Paint Dots?

[Mirror Detailing]

Paint Dots?



I have noticed a few cars after getting enough correction on the paint...I can see something like this on them under all the scratches.

I cant quite place my finger on what it is. I want to say either solvent pop or very fine acid rain. More probably the solvent pop than anything. I have just had a few cars that I see this on, mostly older daily drivers with 125k plus miles on them.

But this was on a not so old DD M3 with about 60k miles on it. Hood looked to be repainted so I assume solvent pop from bad clear.

Anyone want to throw in their two cents?

[Rob T]

It's hard to tell from that picture whether it is solvent pop. Could it be from fine dirt/sand/pebbles hitting the hood during freeway driving? Or do these appear everywhere, not just on the hood?

[gewb]

I have noticed a few cars after getting enough correction on the paint...I can see something like this on them under all the scratches. I cant quite place my finger on what it is. I want to say either solvent pop or very fine acid rain. More probably the solvent pop than anything. I have just had a few cars that I see this on, mostly older daily drivers with 125k plus miles on them. But this was on a not so old DD M3 with about 60k miles on it. Hood looked to be repainted so I assume solvent pop from bad clear. Anyone want to throw in their two cents?

Difficult to tell from the pic. My DD has what LOOKS to be similar/same as what you posted but close examination shows shallow miniature pits. In my case I followed the "evolution" of these and determined they likely came from fine sand on the roads.

When I was driving 1k miles a week in northern Colorado I went through a lot of sand and small stones along with crap kicked up by trucks - I could hear the finish getting sand blasted. Sure enough, after a day of driving in these conditions I could see new pits on the hood (even some on the roof). The trunk never developed this condition and the doors had very few.

They are a bit too deep to polish out as I would have to remove almost all of the clear coat.

Regards,
GEWB

[Mirror Detailing]

It's hard to tell from that picture whether it is solvent pop. Could it be from fine dirt/sand/pebbles hitting the hood during freeway driving? Or do these appear everywhere, not just on the hood?

Possibly, also from what I remember it was only on the hood.

Difficult to tell from the pic. My DD has what LOOKS to be similar/same as what you posted but close examination shows shallow miniature pits. In my case I followed the "evolution" of these and determined they likely came from fine sand on the roads.

When I was driving 1k miles a week in northern Colorado I went through a lot of sand and small stones along with crap kicked up by trucks - I could hear the finish getting sand blasted. Sure enough, after a day of driving in these conditions I could see new pits on the hood (even some on the roof). The trunk never developed this condition and the doors had very few.

They are a bit too deep to polish out as I would have to remove almost all of the clear coat.

Regards,
GEWB

See I considered the same thing, that it could possibly be road rash, but these seemed to be more in the clear than rather pitting.

[Rob T]

If they were only on the hood, I doubt that it was solvent popping.

[toxygene]

Those almost look like some small water spots I had all over my TL's hood, but again it is not easy to tell from the picture. Anyway, on my car they were extremely difficult to see on the grey paint even in bright sunlight. I tried a white pad with SIP, and they did not improve much after several passes. I stepped it up to an orange pad, and that seemed to do the trick.

[JonMiles]

Sand blast effect...stick your hand out the window next time you are on the highway and you will feel little taps from sand hitting your hand. The same thing happens to the paint and over time looks like a million little pinholes in the paint.

[Mike Phillips]

Sand blast effect...stick your hand out the window next time you are on the highway and you will feel little taps from sand hitting your hand. The same thing happens to the paint and over time looks like a million little pinholes in the paint.

Do a search for

Pinholes

And you should find some threads that talk about this issue.

Our plane is loading or I would dig them up for you.

[Rob T]

Sand blast effect...stick your hand out the window next time you are on the highway and you will feel little taps from sand hitting your hand. The same thing happens to the paint and over time looks like a million little pinholes in the paint.

That's what I was trying to allude to in post #2....I'm going to have to remember that term "sand blast effect" as that says it quite well.

[AndrewBall]

yeah sand blasting from the highway. BMWs for some reason seem to show this pitting more so then other brands of cars i have found. ive seen 100,000 mile toyotas with almost none and 50,000 mile BMWs covered in them. Maybe BMW drivers tail gate more?