Sharp metal dust.... ouch!

SuperBee364

SuperBee364

New member
So I got a nail in my rear right tire the other day. I pulled in to Big O Tires and had them fix my flat. They put my car in the bay right next to the waiting room window, so I got to see them do their work. The guy treated my car like it was his own. I was very pleased.



As he's putting my tire back on the rim, another worker starts using a metal grinder on a rim right next to my car. I'm watching in horror as all of this very fine metallic dust/splinters shower my car. All over the hood, passenger side, and roof.



I've done about 15 touchless washes on it since this happened. I'm concerned, however, that some of the metal shavings have stuck in my clear coat like slivers in a finger. I'd really like to do an ONR wash on the car, as the current LSP has left an accumulation of road film that the touchless washes aren't getting off, but I'm concerned about using any wash media since there could be a bunch of metal slivers in the clear coat.



I need some recommendations on what I should do.



I'm leaning toward a good thorough clay job followed by a round of 106ff. Should I just do a touchless wash before claying, or a full on conventional wash with a grout sponge? The whole goal here is, of course, to reduce the amount of marring caused by the washing and the claying.



Any other thoughts?
 
Why do you think that any of the metal has penetrated or adhered to your paint? Didn't you do a wash on it right away? I'm presuming that you had decent LSP on it and you washed it right away, and that it was all washed off that first time.
 
Foam it up a couple times and give it a good pressure wash, then do a traditional wash with a couple chenille/LW mitts so as to pull the particles away from the paint. I would be concerned with the GS since they pretty much push particles around on the paint.
 
NSXTASY said:
Foam it up a couple times and give it a good pressure wash, then do a traditional wash with a couple chenille/LW mitts so as to pull the particles away from the paint. I would be concerned with the GS since they pretty much push particles around on the paint.
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I agree, I have 2 grout sponges and I only use them for wheels because although they are soft when wet, they are not good at trapping dirt particles so they do not get dragged around the surface.



Superbee, do a touchless and then use your BHB+foam and go from there.



I dont think you need to polish, if you clay correctly you can get little to zero marring.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Why do you think that any of the metal has penetrated or adhered to your paint? Didn't you do a wash on it right away? I'm presuming that you had decent LSP on it and you washed it right away, and that it was all washed off that first time.
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Because the guy was working so close to my car with the grinder that the particles were hitting my car at a high rate of speed. Fast enough that at one point, one of them went through his pants and caused him to stop and rub the hot spot on his leg. His leg was maybe six inches away from my car. These particles hit my car horizontally; they were traveling fast, and given the reaction by the guy rubbing his leg, they were very hot. Hot and fast enough to penetrate an LSP and stick in the CC, I think. I'm pretty sure that the stuff on the hood and roof were flushed away by the pressure washes, but I'm quite sure I still have some on the vertical panels on the passenger side.



Thanks for the help, guys. I think I'll go buy a very soft wash mitt for a one-time use. Don't think I'll want to use it again as it might very well have metal particles stuck in it. I definitely see the point about not using a grout sponge for this one. I'm also hesitant to use my BHB on it for the same reason.
 
Superbee364- Sorry to hear this happened (I woulda intervened the second I saw what he was about to do, gotta keep an eye peeled ;) ).



IMO a BHB will rinse clean, but I doubt it'd be aggressive enough to get any shavings that had really adhered.



I'd sure keep the foamgun spraying during the whole wash.



If you do the one-time-use-mitt thing, consider getting a few of them as once one gets contaminated (and good luck determining when that happens :think: ) you wouldn't want to use it any more. I might even worry about the drying media.



If you get any rust-blooms despite the claying, I'd use a decontamination system to *really* get rid of any remaining ferrous contamination.



Good luck with this, hope it isn't as dire a situation as it sounds.
 
Grinders don’t generate “slivers.� It’s more of a particulate slag, sort of like sand but made up of a combination of metal, metal oxide (burned metal) and grinding media. But I agree that I still wouldn’t want it in my mitts.



A bhb should release any of it just fine but it sure wouldn’t hurt to go with a one-time-use mitt or cloth instead. A towel is good because you can make a pass, fold it and make another. You should be able to do the whole area without reusing the same face.



I’d clay it in a similar fashion. Make one pass, high to low, fold it over and repeat. Then toss it when done.





PC.
 
I am far from being an "expert", but the first thing that came to my mind was to lube the car up real well with a QD, then take clay, and blot the panel (s) that took the brunt of the impact from the sparks/shavings. I would think by blotting with the clay, you wouldn't be dragging any possible shavings across the paint, and you could inspect the clay after each blot or so to see if it truly is sucking up any shavings. Just a thought.
 
...and, an additional thought that came to mind was taking strips of the blue painters tape, and applying them to the panels that took hits from the sparks/shavings, and then pulling the strips off. Again, this *may* pull any shavings out that have lodged into the LSP or slightly lodged into the clear, without dragging them across the paint, and causing additional scratching.
 
Accumulator said:
Superbee364- Sorry to hear this happened (I woulda intervened the second I saw what he was about to do, gotta keep an eye peeled ;) ).



IMO a BHB will rinse clean, but I doubt it'd be aggressive enough to get any shavings that had really adhered.



I'd sure keep the foamgun spraying during the whole wash.



If you do the one-time-use-mitt thing, consider getting a few of them as once one gets contaminated (and good luck determining when that happens :think: ) you wouldn't want to use it any more. I might even worry about the drying media.



If you get any rust-blooms despite the claying, I'd use a decontamination system to *really* get rid of any remaining ferrous contamination.



Good luck with this, hope it isn't as dire a situation as it sounds.
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I'm really wishing I had one about now. :)



I think I'll start out by trying yet another layer of foam, high pressure rinse, then another layer of foam, then trying PC's towel folding idea. Then I'll skip using a drying media and just do a quick drying with the leaf blower. Then on to the clay.



I'm going to be switching the LSP over to Vintage from UPGP, so I think I'll try a pass or two of the 1Z High Gloss Polish (I really do need to get the hang of this stuff), then IPA, skip the pre-wax step (HD-Cleanse is just another incarnation of Hell, and I have no PCL), and go straight to Vintage.
 
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