Source
r/AutoDetailing•
_cassis_

Road paint on car?

Hi guys!

A colleague of mine has found her car covered in micro-drops of white paint. Nobody in the neighborhood knows what happened. We suspect some kind of road paint, but the police could not find who did it (no road work that day, no construction site nearby...). I doubt it's water-based paint.

So, she is stuck with her car like this: http://imgur.com/a/ASefN

We already went to a few car-washes trying to get help but unfortunately, they all advise to go to a body shop. That will be very expensive!

Therefore, I'm asking you in last resort. Do any of you have any experience with such problems. Can it be saved? If you need more info/picture, I will gladly provide!

Thanks!

Posted Apr 27, 2015, 11:56 AM UTC

714
mrdotkom•

Claybar for the painted areas and a razor blade for the glass

6
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

Thank you for your answer. As u/DarkhorseV advised, I will use your option first, the least aggressive. I will also let you know how it goes.

2
BubbasMakingWheels•

Try some isopropyl alcohol or nail polish remover. Test on the glass first. It won't harm the paint, but will strip the wax off. So the car will need to be rewaxed/sealed.

5
davidjgurney•

To tack onto this, don't do this on any non-factory paintwork like SMART repairs because it might smudge.

3
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

I think the car hasn't ever been detailed in any way. It's still factory seal. She lives in rural areas and most of the time her car is quite dirty. It's time to take care of it :-)

Edit: I will confirm with her if she ever took care of the bodywork apart from the occasional automatic car-wash.

1
davidjgurney•

It's been covered here then. Try clay bar first, making sure it's well lubricated. They were designed to remove overspray in car body shops, and are really safe provided you don't drop it.

If that doesn't work, try lighter fluid (Zippo or similar) or isopropyl alcohol on a cloth/sponge. Personally, I'd stay clear from nail polish remover because you don't know if it would react with the paint.

You will then need to polish and wax it, because you'll have stripped all the previous wax and fillers, and maybe caused some minor swirls.

2
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

Thanks! Clay bar seems to be an amazing product. Never used it but I definitely will!

Maybe it's time to take auto-detailing seriously :-)

1
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

Thanks for the input. Nail polish seems like a good idea, if less aggressive options don't work.

I should definitely buy the tools to wax/polish/seal the car. I think this is a good time to get serious with auto-detailing!

1
mazdababe92•

claybar, compound, polish, wax. WD40 or goo gone might also be helpful, especially with the windows. I promise this will work, and if it doesn't...well, it's going to.

think about it, when you paint a car, you need to go through a bunch of steps to get it to adhere properly. priming, wetsanding, allowing cure time... a little over spray isn't going to be difficult to remove.

3
DarkhorseV1960 Caddy | Fins FTW•

Road paint is designed to stick to dusty/textured surfaces with a little oil and rubber on them with no prep.

If your car wasn't recently waxed, or if you don't catch it early on before it 'cures', road paint can be very hard to get off. The clay gets some of it, but it'll just eat up foam bads. You've got to go with tar/grease remover, or even a little lacquer thinner to get it off chemically sometimes.

That being said, use the least aggressive options first. Just like polishing, you want to go with the least aggressive option that still does the job.

4
mazdababe92•

...oh fuck, good point. Thanks for your input man, I didn't think of that!

5
DarkhorseV1960 Caddy | Fins FTW•

Oh, no problem. I agree with you completely for rattle can or automotive overspray - the clay bar is magical for that.

3
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

That being said, use the least aggressive options first.

That's probably the best advice! Thank your for it.

Unfortunately, I think that the paint has been "cooked" by the sun the previous week. Over here, road paint is burned on the road with a little flamethrower to make it more resistant.

I will let you know if I get any positive result!

2
_cassis_OPOpel ASTRA H 1.9 CDTI•

Thanks! That's close to my line of thought. Road paint will generally be heated to prevent any kind of wear. However, the car was probably parked in the sun most of the time :-(

I will try this if other options fail.

2