Any nasty surprises from the first good wash after winter?

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

So far I've found salt stains on my carpeting, which is funny because I read the salt stains thread and was like "Who gets salt stains", then went out to clean the car and had them too!

I also have a lot of crusty bolts under the car- these NE winters are a bitch. I found tar on the bottoms of the doors- don't know when I drove through tar over the winter.

Ran across these orange stains that I initially thought were rust, but they came off- no idea what they were.

 

I have to say it felt damn good to get all that crud out of the wheelwells- I can't stand dirty wheelwells. And the OBXT has a lot of wheelwell showing, so it looks shitty with mud and road grime under there.

 

So did anyone else find any interesting stuff after a wash?

[OCDetails]

I always expect to find some little black or orange dots on the back of the car so those won't be a surprise. Are those the kinds of orange stains you had? The way the wind blows around the car usually deposits all kinds of industrial fallout back there. Nothing a clay bar and paint cleaner won't take care of though. So far this winter has been pretty gentle on my car. I've only had it since February and we got most of our snow prior to that. Oddly enough we have been slammed by a couple $h!t storms in a row and my car is covered in all kinds of crap. Just in time for 60 degree weather next week. I tell ya... I'll never get tired of this roller coaster weather they get here.

[PGT]

Ummmm.....a nig nasty scratch on my front bumper. Not so much from winter as my jerk neighbor's kid who leaves his trike in my driveway. They live ACROSS the street, mind you. It's in my garage now.....waiting to see him again and return it. Not the first time either - hopefully, when I ask him to pay it will be the last time.

[Xenonk]

I washed off all the salt and tar and under the salt stains, some stupid kid put all these aftermarket performance stickers on my car, bastards!

 

Keefe

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

I washed off all the salt and tar and under the salt stains, some stupid kid put all these aftermarket performance stickers on my car, bastards!

 

Keefe

 

OCD- yeah, those are the stains- they come off, but at first I thought it was rust and got all upset!

 

I also found a couple of little scratches on my wheel flares- strange place for them- probably some jackass with keys in their pocket...

[OCDetails]

I'm just glad that I have a color where I won't notice them as much. I get the feeling that regal blue might make winter defects less noticiable until I have the weather to properly take care of them. My white car used to look like the back of this van after winter was over. A good winter treatment will usually save you from that kind of stuff.

 

I found a new scratch on my door the last time I washed it that wasn't there the time before. Some rock probably shot up and grazed the car. I'm looking forward to see how many of these scratches will come out with a good polishing in a couple weeks....

[Deer Killer]

Once I drove for 4 hours through wet freshly salted roads.. opened the window for a toll booth, got a big water drip above my tweeter.. The next day tons of salt was crystalized inside the grill and in a big drip above it.... Wiped it down with warm water.. Still a big stain on the trim and salt stuck in the grill.. Won't come out..

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

I'm just glad that I have a color where I won't notice them as much. I get the feeling that regal blue might make winter defects less noticiable until I have the weather to properly take care of them. My white car used to look like the back of this van after winter was over. A good winter treatment will usually save you from that kind of stuff.

 

I found a new scratch on my door the last time I washed it that wasn't there the time before. Some rock probably shot up and grazed the car. I'm looking forward to see how many of these scratches will come out with a good polishing in a couple weeks....

Dude! Your site rocks!

[OCDetails]

Why, thank you.

[feersum dreadnaught]

salt stain mats here too. will get scrubbed when it is warm. last bits of snow melting today.

 

I also noticed a scratch in the plastic lower rear bumper cover. any suggestion how to best polish it out?

[OCDetails]

Not much you can do with scratches in plastic. Its not polish friendly. Its basically like getting a scratch in your table. In order to make it disappear you have to practially sand the whole table to make it blend in. If I got a scratch in that area I would proabably just take my knife and shave the edges down to try and make it blend in.

[PGT]

If it's really deep, you get it filled and airbrushed. I had this done with a nasty gouge in my rear bumper that showed up while I still had my 30 day temp tags on. As much as I try, I can't tell it was ever damaged. Most dealerships have a guy on-staff or a company that does this work for them to repair minor lot damage prior to sale. Price range is $75-150, depending on the work involved.

[mmm def]

I just found a crease in my a-pillar. There is no scratch and it is under the rubber molding. It's really weird I will get a picture of it. Almost seems like maybe a broom or shovel was dropped against the side of the car. pisses me off!

[c-lo]

Ummmm.....a nig nasty scratch on my front bumper. Not so much from winter as my jerk neighbor's kid who leaves his trike in my driveway. They live ACROSS the street, mind you. It's in my garage now.....waiting to see him again and return it. Not the first time either - hopefully, when I ask him to pay it will be the last time.

 

thought I was bad! We have the kids playing ball in the street. one kid through a football (tried) over the cars and hit my neighbors lgt instead of mine.

I was still pissed though.

[Beanboy]

Ugh, I haven't done the car wash/wax/look for six months of winter chips and scratches yet. *gulp*

[S4]

I found chips in my hood, a bad ding on my driver's door that actually chipped the paint, a bunch of scratches on the passenger side where my wife doesn't completely lift her feet to get in, and scatches in a couple windows from the ice scraper. That's besides really seeing the scratches that I knew were there, but hadn't had a good look at them for a long time...

*sigh*

[iuksob03]

Good news is that a ding that was there a month ago is no longer there. Bad news is I'm having trouble getting the area above the rocker panels clean, from the driver side door back to the rear quarter panel. It almost seems like there is dirt dug into the surface. I'll wash over the area and then attempt to dry it, only to find the marks are still there. I hope this is something that claying will take care of. Any guesses from anyone else?

[S4]

Yeah, sounds like you need some clay bar action.

 

*I wanna take you to the clay bar, clay bar....*

[OCDetails]

Clay won't usually remove visible defects. Its more for the invisible stuff that you can feel but can't see. If you could take a picture of this damage then I could get a better idea of what you could do. What kind of 'marks' are these?