A few months ago, I noticed some strange white marks on the roof and hood of my 2007. I attached pics. It looks like the clear coat is caking off. I really have no idea what this is, but I don't like it! I tried clay baring, light polish, and waxing, but nothing worked. Could this be something that can be buffed out, or is my clear coat literally falling off? I don't think that this is residue from bird droppings, but I can't be sure. I attached a pic of the full car - it definitely looks nice from a distance. I hit it every 3 months with Meguiars Tech Wax 2.0 Thanks for any advice!
Looks like the clear coat is coming off. If you have bird dropping problem where you parked, bird droppings are very acidic, it could be damaged from the bird dropping if you don't wash them off daily.
The fine cracks would indicate your clearcoat is damaged. Do you park your car outside? Something had accelerated the aging of your paint. Your car isn't old enough for that to happen under normal conditions.
Thanks so much for the prompt responses guys. My car is covered at night, but it is outside all day when I am at work. I drive a lot of highway miles as well (20K a year). My main worry is that this will gradually spread. I really don't know anything about paint finishes, so I'm hoping that the damage will stay localized. I'll try and go into a repair shop this weekend. I'd really like to get the whole car buffed with some type of semi abrasive compound. Any idea what a fair repair cost would be for small localized damage like this?
OP lives in the Phoenix, AZ area and parks outside during the day: 120 degrees F summer temps, black exterior color that absorbs all solar energy - not that surprising to see paint damage after 4 years. The cost of the repair will depend upon the extent of the paint damage, might be necessary to repaint the hood and roof surfaces. In that case the price will probably approach $1K.
Yep, the summers out here are absolutely brutal. I've been in AZ for 1.5 with the car. Before that I was in Newport Beach CA. Honestly, I didn't really wax it during the first two years of ownership. However, I've been using the NXT Tech Wax 2.0 for the last 9 months (every 2-3 months). I could have sworn that the tech wax had some type of sunscreen in it, but I'll look for stronger alternatives when I get the finish fixed up.
I had a brand new black Sentra that did that exact thing 2 years in the sun. That same strange white mottle. Its either bird or airplane pollution. Clay bar helped a little but black flat out sucks on a cheaper car. Mercedes and BMW's do ok with black as they have excellent paint. I've only owned one black car in my life. Never again. The paint is such a pain.
So true. The tiniest imperfection becomes very obvious with a black finish. Not to mention that the color is highly impractical if you live in a hot sunny climate - the car heats up much more when parked outside, the paint ages faster, etc. However when the black finish is flawless, then the car looks very impressive. Too bad it takes so much energy and $s to maintain that appearance.
I think its bird crap that burns a pin hole in the clear coat and then further pollution creats that fungus looking thing below the clearcoat. I had that exact thing. At one point I took rubbing compound to it in exasperation and just ended up messing the paint up. Black is tricky. One thing I have been doing for a long time and it really really helps is after I park it in the garage at night if I'm not to tired I'll get a soft rag and wet it with water and wipe the hood off. Just the hood and mayeb the bumper. But, no matter how much quality wax you put on our hoods in one days driving if you run your hand over the hood it has this weird tinny abrasive nothing there feeling. Like you never waxed it. I guess its just a combo of thin aluminum, not very thick or quality paint, and a hood angle that gets wind beat and gets hit with everything. But the wet rag rub down for bird crap really helps the hood. Stone chips are another story. Good Luck!
Thanks for the insight Ed. I spent about three hours on the car this afternoon. 1) Wash 2) Mother's Cleaner Wax 3) Mother's Clay Bar 4) Ultimate Compound 5) Meguiars Tech Wax 2.0 My arm is about to fall off. The Ultimate Compound did a great job diminishing the light scratches and water marks. I'd say about 60-70% of the original white markings have faded. You can still see the outlines, but they aren't bright white anymore (they appear dull grey now). From about about five feet away, the car looks phenomenal. However, upon close inspection, you can still see lots of imperfections. My next car will definitely be that cool blizzard pearl finish. My next car will also be fully electric