Magnesium Chloride on New Black Audi

[lkaten]

Just picked up a brand new Audi, Orca Black Metallic, a few days ago. Within a couple days, after a snow, got drenched on the highway by a truck de-icing the road. Now I have spots all over my car that don't come off with washing. My plan was to put a coat of Wolfgang DGPS as soon as I can get to it. Am I stuck with having to polish the whole car now before applying sealant? Also, wondering about my chrome...how do I get the Magnesium Chloride off of that? Am I OK using the Wolfgang DGPS as my protectant? I'd like to deal with the swirls and micro scratches too. Lastly, seems like the department of transportation should take some responsibility for trashing peoples paint. I appreciate the de-iced roads...but surely this costs me (and lots of people) quite a bit of money in dealing with the damage. Has anybody had experience in getting reimbursement for this?

Thanks

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Lastly, seems like the department of transportation should take some responsibility for trashing peoples paint.

I appreciate the de-iced roads...but surely this costs me (and lots of people) quite a bit of money in dealing with the damage.

Has anybody had experience in getting reimbursement for this?

Thanks

Here's how I've been positioning what happened to you for years.


If you or I had a private company where we sprayed streets, roads and highways with Magnesium Chloride... when it caused damage to someone's car - they would sue us. When the government does it... there's no recourse.

My advice to people that live in areas where the practice of Magnesium Chloride is used to de-ice roads is to have a BEATER CAR to drive during the winter and SAVE you nice car for good weather.


Just throwing that out there. So glad to live in South Florida.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just picked up a brand new Audi, Orca Black Metallic, a few days ago.

Within a couple days, after a snow, got drenched on the highway by a truck de-icing the road. Now I have spots all over my car that don't come off with washing. My plan was to put a coat of Wolfgang DGPS as soon as I can get to it.

Am I stuck with having to polish the whole car now before applying sealant?

If washing is not removing the SPOTS or my guess is a better word would be STAINS as in stains in the paint, then "yes" you will have to polish the paint to remove them. Maybe use Skynet and search for some possible product that will chemically neutralize the stain and thus remove it? My guess is this must be a problem for tens of thousands of people over the years and for this reason, is it possible someone has a product to solve this type of problem.

Kind of like the company RoMix makes the product Back-Set to remove concrete off of car paint.

Also, wondering about my chrome...how do I get the Magnesium Chloride off of that?

My guess is, what you're calling chrome is probably ANODIZED ALUMINUM TRIM. This would be the trim around the windows. I think there is chrome in the grill too, again - without a picture of the car I'm just guessing.


The ONLY time I've ever FIXED stained anodized trim is with a a cleaner/wax and the RUPES Nano in ROTARY MODE with a microfiber pad. I demonstrated this was here,

Pictures: Autogeek Open House Detail Day - Saturday, January 4th, 2020


I never was able to post pictures but it was a classic Mercedes-Benz that had stained aluminum trim.

The RUPES Nano is about $600.00 and then you'll need the BF One Step and a 1" microfiber pad.


If it is in fact chrome, then any non-abrasive metal polish or quality cleaner/wax should work. There's also this product that I like, use and recommend for plastic chrome, will work on all chrome, like the name implies.


Mothers California Gold All-Chrome Cleaner

Am I OK using the Wolfgang DGPS as my protectant?

The Wolfgang sealant is very good for what it is but I don't know if it will STOP the etching effects of Magnesium Chloride. Maybe a ceramic coating would? For the record, Iv'e never personally had to deal with Magnesium Chloride. I have not lived where it is used.

I'd like to deal with the swirls and micro scratches too.

Do you own a polisher?



Hope the above helps, best I can do....

 

[Bill D]

Stories like this make me feel very fortunate to live here too.

Perhaps washing the car with a decontamination product and claying where needed may help. Otherwise yeah, probably going to have to polish. If the car already has marring, you’ll need to polish any way.

Hopefully doing this will get everything cleaned up. I know if I continued to live up north I would’ve gotten a beater car.

 

[lkaten]

Note...the blue spot is just a camera artifact.

View attachment 68861

View attachment 68862

View attachment 68863


Thanks Mike,

I appreciate your reply. I do have a Porter Cable 7424 XP. I tried using it in the past but felt I wasn't very good with it and haven't had as much time for detailing as I would like...so I typically apply by hand.

Maybe it's time to get it out and get used to using it. I'd also like to get rid of all the swirl marks that are already on the paint from the dealer.

If I were to take care of my problem myself, what products would you recommend?

Also, if I were to try and apply a ceramic coating, do you think it would be a mistake for somebody with my lack of experience to try it for the first time on my black paint?

Thanks

 

[Avant]

View attachment 68861View attachment 68862View attachment 68863
Note...the blue spot is just a camera artifact.

Thanks Mike,
I appreciate your reply. I do have a Porter Cable 7424 XP. I tried using it in the past but felt I wasn't very good with it and haven't had as much time for detailing as I would like...so I typically apply by hand. Maybe it's time to get it out and get used to using it. I'd also like to get rid of all the swirl marks that are already on the paint from the dealer. If I were to take care of my problem myself, what products would you recommend? Also, if I were to try and apply a ceramic coating, do you think it would be a mistake for somebody with my lack of experience to try it for the first time on my black paint?
Thanks

I've had similar spotting/etching on my black Audi after driving on a mag-chloride treated highway. The good news is that they can be removed by machine polish much like hard water spots, at least that has been my experience. Not sure about the aluminum trim pieces.

Porter cable should be able to handle it, you may need an aggressive pad/polish combo - what do you have now?

 

[acuRAS82]

Where is magnesium chloride used, or is it literally just the salt rocks that are used across most northern US states? I’ve never had an issue with these types of stains. The salt stains in NY, CT and PA wash off pretty easily, including from our black Q5.

 

[lkaten]

Where is magnesium chloride used, or is it literally just the salt rocks that are used across most northern US states? I’ve never had an issue with these types of stains. The salt stains in NY, CT and PA wash off pretty easily, including from our black Q5.

I'm in Colorado. I think they use a mix which includes magnesium and calcium chlorides.

 

[lkaten]

I've had similar spotting/etching on my black Audi after driving on a mag-chloride treated highway. The good news is that they can be removed by machine polish much like hard water spots, at least that has been my experience. Not sure about the aluminum trim pieces.

Porter cable should be able to handle it, you may need an aggressive pad/polish combo - what do you have now?

I have a Porter Cable 7242 XP. I'm not very experienced with it yet, but it seems like it's time to get it out.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thanks Mike,

I appreciate your reply. I do have a Porter Cable 7424 XP. I tried using it in the past but felt I wasn't very good with it and haven't had as much time for detailing as I would like...so I typically apply by hand.

Maybe it's time to get it out and get used to using it. I'd also like to get rid of all the swirl marks that are already on the paint from the dealer.

Practice on a less important car than your baby.

If I were to take care of my problem myself, what products would you recommend?

If you want to keep it real simple, even Bubba-Proof, get some BLACKFIRE One Step and some foam polishing pads. Super simple, works great.

Also, if I were to try and apply a ceramic coating, do you think it would be a mistake for somebody with my lack of experience to try it for the first time on my black paint?

If you want to go the coating route, the hardest part of beginners is not applying, or "installing" the coating, it's chemically stripping the paint. Also - you can't use a one-step cleaner/wax if you're going to use a coating, you'll have to use a dedicated polish.

Here's what I would recommend at this time; the Pinnacle Black Label Paint Coating is super easy to use.


What do you have for polishes?

 

[57Rambler]

Magnesium chloride is a "salt" just like sodium chloride. Magnesium chloride is most often used when temps go below 15-20 deg F, as that is the point where sodium chloride begins to lose its effectiveness. Magnesium chloride should have no more effect on paint than sodium chloride does as both are considered "neutral salts". Sodium chloride dissolved in water produces a solution with a pH of 7 while magnesium chloride dissolved in water produces a solution with a pH of just under 7 (not completely neutral in the strictest sense, but so barely acidic that it is negligible). When it comes to effects on our vehicles, the biggest difference between sodium chloride and magnesium chloride is that magnesium chloride is more hygroscopic and thus draws moisture more readily, in turn more readily causing corrosion.

 

[lkaten]

Practice on a less important car than your baby.





If you want to keep it real simple, even Bubba-Proof, get some BLACKFIRE One Step and some foam polishing pads. Super simple, works great.






If you want to go the coating route, the hardest part of beginners is not applying, or "installing" the coating, it's chemically stripping the paint. Also - you can't use a one-step cleaner/wax if you're going to use a coating, you'll have to use a dedicated polish.

Here's what I would recommend at this time; the Pinnacle Black Label Paint Coating is super easy to use.


What do you have for polishes?

Thanks Mike,
I have some Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover. How would you think that would compare to Blackfire One Step? After getting some feedback regarding the potential for swirls and scratches... even on a ceramic coating on black paint...I'm still considering using Wolfgang DGPS rather than ceramic. What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks again

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Thanks Mike,
I have some Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover. How would you think that would compare to Blackfire One Step? After getting some feedback regarding the potential for swirls and scratches... even on a ceramic coating on black paint...I'm still considering using Wolfgang DGPS rather than ceramic. What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks again

I’d give a water spot remover like Car pros spotless a try. If so a light polish will probably work. Dont be scareed to ceramic coat if polishing.... not to much harder than applying wax. Just do on a sunny day to pull out and look for high spots.

Regular sealant won’t stop that from happening. Polishing the tough part but with right products and just keep pad moving youll be fine.

Give Car Pros Essence a whirl if your polishing. Coat it.... top the coat in the winter with the WG or a sio2 sealant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[acuRAS82]

For whatever it’s worth, and I’m the guy who posted earlier that I never get salt stains, I noticed just tonight:

While doing a RW to my Acura which has a ceramic QD test going on the horizontal panels, salt wiped off easily over the areas with the QDs and the vertical panels with BF SiO2 Spray. That’s consistent with my experience since I can remember. However, on the tape lines between the ceramic QD areas, where there is just bare paint, the salt and dirt was sticking. It didn’t wipe off easily at all and required careful agitation and finger nail scraping to get off. This was in 15-20 different spots on tape lines.

It’s interesting to note because this never happens from my memory, but my cars always have new and/or layered protection. Last night I purposely drove around in snow squalls to put stress on the QDs. The roads were loaded with salt and all horizontal panels had salt everywhere.

While I’m not sure what type of salt is used here in SW PA (temperature was around 25 when I was driving around), it has a green/blue tint where rock pieces were caked onto bottom panels. Whatever is used, my protected surfaces reject it pretty well with RW wipes. The bare paint requires uncomfortable agitation. It got me thinking about recent threads where users discuss if LSPs really do anything to protect. I laughed while reading those, and I can say for sure that LSPs certainly make a huge difference in cleaning winter’s road salt off.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

For whatever it’s worth, and I’m the guy who posted earlier that I never get salt stains, I noticed just tonight:

While doing a RW to my Acura which has a ceramic QD test going on the horizontal panels, salt wiped off easily over the areas with the QDs and the vertical panels with BF SiO2 Spray. That’s consistent with my experience since I can remember. However, on the tape lines between the ceramic QD areas, where there is just bare paint, the salt and dirt was sticking. It didn’t wipe off easily at all and required careful agitation and finger nail scraping to get off. This was in 15-20 different spots on tape lines.

It’s interesting to note because this never happens from my memory, but my cars always have new and/or layered protection. Last night I purposely drove around in snow squalls to put stress on the QDs. The roads were loaded with salt and all horizontal panels had salt everywhere.

While I’m not sure what type of salt is used here in SW PA (temperature was around 25 when I was driving around), it has a green/blue tint where rock pieces were caked onto bottom panels. Whatever is used, my protected surfaces reject it pretty well with RW wipes. The bare paint requires uncomfortable agitation. It got me thinking about recent threads where users discuss if LSPs really do anything to protect. I laughed while reading those, and I can say for sure that LSPs certainly make a huge difference in cleaning winter’s road salt off.

So you polished down yo bare paint beforecapplying QD’s? Didnt know that was going to be that thorough of a test. Any work better than others?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lkaten]

I've had similar spotting/etching on my black Audi after driving on a mag-chloride treated highway. The good news is that they can be removed by machine polish much like hard water spots, at least that has been my experience. Not sure about the aluminum trim pieces.

Porter cable should be able to handle it, you may need an aggressive pad/polish combo - what do you have now?

Thanks Avant,
I have white and orange foam pads and Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover.

 

[acuRAS82]

So you polished down yo bare paint beforecapplying QD’s? Didnt know that was going to be that thorough of a test. Any work better than others?

Yeah my current test had the paint flayed and polished, then paint prepped. It’s QDs on bare paint and on Essence (sectioned off). I have a list of sheeting performance as of a few days ago. New update coming Monday night.

 

[RamAirV1]

I am guessing since you just picked up your new Audi, you have not had a chance to apply a sealant, wax or coating to it. This may have made it more difficult to remove the magnesium chloride, requiring an extra polishing step to remove it. We use magnesium chloride on many of the roads here (Indiana) and so far I have not had any staining on my paint. Maybe the LSPs I use on my car are preventing it from staining who knows.

Hopefully you will be able to remove the stains with a single polishing stage! Unless you have a heated garage, it is going to be tough to polish and apply an LSP this time of year.

If I ever move, it's going to be to a location where they don't have winter!

RamAirV1

 

[lkaten]

I am guessing since you just picked up your new Audi, you have not had a chance to apply a sealant, wax or coating to it. This may have made it more difficult to remove the magnesium chloride, requiring an extra polishing step to remove it. We use magnesium chloride on many of the roads here (Indiana) and so far I have not had any staining on my paint. Maybe the LSPs I use on my car are preventing it from staining who knows.

Hopefully you will be able to remove the stains with a single polishing stage! Unless you have a heated garage, it is going to be tough to polish and apply an LSP this time of year.

If I ever move, it's going to be to a location where they don't have winter!

RamAirV1

Yep...just picked up my new Audi. One week ago... I was kind of bummed to get it coated with MgCl2 before I could put any protectant on it.

 

[lkaten]

Thanks everybody for all the advice. I've tried 3D Eraser Water Spot Remover and that didn't take the stains out. Looks I'll be polishing it out as soon as I have a chance. Then I'll coat it. I appreciate all the comments.