Has anyone ever seen the little tiny rust specks that show up on white cars / trucks? I've got a white one that is covered in tiny spots. It's on the paint, even on plastic parts. How can I get rid of these?

 

I believe that it is called rail dust. From the train transport. Don't know about cleaning it up though.

 

Well, what they are, are metallic bits from the brake pads. Then our lovely, wintery, salty, Illinois roads cause them to rust. Polishing compound or even a cleaning polish/wax oughta do it.

 

This happened to my 2002 Ford PSD that was silver in color. The rust was from the fine iron shavings found in dirt that would splash up on the truck during winter and then rust from the magnesium chloride (liquid salt) that gets put on the roads. I hate that crap . I just looked a couple weeks ago on my white Dodge and it now has the same spots. Did I mention I hate MgCl .

 

I have a white truck also, wheather rail dust or from the road chemicals you, can remove it safely with a clay bar and some spray on detailer. Most auto parts stores have the kits. I use Mothers clay bar and detailer kit is prox $18 there or $11 on e-Bay. Be very careful and don't drop the clay bar on the ground, any dirt it picks up will scratch the paint.

 

clay bar will get it for ya...almost all cars get it on the train ride from the factory

 

Well then we'll try the clay bar, thanks for the tip.

The next problem is the Wife's wheels . . . they are (were) pollished aluminum. Now they are grey corroded. What on earth do I do with those? I've tried neverdull cloth, mothers pollish with a 4 1/2 inch, 10,000 rpm grinder, etc. with no results. Is the paste better than the liquid? What is the quickest fix there? I don't have the scratch for a pollisher to do it for me right now. Anyone want to trade a nice, ready to pollish set of 6 lug Chevy pattern wheels in 17X9or10? She had to have the one with the "pretty" rims . . . (Wife's Suburban).

 

Now on the Polished aluminum. I tried it all, from the drill mounting spinning thing as seen on TV, to polish, pastes, even steel wool. Seems once the aluminum starts to corrode, it goes south quick. If you catch it early and use mother's wheel polish, etc. you can probably get it buffed back into shape. However, I had to get the wheel re-polished at a local guy for the tune of $50/wheel, which was right on the border line of not worth it. Figure he had to lightly sand the wheel back down and re-polish it.

 

mine has some rust specs on one side if you look up close, i always thought it was because somone was grinding on some metal at one time and the sparks hit the truck, but i guess not if other people have the same problem.

 

You can also try automagic.com they were the first with the clay bar. I've been using it for 14 years with there body shine lube/cleaner. Ran a detail shop for 6 years then was in body shop for several years as well works great for over spray as well. They have 2 grades depending on how bad it is. As far as the aluminum wheels not a whole lot left to do then replace or take them in to have cromed.

 

You can use a paint decontamination kit. It is easier than using the clay bar and does a better job. Check out this link, there is some information about it and they sell the kit.

http://www.fk1usa.com/decontamination.htm

 

Interesting. Does it do a whole truck?

 

I bought the gallon jugs of it and it is enough to do the entire truck several times. The kit I used was made by Automotive International and is called the Valugard ABC decontamination system.

 

Has anyone used this product on a fiberglass painted surface like a topper? I am seriously considering getting this and would like to know if anyone has had any problems with this product. Had those little rust spots show up all over my 2002 White Ford and waxed the entire truck, which eliminated all the spots but I know what caused the problem is still probably embedded in the paint... TIA.

 

I'll say the quote thats it's the only factory authorized product is a big old line of BS. Also just about every paint manufature recommend clay bar. Dupont,BASF,PPG. Clay magic by Auto Magic was designed arround GM Dodge and Ford to remove rail dust and still is you'll find in most body shops detail shops out there. I know on Clay Magic blue bar w/body shine is real easy too use will not scratch unless you drop it in the dirt. Spray rub wipe off. 1 hour and your done.
I have used many differant peoples chemicals and none work as well as and easy as Clay Magic. And it's safe on all surfaces.
Not tring to start anything just lots of years in the profeshion. For $30 ish bucks you can do your vehical 5 times and you can use water as an alternitive just doen't work as smoothly as body shine.
I just hate to see people spend more then the need too to get the same or better resolts.