Getting suntan cream off paintwork
Discussion
We drove to the beach for our holiday this year. The kids managed to get suntan cream hand prints on the car and I must admit that I've been slow in cleaning it. It's probably been a month or so but this morning I decided to give the car a good wash. The hand prints just won't budge. I've tried:
Meguiars NXT car wash
Meguiars Quick Detailer
Windowlene
Washing up liquid
Isoprpanol
But no joy. Pictures below. Any advice (apart from wash the car more frequently!) gratefully received.
Full resolution versions at:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208
Meguiars NXT car wash
Meguiars Quick Detailer
Windowlene
Washing up liquid
Isoprpanol
But no joy. Pictures below. Any advice (apart from wash the car more frequently!) gratefully received.


Full resolution versions at:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208
I had this problem on the metalic silver paintwork of my isuzu trooper. It seemed impossible to remove with usual cleaners. I'm not a scientist, but i understand some suntan creams contain titanium dioxide (white pigment?) amongst a whole host of other chemicals and maybe this had reacted with clear coat. In the end I used a paint renovator which helped, but still did not give a perfect result - maybe even harder on a dark colour.
Trooper2 said:
Try a cleaner car wax or a polish as opposed to "quick detailer".
The suntan cream has left behind oils in the paint and the wax/polish will blend the hand print areas in with the rest of the paint.....or it should...
The suntan cream has left behind oils in the paint and the wax/polish will blend the hand print areas in with the rest of the paint.....or it should...

Edited by Trooper2 on Sunday 10th September 15:19
Thanks - I'll give that a try
as a last resort try some suncream on a cloth spread all over the panel, it will blend the marks in and give the same finish all over, then wash and wax normally, it should be barely noticable.
Its not easy to get off though so there is no easy solution, although have you tried fairl liquid?
Its not easy to get off though so there is no easy solution, although have you tried fairl liquid?
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