Defect - what may this be?

[wifpd4]

I'm working on a 2006 Mercedes and there are many of these, for lack of a better descriptor, warts on the surface.

They do not stick out like a wart, but rather are etched into the surface. Kind of wrinkled texture. Seems small for a bird bomb, but is it possible it was caused by tree sap/pine tar?

Here is a a rather poor photo of one just to the left of the towel. They are about 1/8" to 3/16" in diameter.

Seems like it is something I can't correct, but at a minimum I would like to advise the owner how to avoid them in the future.

Any information (or guesses) you provide would be appreciated, thanks.

[HCAD]

Re: Defect - what may this be?

Looks like a small spot of clearcoat failure don't you think? Could be from any one of a dozen things that get sprinkled on our cars. Probably tree fallout is a good guess. What did you try to get rid of them?

[wifpd4]

Re: Defect - what may this be?

Looks like a small spot of clearcoat failure don't you think? Could be from any one of a dozen things that get sprinkled on our cars. Probably tree fallout is a good guess. What did you try to get rid of them?

I'm doing the whole car with some Ult Compound, followed by SwirlX and then tomorrow Ult Polish, followed Saturday with Ult Wax.

Been avoiding them, wishing not to make them worse. Their depth made me think I didn't have the skills, tools, nor the experience to fix them.

Clean them out with alcohol to get any product out of them and the wax over them I guess???

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Defect - what may this be?

It looks like they're very concentrated etch marks from some contaminant, possibly tree sap. Have you tried working on one specific spot with a bit more aggression to see if you can at least minimize the appearance? You may not be able to fully remove them without resorting to more extreme measures - spot sanding and buffing - which you may not even be comfortable attempting yet. If that's the case, do the best you can with your current tools, skill and comfort level and then stop. Obviously this is not the car for you to experiment on, but you can push your skill set a bit. Just don't go crazy. Think.

We have every confidence that you'll do the right thing, even if that means not getting them out fully right now.

[wifpd4]

Re: Defect - what may this be?

I'll describe this project more in a "show your latest detail", but I think I hit the end of my skill set.

I met with the owner today and he said the car was a pre-owned, so the previous owner may have parked the car in a poor location.

I'm hoping the owner will allow me to work on the car in the future, but as you've indicated Michael, this is not a car I should experiment with.