What are these little red spots on my car?

[Temple90]

Washing my cars today I noticed these reddish spots (not rail dust) all over my white Sti as well as my silver 4Runner.
The Sti is ceramic coated. Washing the car did not remove all of these. I did use a quick detailer and that seemed to remove most of these.
Curious what these spots are and the best way to remove them without damaging the ceramic coating.
Assuming these are from bugs, but not certain.

[DFB]

Washing my cars today I noticed these reddish spots (not rail dust) all over my white Sti as well as my silver 4Runner.
The Sti is ceramic coated. Washing the car did not remove all of these. I did use a quick detailer and that seemed to remove most of these.
Curious what these spots are and the best way to remove them without damaging the ceramic coating.
Assuming these are from bugs, but not certain.

It will be either iron contamination, water spots or possibly road tar. I have witnessed something similar, which was caused by high iron content water spots.

Start with an iron remover, this will be safe on your ceramic coating. Inspect.

If it remains, try a tar remover on an isolated spot, rinse and inspect.

From there, try a water spot remover. Inspect.

If all those fail to remove the issue, you will need to try mechanical efforts. Start with a clay bar or towel, then progress to polishing if needed, which would give the coating a rattle or remove it entirely. In this case, you could try using Carpro Essence+ or Rupes Uno-Advanced, which is a non-abrasive (Essence+) or lower abrasive polish (Uno Adv) for ceramic coatings.

Good luck.

CARPRO Essence PLUS
RUPES UNO Advanced

[Temple90]

It will be either iron contamination, water spots or possibly road tar. I have witnessed something similar, which was caused by high iron content water spots.

Start with an iron remover, this will be safe on your ceramic coating. Inspect.

If it remains, try a tar remover on an isolated spot, rinse and inspect.

From there, try a water spot remover. Inspect.

If all those fail to remove the issue, you will need to try mechanical efforts. Start with a clay bar or towel, then progress to polishing if needed, which would give the coating a rattle or remove it entirely. In this case, you could try using Carpro Essence+ or Rupes Uno-Advanced, which is a non-abrasive (Essence+) or lower abrasive polish (Uno Adv) for ceramic coatings.



Good luck.

CARPRO Essence PLUS
RUPES UNO Advanced

I can remove the spots with a quick detailer which makes me think they are bugs or similar. Never heard of high iron content water spots. How do they get on a car and any way to prevent?

[vaced]

If you can remove them with a quick detailer why can’t the normal wash remove them?

If all those fail to remove the issue, you will need to try mechanical efforts. Start with a clay bar or towel, then progress to polishing if needed, which would give the coating a rattle or remove it entirely. In this case, you could try using Carpro Essence+ or Rupes Uno-Advanced, which is a non-abrasive (Essence+) or lower abrasive polish (Uno Adv) for ceramic coatings.

Good luck.

CARPRO Essence PLUS
RUPES UNO Advanced

I’m not sure Essence + is a “polish”?

[Sleper]

Sounds like fallout or brake dust. spots start out black and then turn to red or orange before being removed. you can also use a clay bar to remove them. With a good coat of wax they stick less and remove much easier. much more noticeable on white but can be seen on darker colors and can easily be felt by running your hand over the paint. Good luck

[Setec Astronomy]

Those could easily be some kind of sap or tree gunk.

[PA DETAILER]

Road tar or tree sap would be my guess. Park near any trees?

[DFB]

If you can remove them with a quick detailer why can’t the normal wash remove them?



I’m not sure Essence + is a “polish”?

Correct, I probably should have wrote that differently, hence the phrase "non abrasive".

In any case, I don't think the OP would need to use it, as many have highlighted, a likely outcome is some sort of sap, tar or iron fallout.

[DFB]

I can remove the spots with a quick detailer which makes me think they are bugs or similar. Never heard of high iron content water spots. How do they get on a car and any way to prevent?

In that case, the owner of the car parked on her lawn, the sprinklers came on overnight and showered the car in water, water that is drawn from an underground bore high in iron. I tried all possible chemical options but ended up polishing it out and recoating the car.

[JimAlbert]

You guys are going to laugh at me when I say this - But I will take my chances. My father in law had a very similar issue with his vehicles when he purchased new mulch and there was some sort of spore or mold associated with that type of mulch. If I am not mistaken it was called Artillery Fungus.