Safest way to clean dried mud off of paint?

[Hemispheres]

Looks like a pressure washer is my best bet.

[dgage]

If it is on the verticals, I’d say that is the main way. If on horizontal surfaces, you could use the trick for bugs and bird droppings, which is to carefully lay a wet towel on the mud, bug guts, or dropping and let the water loosen it up. For bug guts and bird droppings you can usually spray it with a waterless, rinseless, or quick detailer and wipe easily after some dwell time. For mud, you’d use the pressure washer again.

[PaulMys]

Just blast it off with a pressure washer.

I read your post before you edited it, and you will have some serious paint correction to do anyway.

[57Rambler]

How much mud ? For most cases, dgage's methods outlined above work well. Now if you have copious amounts of dried on mud, then yes use a PW but first wet the mud with something lower pressure and let that soak for a few minutes to soften up the mud. Really extreme cases, maybe do a 2nd soak/soften. Then go at it with the PW and it will be a lot easier and safer - dialing up a PW to blast off baked/dried mud could lead you to paint damage if you are not careful.

[FUNX650]

Try Chemical Guys Tough Mudder
Truck Wash Off Road and ATV Soap

https://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/EFBF00AD-76F0-4017-B360-835F0B893EC9.jpeg

•If nothing else:
-I like the thinly veiled ‘talking smack’
insinuation that the name portrays.


Bob

[Coatingsarecrack]

I presoak with a waterless and then PW off it’s really dry.


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[Desertnate]

Depending on the amount of mud and the type of mud it might take some time pre-soaking it with a hose just to soften it up before trying to blast it off with a power washer. If it's sticky red clay like you find in Oklahoma and other places, it might just take some quality time with a power washer and some real patience until you get enough of it off to safely wash by hand.

[Texchappy]

Depending on the amount of mud and the type of mud it might take some time pre-soaking it with a hose just to soften it up before trying to blast it off with a power washer. If it's sticky red clay like you find in Oklahoma and other places, it might just take some quality time with a power washer and some real patience until you get enough of it off to safely wash by hand.
Thanks what I was thinking. See how much you can get off with a flooding action of the hose before hitting it with power washer.

[Lance Mark]

Depending on the amount of mud and the type of mud it might take some time pre-soaking it with a hose just to soften it up before trying to blast it off with a power washer. If it's sticky red clay like you find in Oklahoma and other places, it might just take some quality time with a power washer and some real patience until you get enough of it off to safely wash by hand.

I think this is great advice. Anytime I'm cleaning a car, or my bike, I usually start with a good rinse. At first, I just get it wet, and give it a little bit of time to soak in and soften. I'll rinse it off with a gentle stream of water and have a look and repeat if needed. I like to gently get as much dirt, sand, brake dust, etc off of the surface before I start jetting water onto it. I know a pressure washer makes quick work of mud and grime, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea to use a pressure washer that first forces that gunk over and into the surface of the paint.

[Hemispheres]

Ok, visited the car again today and the rain has removed the mud, but there's bigger problems. Before I edited the opening post I was talking all sorts of crap about my cousin and when you see these photos you'll understand why. How do I go about removing all this? It's baked on grime, dirt, sap, etc, etc. It's everywhere except the car doors, it's even on the windows and mirror glass. I'm worried I'll need new paint.

74180
74181

[Desertnate]

Some of that grime may be so imbedded in the paint it may have to be clayed and polished out. A good wash, serious quality time with a clay bad, and a good polishing will do wonders. The plastic lenses might require the same level of attention, but with different products designed for headlight restoral. My thoughts. I'm sure the pro's will have better advice.

[CleanIT]

What about Hyper-Wash in a high concentration heavily foamed? I really wonder how a soap like HW would compare to a RW or Surface Foam Prep being everything I read suggests that they only remove light contaminants.

[Desertnate]

I think it would help a great deal, but if that grime has been on the paint for a long time, there is only so much you can do with detergents on the surface. It is embedded in the clear coat at this point.

A few years ago we bought my youngest daughter a 6~7 year old car. Mechanically it was in great shape, but you could tell the previous owner rarely washed it. I thought the car was a light gray, but it turned out to be a bright metallic silver. After giving it a good wash, the car was clayed heavily and the clay bar showed a lot of contamination. From there I started polishing. Even with a light polish and a medium polishing pad I was STILL pulling contaminates out of the paint even while polishing. My white pads turned black with all the grime I pulled out of the paint.

Mike Phillips has a couple good posts here showing older vehicles being polished and the grime coming out on the pads. The end result is the vehicle color changing noticeably and not all of that is because the paint is polished out. His pads turning a dingy gray/black are good signs of all the gunk the polisher pulled up.

[Coatingsarecrack]

I believe Shine Supply makes a product specifically for off roading and mud.


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[CleanIT]

This guy got great results from FSW. Forensic Detailing Channel did a good test of pre wash products.

Review: Griots Garage Foaming Surface wash and Foaming Poly Gloss (https://www.autopia.org/forums/detailing-product-reviews/191571-review-griots-garage-foaming-surface-wash-foaming-poly-gloss.html)