Tiny white spots black rims Clay Bar

[Walt1]

Hi folks, I wanted to seal my black painted wheels using Poorboy's wheel sealant. I cleaned my wheels usins Auto Finesse Revolution soap. After that I used some Gyeon Iron, which is similar to Iron X. There wasn't much purple water so I guess it was pretty clear.
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I noticed alot of white tiny spots, I thought I could get them off using the Gyeon Iron, but it didn't seemed to work. I can get them off with my fingernails but it takes some time and force. I had an Auto finesse claybar laying around so I tried using in on the rim with Auto finesse glide as a lubricant. (First time I used a claybar)

I constantly sprayed the area I was claying. It almost didn't come of but I saw some progression after rubbing for 2 min on the same spot. I clayed about 10min on one spoke of the wheel and most of the little white dots are gone. But I now see some big grayish marks, almost like dried water spots.

The side of the spoke is a little bit grayish. It does feel smoother then the other areas but did I damage the paint/clearcoat? I figured 10min might be way too long but it didn't want to came off and I saw no other option.

But considering I only did one spoke and all of my wheels are like that, can I just use the sealant on the wheels without claying and just ignore the tiny spots or is that even worse? I stopped claying after that one spoke, just cleaned the wheel again.

Any idea what these spots are and how I can remove them without damaging anything? Or should I just use the sealant straight away? Is it bad if I would seal it without removing the dots?

Look at the pictures to see what I mean.


After: notice the gray line on the end and the dots
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58992Whole rim

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Those look like they could be some sort of water or mineral damage. Try a little bit of light abrasive polish on a microfiber towel, I bet they come right out.

[evo77]

Hmm, doesn't appear to be water damage. If you could pick them off with your finger nails then I'm leaning toward the possibility that it might be overspray of something since they've settled on top of the clear coat. The after effect of claying is the etching of that overspray (dots) and marring (lines) from the clay.

Its hard to say if leaving those contaminants alone would eventually deteriorate the finish. But now you know they can be removed. And its gonna take a LOT of elbow grease to fix the wheels.

[pwgsx]

That almost looks like spots from someone spraying Off bug spray near your car. Happened to me on a Sea Doo.........

[Walt1]

Hmm, doesn't appear to be water damage. If you could pick them off with your finger nails then I'm leaning toward the possibility that it might be overspray of something since they've settled on top of the clear coat. The after effect of claying is the etching of that overspray (dots) and marring (lines) from the clay.

Its hard to say if leaving those contaminants alone would eventually deteriorate the finish. But now you know they can be removed. And its gonna take a LOT of elbow grease to fix the wheels.


How did this happen and what should I do now? This is a brand new car with about 500 miles on it. I've had the car for about 3 months and due medical issues I couldn't drive the car so it was parked in my garage at all times.

[pwgsx]

Is it on all 4 tires or just one side?

[Walt1]

That almost looks like spots from someone spraying Off bug spray near your car. Happened to me on a Sea Doo.........

It does look very similar to those spots on my rims, but I doubt it's from a bug spray since the car was either in my garage or I was driving it. It's brand new with about 500 miles on it

[Walt1]

Is it on all 4 tires or just one side?

All 4 sides unfortunately. And it seems like it's on the paintwork too but I'm not sure if it's the same.

[evo77]

How did this happen and what should I do now? This is a brand new car with about 500 miles on it. I've had the car for about 3 months and due medical issues I couldn't drive the car so it was parked in my garage at all times.

No way of really knowing how it happened. If the major areas that were hit were all four wheels and the lower and mid panels are only mildly contaminated you could have very well driven through something on the road. If it were parked somewhere, say on a dealer lot or during transport, its hard to imagine how this type of overspray can hit the wheels all at the same time while sitting still. Which is why I think you drove through it.

If it were me I would clay the wheels until all the overspray was removed and then polish them to remove the etching & marring. This is why I said this task would involve heavy elbow grease and a lot of time. If your willing to live with the overspray and if its only visible unless you put your face a few feet away from it, you could just leave it alone.

Another option could be a heavy duty chemical cleaner. I'm not 100% positive but I recall a product that could be sprayed onto a painted surface that would chemically remove all topical and embedded contaminants. I do not know the name or if it still exists. I remember hearing about it years ago for vehicles that had paint contamination that could not be removed with clay or was difficult to remove with clay. Could be a time saver. But I don't know the after affects of the cleaner. Hopefully someone can chime in if this sounds familiar.

[Walt1]

No way of really knowing how it happened. If the major areas that were hit were all four wheels and the lower and mid panels are only mildly contaminated you could have very well driven through something on the road. If it were parked somewhere, say on a dealer lot or during transport, its hard to imagine how this type of overspray can hit the wheels all at the same time while sitting still. Which is why I think you drove through it.

If it were me I would clay the wheels until all the overspray was removed and then polish them to remove the etching & marring. This is why I said this task would involve heavy elbow grease and a lot of time. If your willing to live with the overspray and if its only visible unless you put your face a few feet away from it, you could just leave it alone.

Another option could be a heavy duty chemical cleaner. I'm not 100% positive but I recall a product that could be sprayed onto a painted surface that would chemically remove all topical and embedded contaminants. I do not know the name or if it still exists. I remember hearing about it years ago for vehicles that had paint contamination that could not be removed with clay or was difficult to remove with clay. Could be a time saver. But I don't know the after affects of the cleaner. Hopefully someone can chime in if this sounds familiar.

From what I know is that it was already on the wheels from the first few days I got it. I only had one heavy rain storm while driving and all other moments were on sunny days. I got these little spots since I last washed my car, but they come off rather easily in comparison with the wheels. I do have hard water in my area but still.

Is intensive claying like this not bad for the paint? I had to clay like 10min on the same spot with a soft to medium clay bar to remove some of it and it does not exactly look good like you can see in the picture.

Maybe I might be better off dropping by a proffesional detailer... Altough I prefer doing so myself and learning how to prevent this from happening in the future.

[Walt1]

The car had to come all the way from flat rocks to Europe where I live so it might have collected some pretty filthy contaminants.