What is this on my paint?

audicoupej

audicoupej

New member
My car had body work back in September and the lower part of the rear bumper had a ton of overspray that I clayed to remove. I had clayed the whole bumper and then polished it out. (Here is the detailing thread: http://www.autopia.org/forum/pro-details-before-after/125186-450hp-2004-vw-r32.html )The car was driven for a few more months then was washed/dryed and put in my garage until the spring. Shortly after getting it out in the spring these marks started to appear on the rear bumper. It's almost like a haze or when you touch paint with your skin it leaves behind some condensation. I've tried claying it and hand polishing with Megs Scratch-X. Nothing is removing it. You can feel it ever so slightly with your finger tips. It looks like overspray but clay didn't do anything. I'm going to try and polish it more aggressively today but wanted some opinions. Perhaps paint thinner will work?



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Close up of the above image:

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Another spot:



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Might be a little far out, but maybe the clear got so thin that it broke in some spots and the layer is now separating and the stuff is water vapor trapped between the base and the clear? :D
 
454Casull said:
Might be a little far out, but maybe the clear got so thin that it broke in some spots and the layer is now separating and the stuff is water vapor trapped between the base and the clear? :D
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It's definitely on the surface. I was able to polish it off but I still want to know what it is. Anyone have any ideas?
 
It appears to me that when the vehicle was painted recently & the masking paper flipped up after the clear was painted. That's what it looks like to me. If that's what it is you have 2 options.

- Wet sand and compound the area

- Repaint.
 
lasthope05 said:
It looks like some tape residue or some moisture stains from being under a car cover to me.
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It was not under a car cover while it sat in my garage all winter. I could see it being tape residue but it was not sticky/tacky at all.



automedix said:
It appears to me that when the vehicle was painted recently & the masking paper flipped up after the clear was painted. That's what it looks like to me. If that's what it is you have 2 options.

- Wet sand and compound the area

- Repaint.
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This makes sense but it wasn't there right after the repaint. I would think it would have showed up when I picked the car up from the body shop. That's the part that confuses me, it just started showing up and with more and more spots. I polished it out with Megs 105 and a PFW pad. It did come off with 85RD and a white LC pad as well both via rotary. We will see how long before it returns or maybe it won't.



The only other idea I have would be some sort of exhaust residue. I usually let the car warm up for a few minutes before driving it and it definitely runs rich. So it could leave some sort of film on the paint. But the spots don't appear near the exhaust tips so that doesn't really make sense.
 
I've seen something similar to this twice this year. In both cases the stains appeared after the cars had been under a non-breathable plastic with some moisture underneath. In one case the car had stains all over; the owner had it wetsanded/compounded and the stains re-appeared after a few weeks. He was able to polish them by hand and remove them, then have them re-appear. In both cases after polishing the car was waxed. I spoke with a painter friend of mine and he suggested it was moisture under/in the clear, he told us to try removing by compounding but not sealing/waxing, so we compounded and hit with alcohol. It's been ~3 weeks and they haven't come back yet but we'll see. In any event, the stains looked identical to yours. The reason you're seeing them now could be that you polished the car after the work was done and now they are re-appearing. I assume you sealed/waxed?



Try polishing them out, hitting with alcohol (no wax, no polishes with silicone), and see it they re-appear?
 
Picus said:
I've seen something similar to this twice this year. In both cases the stains appeared after the cars had been under a non-breathable plastic with some moisture underneath. In one case the car had stains all over; the owner had it wetsanded/compounded and the stains re-appeared after a few weeks. He was able to polish them by hand and remove them, then have them re-appear. In both cases after polishing the car was waxed. I spoke with a painter friend of mine and he suggested it was moisture under/in the clear, he told us to try removing by compounding but not sealing/waxing, so we compounded and hit with alcohol. It's been ~3 weeks and they haven't come back yet but we'll see. In any event, the stains looked identical to yours. The reason you're seeing them now could be that you polished the car after the work was done and now they are re-appearing. I assume you sealed/waxed?



Try polishing them out, hitting with alcohol (no wax, no polishes with silicone), and see it they re-appear?
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Thanks for the advice Kevin. I had originally put some PS paste on the car after the original polishing. The spots didn't appear for several months (~4) I had already applied pink wax yesterday before coming inside to read your reply so we will see if/when the spots return. If they do I will polish again then IPA wipe down and let it sit for a while and see what happens. The only weird part is the body shop only had the car 4 days. That seems to short of a time for these stains to happen from moisture but who knows. I just hope they stay away.



PS: Nice to see you posting again.



Lasthope05: It appears you had the right theory.
 
audicoupej said:
Thanks for the advice Kevin. I had originally put some PS paste on the car after the original polishing. The sports didn't appear for several months (~4) I had already applied pink wax yesterday before coming inside to read your reply so we will see if/when the spots return. If they do I will polish again then IPA wipe down and let it sit for a while and see what happens. The only weird part is the body shop only had the car 4 days. That seems to short of a time for these stains to happen from moisture but who knows. I just hope they stay away.



PS: Nice to see you posting again.



Lasthope05: It appears you had the right theory.
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The car I mentioned earlier (which was a new Audi A4, fwiw), was at the shop for 6 hours. They re-sprayed a rocker then put the car outside; it rained and they covered it with a non breathable plastic...and voila, stains. I don't know for sure if that's the issue you're seeing but lets hope so, so you can fix it up!
 
Picus said:
The car I mentioned earlier (which was a new Audi A4, fwiw), was at the shop for 6 hours. They re-sprayed a rocker then put the car outside; it rained and they covered it with a non breathable plastic...and voila, stains. I don't know for sure if that's the issue you're seeing but lets hope so, so you can fix it up!
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Well, my car was at the body shop for 4 days so I guess I could have this same issue for sure. That seems to make the most sense. Hopefully they stay away but if not I'm armed with a technique that should keep them away for good. Thanks again Kevin!
 
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