Help repairing unusual blemish in paint

JLGONE

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I purchased a used BMW X5 with sapphire black metallic paint. There is an unusual blemish in the paintband I am seeking advice on ow might fix it.

There is a 3/4" area with whitish marblized discolorization. The surface is pefectly smooth and flat. I know there were some dents removed ("paintless") so I'm wondering if this is left from a repaired ding.

I haven't tried anything yet, figuring it's best to ask for informed advice first.

Can someone explain what this is and how to fix it.

Thanks
 
Here is an image of the blemish

59892


paint blemish - AutogeekOnline Gallery
 
That's the fender or wheel arch? It's not the greatest pic but it looks like it could be paint transfer. I'd try a light polish or paint cleaner by hand, what do you have?
 
That's the fender or wheel arch? It's not the greatest pic but it looks like it could be paint transfer. I'd try a light polish or paint cleaner by hand, what do you have?

:iagree:

Or a possible bird bomb that has been severely etched into the paint and someone had tried to remove it and compound or polish got into the cracks of the clear.

If you can take a few more photos at different angles
 
That's the fender or wheel arch? It's not the greatest pic but it looks like it could be paint transfer. I'd try a light polish or paint cleaner by hand, what do you have?

I have a DA polisher and wolfgang polishes.
Also have lacquer thinner and other solvents as well.

What exactly is "paint transfer"?
 
When the car rubs against something else painted and the paint from the other surface transfers to the car. If that's house paint it should come off fairly easily, paint from another car may be more difficult. But it's hard to really tell what it is from the picture.
 
When the car rubs against something else painted and the paint from the other surface transfers to the car. If that's house paint it should come off fairly easily, paint from another car may be more difficult. But it's hard to really tell what it is from the picture.

It is located on the top of the front fender in a location that would be very difficult for any other object to hit in just that one spot, so paint transfer is unlikely. It also is in the paint, not on the surface. Sorry for he bad photo.

The bird bomb theory sounds more plausible given the location and size.

If it is etched paint, should I clean it with a solvent and see if there are small "pores" in the paint? What solvent would be best - is isopropyl alcohol Ok?

If it is erosion would I just treat it like a scratch, ie, just fill it wth clear coat or paint, depending on how deep, and then wet sand and polish?
 
It's a very strange shape for a bird etch. Clearcoat can get scuffed leventy-seven ways, and it could be paint transfer from some other kind of object, the previous owner could have bumped it and scuffed it with who-knows-what.
 
The overall rectangular shape and the dot pattern within the shape reminds me of a screw up I did years ago. I was working on a 5 months old dried bird bomb that was edged to the paint. I spot sanded the blemish by hand a bit too aggressively and had a strike through. This looks very pretty similar to your it.

I hope I am wrong. I hope this is indeed paint transfer. Good Luck.
 
I just scrubbed it with isopropyl alcohol and a soft rag and then looked at it with a jewelers loupe.

The blemish is made up of hundreds of very tiny circular white dots that appear to be in the clear coat. I couldn't get any of the white out so it doesn't seem like polish imbedded in pits. The white dots are circular and uniform. I tried a little wolfgang total swirl remover and it didn't touch it. It appears as if the clear coat has tiny white spots imbeded in it!

Should I wet sand it with 1500 grit? Try laquer thinner? Help please!
 
my guess is the clear is toast there. You may need a repaint.

I dunno how you come to that conclusion. IMO it's a spot that was bumped with something, people carry things in their garage past their car. Frequently because of orange-peeled paint, the scuff or transfer will only be on the high spots, resulting in that mottled appearance. But until we have a macro photo under better lighting I don't think we really know.
 
this whole debate on what it is would be very well done by now if better pictures were provided.....i cant even say what it is based on the picture given right now :/
 
my guess is the clear is toast there. You may need a repaint.

Why would the clear coat be oxidized in this one rectangular spot (1/2" x 3/4")? The paint is in excellant condition otherwise and less than 5 years old.

Does a bird dropping actually etch the clear? This appears as if something caused the clear to turn white in many many very tiny spots. Agree shape doesn't match typical bird dropping.

Obviously, I'm not going to respray the car. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
this whole debate on what it is would be very well done by now if better pictures were provided.....i cant even say what it is based on the picture given right now :/

It's dark out now - I'll try to take a better picture tomorrow.
 
The bird bomb theory sounds more plausible given the location and size.


Here's the picture...

image134.jpg





It looks like a Fractured/Wrinkled Etching from a bird dropping. I have an article on this with pictures in my article list. You can find articles on bird droppings under




Bird Droppings


And the link to my article can be found in my Signature Line which is found in the bottom of all my posts.

Here's the article,

Two Types of Bird Dropping Etchings

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Two Types of Bird Dropping Etchings
  • Type I Bird Dropping - Topical Stain Etching
  • Type II Bird Dropping - Fractured/Wrinkled Etching

There are two common types of damage associated with bird dropping etchings;



Type I Bird Dropping - Topical Stain Etching
Type I Topical Stain Etchings are usually only topical, that is shallow enough that they can be completely removed or at least greatly improved to the point where they are difficult to see.

This type of etching can be removed using a clear coat safe compound or polish by hand or machine. Hand removal is almost always more efficient as you can exert more pressure to a small area and thus keep your work area isolated to just the affected area. By machine you can use a Spot Repair System, again to keep the work area isolated to just the affected area.

Photo courtesy of MeguiarsOnline.com
M105RemoveBirdDropping002c.jpg



Type II Bird Dropping - Fractured/Wrinkled Etching
Type II Wrinkled Etchings are usually too deep to fix safely. The problem is the paint fractures, (splits apart in tiny lines,), or wrinkles as the paint swells and bunches together. In both instances, the resulting defect is throughout the clear layer of paint and not topical. Thus trying to remove it will require removing so much clear paint that you will likely expose the basecoat, or colored layer of paint which has a dull appearance. For this reason it's not safe to try to remove a Type II Bird Dropping Wrinkled or Fractured Etching.

Photo courtesy of AutogeekOnline.com
BirdDroppingEtchingWrinkles.jpg



:)
 
Because the fracturing is cracks that go through the paint, abrading the paint will just remove paint and expose more of the cracks or fractures until you hit the underlying panel.


What most people would want is a way to repair the damage and then after the repaint when looking at the car in general and the panel in specific is to have it look like nothing ever happened.

If that is the goal then get an estimate from a body shop to repaint the affected panel.

If the price for the repair is greater than the value or worth of the investment is to you as the owner of the car then you back to either learning to live with it or trying to do some type of sanding/touch-up paint/buffing procedure but you might not get it to look like nothing ever happened to the panel as described above.


Tough situation. Dang birds...


:)
 
Because the fracturing is cracks that go through the paint, abrading the paint will just remove paint and expose more of the cracks or fractures until you hit the underlying panel.

Like I stated earlier, I learned this the hard way a few years back. I wet-sand it and I went through the paint. The result looked very similar to the OP's picture.
 
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