Sap Attack - A lot harder than I had expected.

Over the last few washes I have noticed some small tar/sap like marks mostly along the front door sill but also extending along the rear sills and each time I washed the car I noticed it was getting worse. I had tried to remove spots during the normal wash but even a little elbow grease had no effect. Here is how it looked up close.

So today I decided to tackle it before it got any worse. I expected it to take around 10 minutes but I ended up spending over two hours and used all of the following to get rid.

First thing I tried was some NXT Speed detailer and a SONUS foam applicator but this was little use so I got the Citrus Tar and Glue Remover which normally makes very short work of stuff like this. But even vigorous use of a foam pad would not shift all of it. It was time to roll up the sleeves and bring out the heavy mob.

First step was to clay the affected area using some Sonus fine clay and NXT Speed Detailer. I was optomistic that the claying process would lift the remaining SAP (or whatever it was). Sadly my optomism was short lived because whilst the claying process lifted some of the crap there were still a lot of marks still visible. Strangely when running my hands over the affected areas it felt perfectly smooth so I decided to get the polisher out.

I wasnt happy about only polishing one specific area because the final finish would be different from the rest of the panel so I clayed the rest of the doors, then the wings, and then bonnet.

I then started with the polishing using the DAS6-PRO at the slowest speed with a Sonus SFX2 4" spot pad and Zaino AIO . The SFX2 is classed as a swirl remover so I didnt want to use an aggressive polish on such a new car. Zaino AIO is a great product for working on cars that dont need correction . It has a mild abrasive that when used with a machine polisher will quickly revive the paint on any car. As with most of these products a little goes a long way.

Once the panels had been done the residue was wiped of and I then applied Sonus SFX-4 paint sealant with a SFX-4 spot pad. This was left to dry and cure during lunch and then buffed afterwards.

I will certainly be keeping on top of this from now on but the one thing I that dissappoints me is that visually the car doesnt look that much better for all this effort. I guess this is the downside of owning a flat white car. whereas my other car looks like new after a weekend with polisher.

Cheers
Paul

Very detailed (no pun intended) post. Results look good, might put a few people off buying the white car though.

Did you have the paintwork protected in anyway prior to the spots appearing? Would something like a gTechnic C1 treatment help to prevent the spotting or at least make it easier to remove?

Which product changed it into a red Bimmer?

Is there any chance its Iron rather than Tar? If so you might need a product like Tardis or Iron-X

Do you leave the car, or drive around a tramway or railway? It does look more like iron spots (after zooming into pics ), which can burn down into the paint. Best look at environment, electrical and machinery, and if possible protect it from that industrial offender!

Looks to me as if someone has been grinding metal with an angle grinder close to the car.[/u]

Yes it's rust from iron full out in the air ( railway lines). As WB said "Iron X" would remove this without having to polish the paint work which removes a very fine layer of paint each time it is done.
Very nice work on the BMW

I'm pretty sure it not iron because it wasnt that hard to touch. My wife has had the car since Oct and as a mobile hairdresser she spends her day either driving to peoples houses or parked outside them. At home the car is parked on the drive. There have been a significant amount of local roadworks in the last 6 months as most of the the gas pipes in the area have been replaced so its possible that something could have been thrown up from the road. ??:

I had a few of these (I mean less than 10 on whole car!) yellowish spots appear mainly on the sides and rear so think its off the road and given how many you have it must off the road if both sides mainly with some front and rear, they don't remove with washing and didn't shift with Meguires Gold Class tar remover, and also had to polish out, but did this by gently by hand very localised to avoid any paint removal, Since then I've treated it to NXT gen Tech WAX 2 and carnauba wax and will build wax coat up. Not seen any return as yet.

Shows how good the finish was if you haven't managed to improve it much, and how forgiving white finish is too! After the Tech Wax it looked STUNNING!

Never had this on an old White Celica, but that must have been lead paint as was hard as nails!

P.S. Great write up!

I know this is an old thread but thought I'd share. The first time I washed my white Evoque a week after I got it I finally got up really close and I noticed dozens of the small black spots and dozens of the small rust spots and they didn't wash off. I had a prior rail dust experience with a new vehicle and knew what it was. I took my Evoque back and my dealership kept my car for quite a while so they could show it to the regional LR rep and they agreed with my position that an acid wash was needed. They took care of everything and were very very helpful.

I had spots around the front bonnet lettering, around the headlights on the horizontal surfaces, on the horizontal bumper surfaces, on the horizontal surfaces next to the brake lights, on the tail gate sill plate (even hidden with the hatch closed), and in one area on the side body above a wheel well. On the main part of the hood/bonnet, I mostly had a few of the black spots.

At first I thought it was tree sap from sitting in my driveway, but my white truck sitting next to it had no spots at all. Eventually I came across these two forum posts and it all made sense:

http://www.detailparadise.com.au/showthr...=rail+dust

http://www.detailparadise.com.au/showthr...nX-FK-SIRR

These pictures aren't full resolution, but you get the idea...
       

Since I had a prior experience with rail dust I've been kicking myself for not doing a close inspection prior to taking delivery of the Evoque. I would have to had taken magnified reading glasses with me to see it clearly, but it would have been worth it to have had it cleaned prior to driving off the lot.