HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

[pparrett]

It rained in the early morning and then was hot sunshine all day. I was near a tree and I think that some of the sap/fallout from the leaves may have mixed with the rain and sat on the paint all day. I got it home and washed and the mineral deposits came off. There is no effect on any of the glass, but there are rings or spots etched into the clear coat on the hood, roof, and trunk. I can't feel them at all (fingernail) but I can see them clearly under garage lights. I've tried this so far on my Porter DA with about 4-5 passes each medium pressure alternating directions each pass:

1. Menzerna Final Finish w/ Light Green CCS Polishing Pad: Nothing
2. Menzerna Intensive Polish w/ White Polishing Pad: Removed all swirls! But spots still there.
3. Meg's Ultimate Compound w/ Orange Light Cutting Pad: Starting to remove the spots. I have to get really close and look sideways into the reflection of the florescent garage lights to see them but they are still there.

I curious how much polishing I can do with the UC before I risk getting through the clear coat? The car is brand new and never been polished before. If I take it to a body shop, would they let me use their PTG? I'll take some pictures and post them in an hour when I get home.

I'd appreciate any advice!!!

Thanks

[Innovative Detailing]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

Unless you step up to the new MF pad system, you will need to rotary polish those stains out. At the TNOG at Meguiar's were removed the same defects on a 350Z using this new pad system and the D/A with minimal effort and tremendous results....

[Michael Stoops]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

1. Menzerna Final Finish w/ Light Green CCS Polishing Pad: Nothing
2. Menzerna Intensive Polish w/ White Polishing Pad: Removed all swirls! But spots still there.
3. Meg's Ultimate Compound w/ Orange Light Cutting Pad: Starting to remove the spots. I have to get really close and look sideways into the reflection of the florescent garage lights to see them but they are still there.

Your first two process stated above were pretty mellow, so it's no wonder that you didn't get the etchings out completely. Moving to UC was a definite step up (plus you had that Attempt #2 just before it, which helped), but it sounds like you can still ramp up a bit more with what you have. Staying with the LC orange pad and UC, shrink you work area down to no more than 18" square, run the tool on speed 5, and apply enough downward pressure to almost stop the pad from rotating. This will likely be a big step up in pressure from what you were doing, but still be very safe on what may well be very hard paint. Audi is known for having hard paint (not every single model and year, but still......) so you need to get more aggressive in order to correct the more severe defects. From your description, you've definitely made some decent progress, you just need to keep at it. In fact, you can just about completely discard that first attempt - it likely did essentially nothing with regard to paint removal.

[bheiser]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

Staying with the LC orange pad and UC, shrink you work area down to no more than 18" square, run the tool on speed 5, and apply enough downward pressure to almost stop the pad from rotating. This will likely be a big step up in pressure from what you were doing, but still be very safe on what may well be very hard paint. Audi is known for having hard paint (not every single model and year, but still......) so you need to get more aggressive in order to correct the more severe defects. From your description, you've definitely made some decent progress, you just need to keep at it.

I read this advice from Megs on these forums, and tried it, and it made all the difference in the world in my own efforts (big-time swirl & scratch removal). In my case I'm working on my 2006 Jeep Liberty, with a very hard clear coat (well, hard to repair, easy to scratch ). The only difference is I used the LC Yellow pads for the Ultimate Compound.

[pparrett]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

Here are a few pictures of the damage. I took it to the dealer this weekend and they were very helpful. They agreed that a single rain should not effect the clear coat this way. They asked that I bring it back this week when the service department is open. I hope they can fix it. I'll keep everyone posted on the correction process.

[pparrett]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

Here are a few pictures of the damage. I took it to the dealer this weekend and they were very helpful. They agreed that a single rain should not effect the clear coat this way. They asked that I bring it back this week when the service department is open. I hope they can fix it. I'll keep everyone posted on the correction process.

[RyanG]

Re: HELP!!! Water / Acid Rain Etching: New Black Audi!!!

pparret, is there an update to this? I bought an Audi A4 in January and your pictures could have been taken of my car. I cleaned my car with Gold Class and noticed lots of 'holes' in the lacquer on the boot. These holes are deep enough to feel.

What was your dealer's/Audi's reaction?