What Is This Stuff On My Paint?!?!

[ScaryTed77]

Hi guys,

Here starts my sad tale

Like a lot of places around Sydney, it has been raining here a fair bit over the last few days. Today however was clear skies all day, so I took the opportunity to wash my car. As you would expect, it was a bit dirty from driving around in the wet, and the bonnet / roof / boot had the normal 'dirty rain' look (as in they were dirty because of the dirt in the rain that fell on them).

For reference, the car is a 1996 R33 GTS-T S2. I'm the first owner in Australia.

However, as soon as I start washing, I know something is wrong. After washing the roof and rinsing it, I am confronted with this:

Roof

Boot

I have tried:

• Scrubbing with a wool car wash glove
  
• Light/medium rubbing with Auto Glym Super Resin
  
• Light/medium rubbing with Kitten Cream Cut & Polish No. 2
  

None of the above had ANY effect

Not only that, its not something that's 'on' the paintwork- the paint itself has been changed (ie if you look at it from an angle theres nothing 'on' the paint, its still a smooth finish)

Please help! Any ideas as to what it is, what caused it, and how can I go about fixing it? (if indeed it can be fixed). I've only had the car for 3 months and one of the reasons I bought it was because the paintwork was pretty clean.

Appreciate any help/suggestions you can offer.

(see attached for larger images)

[axe s]

i'd go to a spray painter and ask... if it's something in the rain their would have been a few people with the same problem...

they should know what use to get it off, That would be the best bet.

[Krimz]

I have had something that looked like that i used Repo cut and polish went over with it twice and it was all gone. 1st time half of it went, i let the cut n polish dry a lil bit to much b4 taking it off lol took a wile to get it off haha.

Goodluck with it let us know how ya go

[(B1) MR_fanny]

do you park under a power line? bird pee or discharge perhaps that has gotten to the paint..tree sap maybe? i get the odd white spot once in a while but nothing as crazy as yours.

[ScaryTed77]

I have had something that looked like that i used Repo cut and polish went over with it twice and it was all gone. 1st time half of it went, i let the cut n polish dry a lil bit to much b4 taking it off lol took a wile to get it off haha.

Goodluck with it let us know how ya go

I might give the cut and polish another go tomorrow, but I'm not sure if it will help much

do you park under a power line? bird pee or discharge perhaps that has gotten to the paint..tree sap maybe? i get the odd white spot once in a while but nothing as crazy as yours.

Hard to know. I haven't parked under any trees or power lines recently (well at the very most I might have had a branch over-hanging the car, but that's it).

I just don't know how it happened. The other strange thing is I always park front-ways, and yet theres nothing on the bonnet (which I would have thought would be a pretty damn big target to miss). The other strange thing is that there is no white marks on the rear spoiler at all- only the boot.

[4drftn]

if you bought the car because the paint work looked shmick... most likely it had a fresh respray... by the looks of it it may have had a reaction under the clear...

my boss had a HZ GTS and he got a custom paint job and over time (within a couple of weeks) the primer come up through the paint in some sections. which left small white spots. paid nearly $9,000!

but water lookin marks could be a oily film under your clear or in the base coat which could mean it wasnt prep washed and rubbed dry before the clear coat was put on or in my case when i resprayed my front bar at one stage moisture from the roof of dripped down and made similar marks to yours... but it come up pretty much within a couple of hours of spraying, so i rubbed it back afterwards and hit it again with another couple of coats of clear

[ScaryTed77]

if you bought the car because the paint work looked shmick... most likely it had a fresh respray... by the looks of it it may have had a reaction under the clear...

my boss had a HZ GTS and he got a custom paint job and over time (within a couple of weeks) the primer come up through the paint in some sections. which left small white spots. paid nearly $9,000!

but water lookin marks could be a oily film under your clear or in the base coat which could mean it wasnt prep washed and rubbed dry before the clear coat was put on or in my case when i resprayed my front bar at one stage moisture from the roof of dripped down and made similar marks to yours... but it come up pretty much within a couple of hours of spraying, so i rubbed it back afterwards and hit it again with another couple of coats of clear

Hmmm, interesting.

The only thing is I've had this car since late July, and it has only shown up now.

It's *possible* that the roof was resprayed, but the boot is actually fairly faded- pretty sure it's the original paint.

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions thus far though guys.

[GTScotT]

if its under the paint then its the clear lifting off the paint, thats bad and would need to be re painted, yet i cant realy tell from the pics, do the spots feel funny like a film sort or? if not then it might just cut and polish off, yet dont try a buff until u know as if its the clear a buff will destroy it

[ScaryTed77]

if its under the paint then its the clear lifting off the paint, thats bad and would need to be re painted, yet i cant realy tell from the pics, do the spots feel funny like a film sort or? if not then it might just cut and polish off, yet dont try a buff until u know as if its the clear a buff will destroy it

The marks don't 'feel' any different at all to the non-marked areas. The paint is perfectly normal to touch.

[ScaryTed77]

Update:

Went to my local spray painter today- he thinks its probably due to a dodge respray when the car was first landed in Oz Going to try machine buffing first, and if that doesn't help I'll just get the areas resprayed. I wish I could afford a full respray, but I just cant at the moment. I know it won't look as good with a partial respray because they can never perfectly match the colours, but it will have to do.

Thanks for your input everyone.

[SECURITY]

get some 1000 grit wet and dry sand paper and use that on it, then buff it after.

i had a few spots like while my car was off the road, the grout from the tiles on the upstairs balcony dripped on it (i parked it close to the house).

i just got some wet and dry, wet it, and lightly sanded it then buffed it smooth again. came out shmick.

[GeeTR]

For a moment it looked like the mineral damage i have on my car.

Where i used to work, used bore water for irrigation. On a hot day, i found the sprinklers had wet my car. Thinking nothing of it, i noticed the next day, something in the water had actually eaten or pitted the paint where the water marks where! Grrr.

Need that respray now

[RANDY]

My gf's old, old old car has the same kind of thing... it's actually eaten the paint away though. Someone once told me that it can be the residue after a plane dumps its fuel to land. (although i'd think that it would become a very fine mist from that far up)

[Trust33]

i had a swift gti once. i rested a hot pizza box on the bonnet for 30 sec's took it off and what has happend to yours has given a similar result.

no ammount of cutting and polishing could fix it. it would go away to a certain extent but then by next wash it would come back again. I think the fact that it was on the bonnet didnt help much because it would get hot again and bring the discolouration back out. i think it's the clear coat that has burnt.

[GeeTR]

My gf's old, old old car has the same kind of thing... it's actually eaten the paint away though. Someone once told me that it can be the residue after a plane dumps its fuel to land. (although i'd think that it would become a very fine mist from that far up)

Holy Shit dood, i had to check if i mentioned an airport in my story... as I used to park my car literally 300m from our only airport!

Fark, i wonder if I can sue them....

[4drftn]

it could also have been resprayed with acrylic over 2 pac without an etch primer or something...

but r33's and earlier were sprayed in acrylic from factory, im sure.

anyways you can put 2 pac over acrylic but acrylic over 2 pac needs decent amouts of primer or an etch primer for extra bite...so iv been told

acrylic paint creates layers, thats why some cars get clear peeling, and 2 pac bonds or fuses together.

you could try using a colour polish. i think autobahn use to supply colour polish. just find a colour polish that is close to the colour of the car... its also good for scratches over your paint work too.

[Simon-S14]

get just the boot resprayed, wouldnt cost much more then 200-300 for a decent job

[ScaryTed77]

Simon- yeah, a respray for the boot and roof is an option. The rear spoiler is badly faded anyway, so I want to get that done.

Interesting about the airport thing- I'm nowhere near an airport, so I can rule that out for me.

[RANDY]

Holy Shit dood, i had to check if i mentioned an airport in my story... as I used to park my car literally 300m from our only airport!

Fark, i wonder if I can sue them....

hehe! Perhaps? Try dumping fuel in your street infront of the law and see what happens ;o)

Thinking about it... the last comment or so about the pizza-box brings up a good point. Same thing will happen with your (parents expensive) coffee table.. pizza box or a hot cup of coffee will turn the laquer white. Perhaps a cheap respray with a crappy clear coat is a little too sensitive? I can picture someone using an angle grinder in a garage where the car once sat.. hot metal sparks fly and land on the boot, boot goes blotchy white, owner buffs it out, car gets washed and then the blotches show up again. That's a long-shot though.

Laser Wash have signs up advising all red cars before a certain year to use the wash at their own risk. Older red paints (for some reason unknown to me) fade like buggery in the sun, with heat, or with a certain detergent.

Edited November 19, 2007 by RANDY

[ScaryTed77]

hehe! Perhaps? Try dumping fuel in your street infront of the law and see what happens ;o)

Thinking about it... the last comment or so about the pizza-box brings up a good point. Same thing will happen with your (parents expensive) coffee table.. pizza box or a hot cup of coffee will turn the laquer white. Perhaps a cheap respray with a crappy clear coat is a little too sensitive? I can picture someone using an angle grinder in a garage where the car once sat.. hot metal sparks fly and land on the boot, boot goes blotchy white, owner buffs it out, car gets washed and then the blotches show up again. That's a long-shot though.

Laser Wash have signs up advising all red cars before a certain year to use the wash at their own risk. Older red paints (for some reason unknown to me) fade like buggery in the sun, with heat, or with a certain detergent.

Yeah, as much as I like the colour, it's not known for its longevity

I'm booked in for the machine buff (and possible respray) next week. Will post back here and let you all know the results.