Rust speckles on paint??

Hello all. I live in the salt chain (maine), we get pretty bad/salt throughout the winters here. My truck is now five years old, paint is mint!

I noticed something, I have this little rust speckles on my paint near the bottom of the tailgate. It comes off with heavy elbow grease and saliva. This would take me a week to do with my own spit. What can take this sh!t off easily? Should I be considered, what causes this to happen?

 

I had a lot of that on my 2007. I fully detailed my truck and it all came off. I washed, clay barred, Meguiars Ultimate Compound then a sealer. The Ultimate Compound did a lot more than the clay bar did. It still took a little elbow grease but the whole process took about 4 hours (I have a double cab with a shell so a lot of surface area).

 

clay bar

 

clay bar, asking , how are your brakes?
I had a ford mustang gt and some ford service tard, did not read the manual and the rear brakes had special calipers that you turned to push out when replacing pads, if you force it, the caliper seal will break and you might not know it and one is dragging just enough to shave off and leave rusty dust. that was my clue

 

Seems that is what I am going to have to do, dedicate my whole day to it. Thanks for the info, I found some of the meguiars at a local shop. I will try this in the coming weeks. Ill post pics once she's all cleaned up!

 

Detailing clay will take care of that. You'll see the rusty orange color on the clay as evidence that those particles are coming off.

Depending on how picky you are, you might be able to get away with just waxing it afterwards. If you want it perfect, you'll need to polish it and then wax it after claying it.

 

Thanks for the advice/instructions. Your products look good i wouldnt mind purchasing some detailing products for my up and coming detail job. Any suggesrions for my sotuation?

 

For what it's worth, the detailing clay didn't take the orange speckels off my truck. Maybe I wasn't putting enough elbow grease into it but it was taking off all the other contaminants and leaving most of the orange crap on the truck. The Meguiars Ultimate Compound did a great job taking it off after the clay bar step though. I certainly could have been doing it incorrectly but the clary bar alone didn't work taking off the orange crap for me (did make the paint job look great though).

 

Were the orange speckles more like stains or very tiny grits of sand? The fallout / pollution that detailing clay removes is more like the latter.

Most of the junk that clay removes is not even visible. Most folks know they need to clay their paint when it feels gritty. When you're done with the clay, the paint is as smooth as glass. In my expereince, it doesn't look any different except in cases where the fallout is rusting against a light-colored background. I did a white Mercedes that had the orange dot syndrome, but I never noticed it (visually) on darker colors. I was only able to feel it.

 

Check out a product called IronX. This is what its made for and should help. (I'm not affiliated with this product, just a loyal consumer).

 

We currently don't sell clay. I was unhappy with the softness of my supplier's clay so I pulled it.

I recommend Clay Magic. I especially like the stuff that comes in a black box with a bottle of lube. Follow the instructions on the box.

When you're done, finish up with wax, unless there are scratches that are bothering you. There are literally thousands of opinions on what to use, so I'm not going to go there, except that you should pick what fits your preferences. I am fine with the spray wax that we sell, mostly because it is so darn easy to apply and remove. Some people spends hours layering all different types of sealants and waxes and talk about why that's the best method. Some say you have to use a certain type based on the paint color, or whether or not that paint has metallic in it. You can spends hundreds of dollars on wax or sealant if you want.

I can wax my truck in less that 15 minutes and I typically do it after every wash because I love that super-slick finish. A bottle is less than $9. Spray, wipe, wipe again and you're done. No circles, no staining.

 

From what I gathered, the orange speckels I had were from rail dust or something similar (basically fine particles rusting on the surface of the clear coat). The clay bar took some of it off and brightened up the paint some it seemed. I have a superwhite and it hadn't been detailed in the 3.5 years I'd owned it. The Meguiar's compound worked wonders though. It seemed to have a very dramatic affect. It removed all the remaining orange dots as well as anything else the claybar left behind. Like I said though, I'm not a detailer, just a goober who decided to detail my truck in my back yard. I'd never used any of the products before and I certainly could have done something incorrectly, just reporting what I noticed.

 

Gotcha.

I've come across bonded contamination that was so bad that mild clay barely made a difference. Stepping up to the medium grade made a huge difference. I've also seen polish take off bonded contaminants so either method appears to work, but I've been told that the preferred way is to use clay.

Theoretically, if you're using a buffer, the bonded contaminants end up contaminating your pad if you don't clay first. But if you buff by hand and change your cloths, I suppose it's not a worry.

In any case, the bottom line is 'use the method that works for you'.

 

I would never buff a car without using a clay bar first. When I bought my truck some numb nuts at the dealership buffed it and left a million swirl marks, holograms in the clear coat and burned a spot. I'm still working on getting rid of some of the deeper ones blemishes in the paint.

A good way to tell if you need to use a clay bar is after you wash and dry the truck, take a plastic grocery bag put your hand inside the bag then run it over the paint. You'll feel the bag drag and feel the grit in the paint much easier than just your bare hand.

 

It might sound crazy but I've used a magic erasure sponge on tar, bug splatters, and black smudges. I have two white vehicles: 11 Taco, and 11 Porsche. I use it on both cars ands it doesn't scratch the clear coat or affect the paint in any negative way. Get the magic erasure very wet and lightly rub off the affected area. My girlfriend has a white Jetta and someone sideswiped her in a parking lot. There was a huge black smudge on the rear quarter. I used clay, rubbing compound, and then all kinds of cleaners that didn't even touch it. I tried the magic erasure and it came off with ease. I waxed the area and it looked like new. Try an inconspicuous spot and see of it works for you.

 

use clay magic. that should solve your problem.

 

Do you work for them or something?? You've successfully spammed the hell out of TW promoting Clay Magic...