I have a black 2005 mustang with silver rally stripes. A few weeks ago I discovered numerous red spots that look like they are embedded on the hood stripes and have tried the following to get rid of them:

Clay Bar
Mothers California Gold Pre Cleaner Wax
Klasse All-In-One
3M finish restorer
Meguiar's Scratch X

Then went harsher and tried small amounts of the following which I would usually never use.

Turtle Wax rubbing compound
A few drops of cutting cream that I used to get rid of oxidation on an old car of mine.

I didn't cause any further damage by using the products I've tried so far, but the spots are still there. Any ideas or does it sound like I may need to have them redone?

Thanks in advance.

 

I noticed you have not gotten a response to your question.

You might wanna try here:

http://autopia.org/forum/index.php?

I think you have to join though to post a question.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the advice on the forum, I'll do a search and see what I can find over there before starting the new topic. I even tried my orbital buffer on them this week,,still no luck,,the marks got a little lighter but nothing I try seems to get rid of them.


Thanks again,

 

Did you ever find anything that worked?
You may try Meguiar's new stuff, NXT. It's much better than their other products. Back when I had my BLACK '03 nothing (off the shelf) worked better.

 

Unfortunatly I never found anything to get the marks off my stripes. I have tried NXT which is part of my arsenal of cleaning supplies and it didn't work either. I'm thinking that weed killer or fertilizer may have gotten on them and the marks are actually burns from the acidic products being on the stripes and having the hot Florida sun bake the marks in. A few months ago my roommate got some of whatever he was using on the yard on my car and I had a heck of a time getting the Weed Killer off my paint,although it was only the next day from when he spotted the car. Luckily it came off the paint,but unfortunitely the marks that I thought I got off of the stripes had already caused damage that I did not see at that time. I am now getting quotes to have the stripes painted on and also looking into getting a car cover. Be careful out there with the products you use to make your lawn look better. They can cause damage.

 

Thanks for the tip, Tom. Sorry we found this out because of your troubles.

What part of FL are you in?

 

How big are the spots? Since they have not come out I can only think of 2 possibilities of what has happened.

1. Something has stained the vinyl
2. They are so deep (from some sort of chemical reaction) that trying to use rubbing compound will not remove them

 

I'm in Longwood. Adrenalin, The spots are anywhere from 1/8th and inch to 1/2 an inch around and I believe you to be correct that they are so deep that rubbing compound won't remove them.The surface was no longer smooth where the marks appear. They look more like burns which I think is why they are a reddish,brown color. I've put a coat of polish and wax back on them so that no further damage will occur smoothing the areas once again.

 

I'm still trying to figure out what could have caused it. You say the vinyl is no longer smooth in that area. Using your fingernail, run it along the vinyl to one of the spots. Does it feel like you nail moves up onto the marking or down into it? I ask because the size you say they are just sounds like it is something sitting on top of the vinyl, rather than melting the vinyl. Do you know anybody with a camera that has a macro lens so you can take a picture and post it? I'd need a very close up shot.

 

Sorry, No camera yet. The vinyl is no longer smooth in the areas with the spots. The reason I believe it is embedded into the vinyl is the spots are crater like. I guess to explain them a bit better is to say they have a texture similar, but not quite as bad a when acid eats into concrete. Of course quite a bit smaller, but similar in texture. I've since polished them and put a coat of wax on them just because they seemed to be getting worse after sitting without treatment in the sun. The don't seem to be getting any worse. Just annoying having marks like that on a car less than 5 months old.