Help - Fire Hose Stuff on My Paint

[SortaFastRacing]

I was in the garage this weekend doing a 1 step paint correction and ceramic coating on my friends 2008 G35S and my wife comes in, 8 month old in hand, to urgently get my attention mid section pass. So I threw my poor Griot's polisher down and ran outside to find my neighbors house on fire. I've never seen anything like this, really makes you think you know..

Anyways, here's my issue. You can see the fire department used 2 hoses, one from the truck and one from the hydrant down the street. They say it started as a dryer fire and I don't know how many options they have for chemicals on the truck or in the hydrant but I do know that different chemicals are used for different types of fires. the wind blows heavy from the west which is from left to right side of the first picture here. That's my house on the right and my 2017 Blue 4-Runner in the driveway just out of the frame. I would've pulled it in the garage but my clients G35 was taking the space.

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All those white dots are from the hoses that put the fire out.
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A close up of the rear driver side door.
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The hood after ONR pre-rinse, wash with The Rag Company Minx towel, flip to clean side - added pressure with Minx
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The passenger side wasn't so bad because the way the wind blows.
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This truck was recently 2-step compounded and polished with Maguire's UC and UP then coated with Blackfire Ceramic Coating and protected with Blackfire SiO2 Spray Sealant.

I tried to clay the driver side rear window with fine grade clay to see if it would help take those spots off - it sort of worked, maybe took 30-50% of the spots off. Tried the same thing on a small area of the driver rear door, same result sort of. Had to use a lot of pressure for clay - which is kind of uncomfortable you know, I don't want to ruin the coating.

I would like to preserve the coating if possible, I have a ton of the Blackfire SiO2 left over so I don't mind having to reapply that, but I need a way to get these spots all the way off. A lot of pressure and a finger nail seems to do the trick, but there's no way in hell i'm gonna go around and finger nail every little spot haha

Sorry for the long winded story... any ideas?

[mk9750]

I can't say this will be the best idea your get, but Yan from Optimum did a class that Obsessed Garage filmed, and in one of the segments, Yan demonstrated a technique for using a razor blade (metal) on a clear coated paint. Started with honing the blade on sandpaper, then again on a piece of glass. I've not used this technique, so I can't vouche for it personally. But it looked like a promising process, and sounds like something I might consider doing if less aggressive techniques prove unsatisfactory.

Good luck to you, and your neighbor!

[SortaFastRacing]

I mean, some of the dots do come off with enough elbow grease and passes, but like I said I'd like to preserve the coating if possible.

Will I damage the coating if I clay with pressure?

[mk9750]

SortaFast -

I've not used this before, and don't know the answer to that. But I'd go find that video and look to see the process. Then, if you feel there are still unanswered questions, perhaps an e-mail to Yan at Optimum would get you the answers you need.

To be honest, I hesitated offering the idea at all, knowing I didn't have enough info to tell you everything you need to know. So if I've done more harm than good, my apologies.

[ejaf]

Wow...glad you're OK.


Don't know whether this will help, but I did a little googling for you, and found this; might be a shot in the dark, but it may help.
site:Properly Eliminate Fire Extinguisher Residue | Fire Extinguisher Cleanup Tips (https://www.statesystemsinc.com/blog/fire-extinguisher-cleanup)

DRY CHEMICAL FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Sweep or vacuum any residue that has settled on the affected area.
To break down the silicone in the dry chemical, spray the affected area with a solution of 50% isopropyl alcohol and 50% warm water. Allow the solution to penetrate the residue for a few minutes, then rinse with warm water.
To neutralize sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate based dry chemicals, wash the affected area with a solution of 98% hot water and 2% vinegar. Allow the solution to sit for a few minutes; then rinse with warm water.
To neutralize monoammonium phosphate based dry chemical, wash the affected area with a solution of hot water and baking soda. Allow the solution to treat the excess agent for a few minutes, then rinse with warm water.
Wash the area with a mild soap and water solution; then rinse.
Blow the area dry to remove excess water.
WET CHEMICAL FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Confirm all fuel sources to the equipment have been shut off.
Make sure to wear rubber gloves. If the liquid or fire extinguishing agent comes into contact with your skin or eyes, flush thoroughly with water.
Use hot, soapy water and a cloth or sponge to wipe away the foamy residue. Scrub all surfaces that have come into contact with the excess agent.
Once all surfaces impacted with the residue are cleaned, rinse and allow time to dry before returning power back to the equipment.
CLEAN AGENT FIRE EXTINGUISHER
No special precautions need to be taken after the fire extinguisher is used.

CLASS K FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Rinse affected area with a solution of soap and water.


May be the "bicarbonate kind", since that is white. Try a test spot with the vinegar solution, see what happens.

Good luck...Eric

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Sounds like Ejaf gave you good info... but from a detailers perspective, unfortunately any aggressive removal of the overspray will ultimately mar the coating.
If it were my car, I would carefully inspect the areas that had overspray, clay with a medium clay, compound, polish, wipe and then re-apply coating.

Sorry to hear about your neighbors house. In most cases, when it comes to house fires, what the fire doesn't destroy the fire department usually does (in an effort to eliminate the fire and risk to neighborhood). I'd imagine they lost more than just the laundry room with the amount of water and smoke damage.

For those that have dryer vents going from the dryer directly to a port in the wall, do yourself a favor and clean those out every few months. For those that have a vent that goes from the drier up the walls to the roof, there are services that will come out and clean the dryer vents.

I just had mine done for $70.00, they turn the dryer on, then climb on the roof with a vacuum line attached to a long pole and brush. The plumbs of white clouds billowing over my house looked like a fire. My house was built in 2003, we've only been in it for 11 months, and the cleaner stated he believes that was the first time the vent had ever been cleaned.

If you have a home warranty, it's usually offered as a maintenance service you can schedule.

[SortaFastRacing]

Thanks for the replies, lots of good info.

I think I will exhaust all measures before re-doing the whole coating job. With a wife and an 8 month old it's hard to spend the entire weekend in the garage "just cleaning the car", plus I haven't quite acquired the pace and efficiency of a real pro detailer yet. Because the way the wind blows in that area, every panel got at least some of it on there, driver side and roof obviously being the worst.

[ejaf]

Sounds like Ejaf gave you good info... but from a detailers perspective, unfortunately any aggressive removal of the overspray will ultimately mar the coating.
If it were my car, I would carefully inspect the areas that had overspray, clay with a medium clay, compound, polish, wipe and then re-apply coating.

Thought that if the solution would help dissolve the white specs, it would avoid the need for aggressive removal, and thus minimize the marring. Whether or not the solution removes the coating is another story, as well, since I have read conflicting results on the forum about that.

Eric

[mk9750]

In an attempt to be a bit more helpful, I asked a coworker who is also and EMT what the material was and how he would attempt to remove it. He said it is likely "A Triple F" or Aqueous Film Forming Foam, and is quite caustic. He doesn't know anything about detailing, but when they use it, there is a mad scramble to clear out hoses used, and wipe down all the surfaces it lands on. It is intended to stick to whatever it lands on, helping extinquish the fire.

Based on the little he told me, I think your issue is not a simple one, but sounds like one that should be tacked sooner rather than later.

Here is an MSDS for at least one of this form of product. Perhaps it might help?

https://www.chemguard.com/pdf/fire-suppression/datasheets/C303.pdf

Hope this is more help...

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Thought that if the solution would help dissolve the white specs, it would avoid the need for aggressive removal, and thus minimize the marring. Whether or not the solution removes the coating is another story, as well, since I have read conflicting results on the forum about that.

Eric

Quite possible.... And it never hurts to try. Again the worst case scenario is it removes the specs, but mars the coating.. Best case, it removes and everything turns out.

Last year my clients Audi R8 V10 got white paint spray all over the vehicle. The car is wrapped in PPF. Here is where I had to balance clay vs. other options. I didn't want to use anything that would stain the PPF. Also the PPF is soft and pliable so the paint REALLY stuck to it, unlike sheet metal. So any heavy amount of clay could damage the PPF and scratch it. I found a Yellow Rupes and Megs 205 did wonders of getting it off.

But yes, at first I tried Megs D114, some CarPro Ech20, little bit of vinegar... but nothing would make the paint budge... A quick test spot of the Yellow Rupes / M205 and it was off in seconds. Re applied CQUK 3.0 after all the cutting and it came out fantastic.

So, each situation is going to be different... Hopefully the mix you offered will do the trick!

@OP, please update the thread with whatever you try... :)

And as a PSA - Everyone, please clean your dryer vents sem-annually/annually!

[SortaFastRacing]

Will let y'all know what I try and what ends up working.

[SortaFastRacing]

Well I tried a few things.

First I tried APC, Simple Green 10:1 which seemed to help some but left much to be desired. Maybe 60% removal.

Then I tried Blackfire paint prep and lots of it, moving slow and letting the product work across the surface. This ended up providing the best result with maybe 80-90% of the spots coming off. Oh, this is with medium clay sandwiched between 2 applications of paint prep.

I tried the IPA mixture as well as the vinegar mixture. Maybe I didn't let them sit on the surface long enough but these were the most disappointing.

I tried medium grade clay by itself and those results were between the results of the APC and the paint prep.

I reckon I'll go over the vehicle with the paint prep and then use some left over Blackfire Pro Primer Polish I have from when I coated the vehicle back in early December. I have left over coating from that kit as well and I hope it's not past it's shelf life so I can reapply after polishing.

What do y'all think of my plan?

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[Bruno Soares]

Try some Tar-X and see if that helps melt it.

[Paul A.]

To my knowledge, the fire department doesn't add any chemicals to the water they discharge onto working fires. They hook a supply line from the hydrant to the engine (pump truck) and then one or more handlines from the engine to the fireground for use in and on the structure.

But its just water coming out of the hydrant and going on the fire.

[SortaFastRacing]

To my knowledge, the fire department doesn't add any chemicals to the water they discharge onto working fires. They hook a supply line from the hydrant to the engine (pump truck) and then one or more handlines from the engine to the fireground for use in and on the structure.

But its just water coming out of the hydrant and going on the fire.I don't claim to know anything about fire fighting, but there was definitely white stuff on the truck and now that I've got the majority of it off there's spots from where they were. I guess what I'm saying is it definitely wasn't just water.

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