here that has a ton of fillers in it.


I'm wondering if the spots you are talking about came from water with acid or something in it. Bird dropping can cause this type of spot if left on the car for a period of time.

Can you feel the cracks with your finger nail? If so then they might be to deep to correct, if not then wet sanding and rotary polishing would be my choice. Really hard to say without seeing them, sorry
 
Beemerboy said:
I'm wondering if the spots you are talking about came from water with acid or something in it. Bird dropping can cause this type of spot if left on the car for a period of time.

Can you feel the cracks with your finger nail? If so then they might be to deep to correct, if not then wet sanding and rotary polishing would be my choice. Really hard to say without seeing them, sorry
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I cleaned the drip off myself with some quick detailer. It wasn't bird droppings--it looked a bit rust-colored. There were actually lighter drips all over the car that did not leave any marks, and one other one that did.

I can feel the blemish, but not sure if I feel the individual cracks. Someone told me a trick about pointing at the spot so the camera has something to focus on, so I'm going to try again to get a decent photo.
 
Maybe someone walking by drip something on your finish or maybe a construction crew were near by. With the sun baking your finish looks like a wet sand and compounding to try to bring it back, but without photos it will be hard to say.
 
I used a small piece of detailing clay to point at the spot. The first one's a bit blurry, but here's the best I could do:

805bc9f6.jpg


2236b02a.jpg


bd780cdb.jpg
 
Your going to need IMO someone that has a paint gauge to see how much clear you have and how deep those are. Wet sanding looks like the only way you are going to smooth those out.

The looks of that was something hot or a chemical burned or moved the clear on the surface. That's what it looks like to me. I had a car once that had Jalco ( wood varnish stripper) dripped on it, it was wiped off but the marks seems very similar to yours
 
Sorry this had to happen to your car.
It is great you have the pictures, so you can get your insurance company to go after the Hotel you stayed at where this happened.
If the Clear coat has swollen up like this, I can pretty much tell you that nothing is going to help it go away except a sanding down the damaged area, cleaning it and making sure all of that nasty acidic product is gone, even down to the metal, and then priming it, blocking it, and repainting it.
Wow, what the heck were they doing at that Hotel, that this strong a liquid was allowed to drain to the ground anyway? Total negligence - hope you registered a complaint at the Desk when you saw it. Nevertheless, you stayed there, this was NOT on your car before you stayed there, they can check back and find out who was doing what to the Hotel during that time, and see that they are liable.
If it was my vehicle, I would be going to a really good auto body and paint shop and getting their opinion and an Estimate to fix this.

Good luck with this..
Dan F
 
Unfortunately, I think it's too late to pursue the hotel. I complained to the Valet Mgr. at the time, but it was obvious that he wasn't top management and the matter wouldn't go any further. I thought that the car was only dirty--I didn't realize it was damaged. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I noticed the effect on the clear coat. I am most likely going to have to eat the cost of repair.
 
brumma said:
Unfortunately, I think it's too late to pursue the hotel. I complained to the Valet Mgr. at the time, but it was obvious that he wasn't top management and the matter wouldn't go any further. I thought that the car was only dirty--I didn't realize it was damaged. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I noticed the effect on the clear coat. I am most likely going to have to eat the cost of repair.
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Well, its your car, you should choose how you want to deal with it.

Do you have an auto insurance agent who handles all your auto insurance stuff?
If it was me, I would call him/her, tell them what happened, and see if they will follow up with the Hotel, talk to their insurance carrier, and see what can be done to compensate you, but that's just me.. :)

Good luck with this !
Dan F
 
brumma said:
Unfortunately, I think it's too late to pursue the hotel. I complained to the Valet Mgr. at the time, but it was obvious that he wasn't top management and the matter wouldn't go any further. I thought that the car was only dirty--I didn't realize it was damaged. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I noticed the effect on the clear coat. I am most likely going to have to eat the cost of repair.
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Unless you have money to burn I would leave it alone

If you do decide to repaint I would try wetsand that area first and see if you might have any luck thataway....more then likely you won't, but it would be worth a shot IMO

Pretty color :inspector:
 
Trouble said:
Unless you have money to burn I would leave it alone

If you do decide to repaint I would try wetsand that area first and see if you might have any luck thataway....more then likely you won't, but it would be worth a shot IMO

Pretty color :inspector:
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I wouldn't say I have money to burn, but it's my baby so I'm sure I'll have the shop sort it out for me. I certainly don't intend to fix it myself, if that's what you're thinking! :eek:
 
Stokdgs said:
Well, its your car, you should choose how you want to deal with it.

Do you have an auto insurance agent who handles all your auto insurance stuff?
If it was me, I would call him/her, tell them what happened, and see if they will follow up with the Hotel, talk to their insurance carrier, and see what can be done to compensate you, but that's just me.. :)

Good luck with this !
Dan F
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I appreciate the advice. I had just assumed that too much time had passed since the damage occurred. It happened at the very end of July, so it's been about 9 weeks. I will definitely look into having my insurance lend a hand. Thanks again!
 
brumma said:
I wouldn't say I have money to burn, but it's my baby so I'm sure I'll have the shop sort it out for me. I certainly don't intend to fix it myself, if that's what you're thinking! :eek:
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If you're going to paint it anyway, you might as well get some practice wetsanding for the inevitable scratches that will be appearing

Be sure and tell the shop not to be 'hacking up your car'. Remind them how anal you are about your car on the front end
 
The guys I have in mind are great. They've worked on my car before. The original owner had a clear bra on the car and the installers used razor blades to trim it ON THE CAR! Well, I only found out when I went to replace it, so I had these guys repaint my front fenders. I am very particular about it, and they did an incredible job of matching paint.
 
brumma said:
The guys I have in mind are great. They've worked on my car before. The original owner had a clear bra on the car and the installers used razor blades to trim it ON THE CAR! Well, I only found out when I went to replace it, so I had these guys repaint my front fenders. I am very particular about it, and they did an incredible job of matching paint.
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Brumma,
Sounds like you have a great plan and resources available.

I have seen clearbra guys using single edge razor blades to cut the vinyl but NEVER seen one cut the vinyl on the car after its laid down. Way, way, too risky and will almost always end up with what happened to your "baby"...

I believe the best technique would be to cut the vinyl and have it end up under the hood, fender, etc., that that there is NO End Seam showing anywhere except where it cant be helped, as in across the hood, etc...

Dan F
 
brumma said:
The guys I have in mind are great. They've worked on my car before. The original owner had a clear bra on the car and the installers used razor blades to trim it ON THE CAR! Well, I only found out when I went to replace it, so I had these guys repaint my front fenders. I am very particular about it, and they did an incredible job of matching paint.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have it figured out

There is a detailer in Texas that uses razor blades to detail :redface:
 
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