Anyone know what this is?

[rott3np3anut]

Hey guys. I'm trying to get this stuff off a friend's Toyota Sienna. His wife drove through the stuff and doesn't remember what it was. It's been stuck for a month or so now and is all over the wheel wells and side of the car.

I thought it was concrete at first, so I tried muriatic acid on it. The acid usually makes the concrete bubble right away and it'll just spray off. When I tried it on this stuff, nothing happened. It's rough and hard in texture. It comes off if I scrape at it with my nail, but I'd rather not do that to the whole car. Here's some pictures:

Front wheel well

Close up (This makes it look kind of yellow. The stuff is very white, like in the fourth picture)

Door

Back wheel

 

[Jhaight11]

at first glance i would think road paint?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

+2 for road paint but who knows? You never know what is going to fall off the back of a truck or someone will throw out a window--I know someone who saw the car in front of them throw out an aerosol can of paint and was unable to keep from running it over and getting it sprayed all over the wheels and wells on one side.

 

[Dr Oldz]

Could be anything. I think it looks a bit thick to be road paint. Could be plaster or drywall joint compound????

 

[jpegs13]

If it's not road paint, then it's quick set concrete road patch. It has an inhibitor in it that will not react to acid the way normal concrete would.

 

[maxniman]

If it's not road paint, then it's quick set concrete road patch. It has an inhibitor in it that will not react to acid the way normal concrete would.

:iagree: that is what it looks like to me

 

[rott3np3anut]

If it's not road paint, then it's quick set concrete road patch. It has an inhibitor in it that will not react to acid the way normal concrete would.

Ah, I didn't think of that. What's the best way to remove that then?

Thanks for all the replies so far!

 

[detail man]

road paint- remove it with laquer thinner

 

[Kristopher1129]

Absolutely road paint. I just removed an identical mess today actually. Except it was yellow.

I heat up the thick areas, then scrape the excess off with a plastic chisel. Just don't dig down to the paint. You only want to remove the bulk of it. Then you can use thinner (kinda sketchy though), acetone, and I've heard of people using diesel as well.

I used a product very similar to acetone...but it's paint safe. As for the wheel wells...I just usually spray some undercoating. Getting it all off the wheel well is pretty much impossible unless you have a day or two to work on it.

In fact. It looks a lot like this job right here that I did....

I did exactly what I stated above to get these results...

I'd say it's road paint for sure.

 

[Nitro24]

Road paint in wheel well's and concrete on the bottom of side spoilers. That concrete might never come off. I worked in a auto detail shop once, never came in that situation, but I'm willing to bet it wouldn't come off. Some tar is dried on so badly the only way to get that type of tar off would be a razor blade. With out a doubt you will end up scratching the paint, I know from experience. Buy new wheel well's and charge the customer for them, charge a-bit more so you can make profit. That will fix the paint. Concrete another story. If you get the concrete off, let us know what you used. I'm sure some of us wouldn't mind it.

Btw, spray painting over the problem is not kool and its so noticeable.

 

[RLove]

Btw, spray painting over the problem is not kool and its so noticeable.

I disagree. It's doubtful that the owner wanted to spend a ton of money replacing wheel wells, or have someone spend hours cleaning the paint off - more bucks. Without the brilliance of the camera flash, I'm sure the results of the undercoating was quite acceptable...I'm mean, really, it's just a wheel well.

 

[Kristopher1129]

I disagree. It's doubtful that the owner wanted to spend a ton of money replacing wheel wells, or have someone spend hours cleaning the paint off - more bucks. Without the brilliance of the camera flash, I'm sure the results of the undercoating was quite acceptable...I'm mean, really, it's just a wheel well.

I agree with you. That's exactly it. Trust me, I explained to the customer what I'd be doing. They actually went to a body shop and were quoted a high price to "properly" repair the wheel wells. They came to me for a detailing, and asked if they should wait till it's out of the body shop to get it done. That's when I found out what they were going to pay. They expressed their dissatisfaction with paying that price. So, I gave them an alternative and they were blown away when they picked it up. Not to mention that the body shop was going to re paint the areas on the body where the paint slinged.

Of course, an up close shot like that with a flash isn't going to look pretty. Besides...I didn't spray paint, I undercoated. There's a difference. I wouldn't expect spray paint to last long, and it most likely would run. Undercoating is used in wheel wells all the time. There's nothing strange about it. It's thick, and textured, so it stays for the long haul. Also, those pictures were taken before the undercoating dried. Once it dried, it darkened to black and looked perfect.

I only charged them $50 for the repair and undercoating. When it was fully detailed, and repaired...it looked brand new. They were psyched and tipped me $40. So there's your answer! lol

 

[Nitro24]

Sure it's cheaper but it's noticeable. If someone was parked at a red light and I pulled up I'm the type of guy to notice it away. But hay, if they're ok with it than the customer is going to have to deal with it. I'm sure if they become un- happy they will either come back to you or find someone else. Since this is how customers sometimes are.

 

[Kristopher1129]

Sure it's cheaper but it's noticeable. If someone was parked at a red light and I pulled up I'm the type of guy to notice it away. But hay, if they're ok with it than the customer is going to have to deal with it. I'm sure if they become un- happy they will either come back to you or find someone else. Since this is how customers sometimes are.

You say that...but you wouldn't notice. Fact of the matter is undercoating is used on wheel wells straight out of the factory. There's absolutely nothing alarming, or abnormal about an undercoated wheel well. In fact, it looked brand new when it dried. Had I spray painted it....then yeah, it would look funny.

But to say that you'd pull up to a red light, and "notice" an undercoated wheel well....I don't even know what that means, ha. So if you noticed undercoating...you would find that strange, or to be a mistake?

I'm just trying to understand why you feel what I did was so wrong. I must be missing something here...

 

[rott3np3anut]

Sorry I haven't been on in a while and didn't see all the replies and... discussion going on. This is a friend's car that I've really been using as a practice/learning car. Doing various things to the car has been a good learning experience. He also knows a ton of people so he can show off my good work and get me some jobs! . Anyways, he's got the car back for now, but I can have it almost any time to work on.

Absolutely road paint. I just removed an identical mess today actually. Except it was yellow.

Thanks a lot for the reply! The pictures really help, and look pretty similar to my situation.

I used a product very similar to acetone...but it's paint safe. As for the wheel wells...I just usually spray some undercoating. Getting it all off the wheel well is pretty much impossible unless you have a day or two to work on it.

Could you tell me what this product is? PM maybe? I'm pretty leery of using any type of paint thinner.

I'll probably go with your plan. I'll scrape off the thick stuff from the paint (carefully!) and hopefully get the rest with that product you described. I'll scrape it off from the wheel wells also and use the undercoating, which I'm sure he'll have no problem with. Too cheap to buy new wheel wells haha.

Thanks again to every who has helped so far. I'll keep you all updated and hopefully put up some awesome after pictures!

 

[Meghan]

Thread has been cleaned up, let's keep it on topic.