[the_doctor]

Hi everyone,

My first post! I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section ... anyhow:

I have a 2-mth old 2011 e92 AW 335xi. After parking my car at work yesterday (garaged), I noticed that there are traces of red / pink paint on my hood. It must be from another car / truck / moving object since it does not look like vandalism - the paint looks like it "beaded" when it landed on my hood and the wind spread the paint to an area approx 8" x 4" with random tiny droplets around the same area.



Close-up Shot:



Poor thing - my car is babied and garaged daily - washed once a week using the 2-bucket method using Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo and touched up each time with Meguiar's Quick Wax. Also "waxed" once a month using Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 (I put "waxed" in quotations since I realize Tech Wax is really a polymer). Just like other e90/e92's on this post, it looks amazing when clean!

Here's what I have tried so far and none of the attempts have worked:

Attempt #1:
- wash with Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo
- clay with Meguiar's Clay Kit
- "wax" with NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 (since it's supposed to have cleaning abilities)

Attempt #2:
- wash with Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo
- clay with Meguiar's Clay Kit
- polish with Meguiar's M205 with G110v2 DA polisher (Meg yellow polishing pad at speed 5)

Has anyone else had this happen to their cars?

Hence, I think it needs wet sanding. I don't really want to go to the body shop since I want to avoid repainting if at all possible. Since I have no experience whatsoever with wet sanding, I'm not about to experiment on a brand new 335i. I'm in Toronto and I know picus is a reputed detailer in the city and on this forum. Has anyone contacted / heard from him lately? I tried calling him, left VM, but not with much luck ...

Many thanks!

[Bartman619]

go to Home Depot and buy some Goof Off...it's solvent that will take it right off and will not harm the clearcoat. Put some on a clean cloth and rub it over the paint and it should dissolve the paint. give your car a wash after using it.

[parapaul]

Can you feel the paint overspray if you run your fingers over it? I'd suggest 2 things. Firstly, try a more aggressive clay - Megs do a selection, as do many other brands. Secondly, if that doesn't work, any decent bodyshop should be able to wet sand that area then polish it back to a perfect finish. You shouldn't need a respray.

[zaxjax]

Go to an auto parts store, most have a paint section and look for Prep-Sol.

Here is a discussion if you cant find it and the alternatives people are using

http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-det...ternative.html

[the_doctor]

Originally Posted by parapaul

Can you feel the paint overspray if you run your fingers over it? I'd suggest 2 things. Firstly, try a more aggressive clay - Megs do a selection, as do many other brands. Secondly, if that doesn't work, any decent bodyshop should be able to wet sand that area then polish it back to a perfect finish. You shouldn't need a respray.

Ya, you could feel the paint; but after M205, it did feel a whole lot smoother but the paint is still on!

Went to the dealer today for a break-in oil change (5,000 km) and the service advisor asked their detailer. They even tried buffing it for me but they couldn't remove it either; recommended wet sanding ... boooo

I just don't have a whole lot of luck with cars I guess. My previous baby was a 2007 Subaru Impreza and that poor thing got hailed on and cost $14,000 to fix!!!

[Bartman619]

use Goof Off man....a small can is like 5 bucks...rub it on the paint, let it soak a little and wipe off with a clean cloth using a little pressure. it's not going to cost you more than 2 clean rags, $5.00 can of GoofOff, and elbow grease. Trust me it works. My e36 was vandalized with spraypaint on both the front and passer side doors on the left side of the car. the paint dried in the sun for more than a day and I used the Goof Off. 2 hrs later it was gone. I gave the car a good wash and waxing afterwards.

[the_doctor]

Ok so I went out and got a bottle of Goof Off 2 and it removed all (well, 95%) of the paint. There was so little left that you have to look at it under bright artificial light and you can only see it on a certain angle.

That's good enough for me!

After Goof Off, I applied wax on the entire hood.

Thank you!!

[Jim D.]

Glad you made some progress.

The remainder may come off over time, just during the normal waxing progress. If it does not, try a scratch remover by hand, and very lightly. Follow with your wax.

Generally a cleaner wax will also do the job, like the Mothers California Gold Carnauba Cleaner Wax. A synthetic wax simply won't touch such problems as you found out.

If you don't mind investing $20-25 in an aggressive clay bar, it's handy to have around for such instances, and probably would have done the job right off the bat with a little elbow grease. But you'd likely have to polish afterwards, which is why they call them "aggressive." I have the Meguiar's Aggressive bar and it comes in handy for paint transfers and such.

[TheRox]

rest wil probably come off as you polish over time.