Weird Paintwork Defect

[Penlills]

Hello, i could do with some advise please guys.

In the last couple of days i noticed what looked like watermarks all over the prevously spotless bonnet of my car, so ive washed, polished, waxed and no joy removing them at all.
The car has only been parked on the drive and not under any trees as far as i know.

Here are a few pics (the whole bonnet looks like this)

http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad271/penlills/...
http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad271/penlills/...

And this is after using Autogylm paint restore (still just visable)

http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad271/penlills/...

Any ideas??

Cheers.

[domster]

Various people on various forums have reported similar paint damage over the last few months - even pre-volcano. After a bit of research, and nothing is conclusive, my suspicion is cement dust carried in the wind, rained on and then baked by the sun (creating a very alkaline watermark).

Typically:

- the car will be left outside
- the car will not have been washed for at least 3 weeks
- only the upper surfaces have the etching
- the watermarks cannot be removed by washing alone and need paint correction of some kind
- softer paints are more readily affected, it is more noticeable on darker cars (I have seen it first hand on BMW paint which is traditionally fairly tough, so it does affect other models as well)

[Auto finesse]

We have had around 6 vehicles in recently with this problem, its a strange one and quite tough to fix, all the cars we have come across it has etched quite badly and taken quite a bit of work to remove, Like Dom says what caused it is a bit of a mystery, there are a few theories floating about on forums of volcano ass, calcium in hard water and many others but still no definitive answer.

Here is a BMW we came across last week with the problem.

Edited by Auto finesse on Tuesday 11th May 07:13

[Guycord]

I would have said acid rain from the volcano eruption.

[Penlills]

Thank you for your info on this one chaps, and its good to see im not the only one with this problem!

One of my neighbors had a block paving driveway laid down a month or so ago, so im guessing the dust etc from that may have had an effect, plus the front of the car is very exposed to sunlight (south facing). Would brake fluid or similar chemicals have the same effect on paintwork? splashback from other vehicals or road grime?

The marks are smooth to touch, was this the case on the BMW? Whatever happens i think it will need a proper machine polish

[Tanguero]

Looks exactly the same as I had a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately you can feel the erosion with mine. Still debating as to the best way of dealing with it.

[kellys hero]

Hi


Can't offer any help really other than to say this looks like an effect that happened to my bright red XR3i some 10 years ago.

One morning opened the curtains and saw white "splodges" underneath the rain drops all over the horizontal surfaces, would just about disappear if I polished like a demon but came back within a day. Looked like something had eaten into the paint.

Never sorted it, but remember being in tears while I was polishing as the car was the best car i had ever owned at the time. Ended up selling it as i could not bring myself to look at it, and could not afford a respray back then.

I have since seen it on many red cars, so have vowed never to buy a red car again. Just in case

[toasty]

I've still got it on my Z4 and it appeared about a week before the volcano blew.

One day I'll get the polisher on it and try to restore.

[Penlills]

Hi all, quick update.

Ive had a couple of bodyshop guys look at the problem and both are certain the bonnet and front bumber have been re painted at some point, which makes sence as the marks are only on the bonnet and nowhere else on the car and could possibly suggest a shoddy paint job.
Im going to have it machine polished next week, hopfully there will be enough paint!

I'll report back next week with the results!

[BoraBora]

its not volcanic ash, i work on a chemical plant that spits out sulphurous deposits and they make much different marks, like small hard black spots

[andybl]

We have had this on lot's of BMW & MINI at work . Finally found a fix apart from a full wet sand and polish .

Put a Black 7 series that had it really bad , in the body shop oven for two hours yesterday . Car is now perfect !!

its like the defect is moisture in the paint and the heating drys it out . hope this helps any one .