Solomoan

I need advice re recently discovered stains on the passenger front door external paint. My guess is that condensation dripping from overhead steel pipes in our office parking garage have caused this discoloration. I have a black GX, and the marks are circular droplets that are a whitish-silver, and at first appeared to be soapy water stains, but are not removable by normal cleaning. The paint/finish does not appear to be damaged or eaten away.

Any advice re rubbing compounds or other home remedies would be appreciated!

Guitarman

A few years back, I was hired by a condo complex to solve similar problems on cars that sat in the underground garage and were subjected to runoff from water through the concrete ceilings of the parking garage. Many of them had severe mineral etching, whitish blotches and other discoloration, and scaling too. I must have worked on 30 of them over a year's time, until the runoff problem was solved.

I solved the few that hadn't had the water sit too long with CLR and a sponge. The ones that were etched got the CLR to remove the deposits, then had to be wetsanded and polished to remove the etching. Fortunatley, none had such extreme damage as to require a repaint. Had they let it go without calling me, I'm sure some would've.

Try the CLR, let it dwell a couple minutes (not too long- it's harsh) and wipe with the sponge, then flush well with water.Wax when dry. Good luck!

Solomoan

I profess my ignorance and have to ask what's "CLR" ?

Guitarman

It's a common mineral deposit remover (CLR stands for calcium/lime/rust) and can be found at Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware etc.

Lookee here; http://www.polsteins.com/clrcallimrus.html


Cheers.

Solomoan

I'll follow your advice and let you know the results!

jcg

Had the same thing happen to me years age in an indoor garage. I tried all kinds of things but nothing touched it. Some one told me to soak a paper towel with vinager and lay it on the spot for about 15 minutes. It worked like a charm. cheap too.

Solomoan

This one I gotta try tonight. Thanks for the advice! It's been cruddy weather here for the better part of 2 weeks so am going to have to clean an inch of gunk away just to find the spots.

Much appreciated!

jblex

VINAGER WILL DISSOLVE AND BREAKDOWN THE MINERAL DEPOSITS FROM THE CONCRETE , WE HAVE HAD GOOD SUCCESS WITH THIS METHOD, RUB VINAGER MIXED WITH A LITTLE WATER IN AREA , THEN SIT A COUPLE OF MINUTES THE WIPE OFF, IF NEED BE COME BACK WITH A LITTLE POLISH, FINISH WITH A WAX, HOPE THAT HELPS, JASON

Solomoan

I did as suggested this past weekend. Soaked paper towels in white vinegar and placed over spots for 15 minutes, then cleaned with mild soap and water. The spots remain intact. I will retry, and rub a little bit. My detailer said that he would clay them out then wax over.

Guitarman

Vinegar is a mild acetic acid, since it didn't work you need to go stronger. The CLR is much stronger and cheap enough to justify trying, and it just might work. Maybe your detailer has some CLR ( I sure do, I'd be lost without it ).

If it doesn't work, then we need to go to plan B.

Solomoan

Will get some CLR and try it ASAP! Appreciate the advise from you guys!

lexusondubs

iTrader: (9)

wow dan you surely do have some good 'home remidies' that most people would be afraid to try if not properly instructed. but i have heard of an other way i have never tried this but distilled water and a mild cutting foam pad on a high speed shold also remove the water spots

Solomoan

Work is finally easing up after today, and will try the CLR tomorrow. Thanks again for all of the helpful suggestions. I find this community to be an excellent source of ideas! Will report success (hopefully) on Monday!

Guitarman

Shawn, I can't answer to some things, but I do have experience with the CLR on mineral deposits. The main thing is to not let it dwell too long, a minute is enough. It's either going to work in that time or it won't, and it won't damage the paint unless you left it there a while.Kind of like an acid wheel cleaner on an alloy wheel. Works if used properly, but if you spray it on a hot wheel or leave it dwell for 10 minutes...well, you know what can happen.

Compounding and /or wetsanding might also work, but remember, you're removing a lot of paint there too, and the idea is to first try and remove the deposit / marks and not much of the paint besides that. Thing is, that should always be the initial game plan...I'm not too sure we're not past the point of that being effective now, because that deposit has sat on the paint for more than a week...

If the deposits have etched (good chance given the duration they've been there now) then he'll have to start cutting them with compound or wetsand anyway. Tough call really. The CLR may still remove them, but the etching will now have to be addressed.

Solomoan

Used the CLR, gently wiping over the spotted area for 10-15 seconds, then thoroughly washing & rinsing. The spots are gone, and the paint doesn't appear to be damaged!

Thanks so much for the suggestions!! Great job Dan!