Weird residue left after detailing - any advice?

[CRFTony]

Hi all,

I posted the other day about detailing my Audi:

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6752

The day after I did that it rained so I figured I'd take the opportunity to wash it off and go ahead and try out some ColorX and see how if it would help bring back a bit more of the original color. After doing that, I thought I noticed a bit of a weird, smear residue. I wiped it off agan with a microfiber and then applied some #7 which I left skin and wiped off 3 times per the instructions on the boards. I then applied a coat of #26.

Afterwards the residue was more apparent than ever. It was pretty frustrating as my car looked better before I did the second day's work, lol.

Today I wanted to get rid of that residue so I applied some ScratchX to the hood, but the stuff was still there. I figured some DC Paint Cleaner would get rid of it so I tried that and it still remained. I then applied another coat of DC polish and #26 to the hood where I'd used the scratchx, to protect it until I can figure out what to do.

So, what did I do wrong and how can I fix it?

I can't get my camera to pick up this look as it's only visible if you look at it from just the right angle. The paint isn't marked, it's just kind of smeary/oily. If I take a microfiber I can "push" it around but it just won't come off.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[05PhillyStang]

that fact that you can move it around leads me to believe there is something ON your paint, rather than in it. I would try cre-washing the car, then claying the entire finish. This should remove any residue left on the finish.

If I read your post correctly, you washed and waxed AFTER it rained. Is that correct? The reason I ask is because if it rained right after you waxed the car, the wax may have been lifted from the paint surface and settled with the water droplets on the car, drying up as circular smudges. This is completely an assumption and in no way am I suggesting that this is in fact what occured.

[CRFTony]

Thanks for the advice on claying. I'll have to give that a shot next week.

I had washed, clayed, washed, then cleaned the paint, polished and waxed it one day. Then that evening it rained and continued through the night. By morning it had dried so I washed it off to get rid of the water spots and then I decided to try a coat of colorX. I'm not sure if the smeary look was there before the ColorX or appeared after, but it easily could have been there before and, like you said, been caused by the rain right after the wax.

Well, a claying I shall go!

[zr123]

I have experienced the exact same. Especially with the #7 problem you had (Almost threw the bottle out). Huge smears. I figured it was something like sap or dust or other contaminants stuck to my car's finish that was causing this. So I clayed up the car real good, and re did the entire process, it worked out fine.

You might have to clay real, real hard... Hard enough that your hand feels like it's about to come off. LOL...

Best of luck.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's something I've personally witnessed after buffing out a plethora of cars over the years...

Sometimes when you restore a neglected finish, that is you remove the oxidation, swirls and scratches and restore the clarity and richness of color to the paint, defects that were unnoticeable before you started now stand out and are more easily seen.

We see this all the time at our Saturday clinics when we remove swirls and scratches out of attendees classes. For example we'll take the hood of a severely neglected car and use either ScratchX or M80 Speed Glaze on it and after we have worked the products in and then removed them, because we will have removed hundreds of thousands of shallow, light swirls and scratches, now the only defects remaining will be the deeper defects and because all the shallow defects surrounding them are now gone ,these deeper scratches stand out like a sore thumb!

It's possible this is what you're seeing in your finish. If the car is clearcoated, is it possible what you're seeing is the beginning of clear coat failure as the tends to happen on horizontal surfaces.