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Old 01-20-2018, 04:03 PM   #1
Joe M 2012 2SS


 
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What could have caused these spots?

I've seen spots on cars caused from acidic things, that actually make a crater into the paint, these don't have any craters in them.

I've seen mineral deposits that cause spots, which are above the surface, and can be removed with an acidic product.

These spots are unlike anything I have ever seen.
Fortunately, this is only spot on the entire car that has them. The horizontal strip on top of the driver's side rear view mirror.

I tried an acidic remover, finishing polish, compound, and got no results at all.

After a light pass with 2000 grit on one of the spots, I saw around 50% removal. My paint thickness gauge battery ended up being dead, so I didn't proceed any further.
I'm not sure it will work in this area anyway.

What causes etching/staining without being acidic or a mineral deposit?
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Old 01-20-2018, 05:51 PM   #2
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Perhaps something contaminated it at factory, either underneath paint or before clearcoat? IDK. If it were me, I'd just have the mirror repainted.
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Old 01-20-2018, 06:28 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by radar1972 View Post
Perhaps something contaminated it at factory, either underneath paint or before clearcoat? IDK. If it were me, I'd just have the mirror repainted.
I was thinking the same. Its hard to tell, but they look under the clear
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Old 01-20-2018, 07:09 PM   #4
Joe M 2012 2SS


 
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I don't think it's from the factory. If it was, I would have definitely seen them after washing the car weekly for over 3 years now.

I'm not convinced it's under the paint, as the one spot I did a bit of wet sanding on, came back about 50% improved after compounding the sanded area.

It's got me stumped.
I've sanded and compounded out......... on car's other than mine......., bird bombs, etched rings from mineral deposits, love bug etchings on cars brought to NC from Florida, acid rain etchings on cars from the northern east coat, and I've never seen anything like these spots.
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Old 02-03-2018, 07:35 AM   #5
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I would recommend some Meguairs M205. If that does not cut it, drop down to the 105 and then follow with the 205.
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Old 02-16-2018, 07:49 PM   #6
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I would recommend some Meguairs M205. If that does not cut it, drop down to the 105 and then follow with the 205.
X2 on the Meguairs. That stuff cuts good.
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Old 02-18-2018, 03:56 PM   #7
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This turned out to be what is called organic plant matter. It actually came off itself after a couple days of sunlight exposure.

The reason for the difficulty of removing is it had penetrated the pores of the clear coat, and being that it is mostly decomposed to begin with, removal using abrasives isn't enough to fully remove it.

It evaporates over time with sunlight exposure.

A professional detailer with many years of experience suggested this to me, and while I found it odd, having seen every type of water spot that is made by mineral deposits on paint, I figured giving it a go before sanding off 1/2 the clear coat to remove most of it.

It took 2 days and approximately 16 hours of sunlight exposure for it to evaporate out.

Most likely cause was from snow settling on the mirror, while slowly melting, the matter settled into the pores.

The spots have completely vanished, and no further abrasive removal was needed.

I believe I may not have prepped this very small area properly during my last polish/seal procedure, which allowed it into the pores.
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