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Having just passed its MOT I thought I thought it only fair to give my car a decent clean - something I hardly ever do. The paintwork is in very good nick however I've notice that in several areas (mainly in/near recesses or panel seams) the white paintwork has a sort of grimey, grey haze on it. Ordinary washing won't shift it and even 'colour back' polish doesn't really seem to deal with it properly. Can anyone offer any advice as to how best to get rid of these marks without damaging the paintwork. I'd really like to wax the car but want to get it really clean first. Many thanks.
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How old is the car? I can identify with something like the stuff you describe in the door openings of 6-10-year-olds I have cleaned up. I assumed it was a dried-out residue of delivery wax which hadn't been fully removed. May need T-cut and some elbow grease at that age, but should come off OK.
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It will either consist of road film, and/or degraded surface layer.
In either case I agree T-Cut should shift it, but if it's purely road film, it's maybe worth trying first to dissolve it by rubbing hard with a white spirit-damped cloth.
Oz (as was)
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Thanks very much Andrew, Oz, Terry & Steve. The car's 12 years old and I think it's accumulated grime which has built up in the various nooks and crannies which don't get properly cleaned. I haven't rubbed too hard for fear of damaging the paint so I'll try your suggestions one by one, rub a bit harder and let you know. Thanks again all :-)
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Vman
You could try a black streak remover (trigger pack liquid) which is readily available from caravan accessory shops. Less drastic than T-cut and the like, so worth trying first.
Terry
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VM,
A couple of Auto Glym's products may help. Super Resin Polish has a mild cutting action - needs fair amount of elbow grease but I've found it to be very good on marks while gentle on what's left.
If that fails - their cutting polish is still (IMO) more gentle than T cut.
I've no connection with AG - just very pleased with results on a range of cars over the years.
I recently gave my car the 6 monthly all over with SRP - looks great.
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Take a look at the following site -
www.farecla.com
- recently used one of their products and the vehicle came up a treat. Word of warning though - follow the instructions!!!
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Careful use of T cut followed by Autoglym Super Resin polish should do it. My mum's 1990 Astra GTE had the same problem. Where the white paint had discoloured it was also flat.
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Hi all - took advantage of the nice weather to start the job yesterday and managed to remove most of the marks. In some areas however (in the crevices around the window rubbers for example) the marks are really very stubborn and difficult to reach properly with any pressure. Anyone got any suggestion as to how I can access these areas - even cotton buds are too big.
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T-cut might be too harsh. Auto-glym (again) do something called "Paint Restorer" which is excellent as a moderate abrasive. It comes off a lot easier than T-cut as well which is very temperature sensitive, I've been stuck with that stuff after leaving it on for too long needing hospital attention after getting it off.
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As for the crevices. A toothbrush, an old one mind ;) does the business.
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As for the crevices. A toothbrush,
But he can't even get a cotton wool bud into the crevice, so how will he manage to squeeze in a toothbrush?
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You been getting too much sun behind this wall Dave?;-)
I don't think 3500S was advocating the whole toothbrush head into the crevice, merely rubbing it into the crevice so that the bristles do the work.
Lovely word, crevice....
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You been getting too much sun behind this wall Dave?;-)
You could be right. btw, who left the chocolate Hob Nobs out in the Sun. Grrrrr.
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