Polish caused white speckles in black paint!?

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Pete7

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Last weekend i washed and polished my 2008 jet black bmw with meguiars ultimate compound, by hand.

I was happy with the result, it had a lovely shine and all scratches were gone.

This weekend I washed it again and noticed this:

uk2AJhG.jpg


The bonnet is worst effected, but they are all over the car.

The white dots are dried ultimate compound polish. (I know they are not primer as mine is grey), and they seem to be in the pores of my paint, not sitting above it.

I have tried wiping them away with IPA, WD40 and peanut butter neither of which had any effect. I could clear a couple of the largest spots from stone chips using an electric toothbrush, but most are too small and numerous.

Does anyone have a method for removing these???
 
You used ultimate compound and didn't follow that up with polish?
 
Correct, I wasn't aware that was the norm (ultimate compound claims to be an all stages in one polish), and it looked great on the day I did it...

If polish will fix it what polish do you suggest?

Also I have regular collinite wax I will be applying...do you suggest I get something else as I don't want it drying in these pores either...
 
Meg's #7 will work. #7 is a non abrasive polish that has been around for long time. Make sure you read the directions.

Meg's D-114 no rinse wash will work as well. Dilutes 1:128 per instructions.

I'm sure there are other over the counter products.
 
For some reason, it looks to me that the polish filled in the rock chips present on the hood.

What was your IPA mixture? I wouldn't have used WD40 on paint.

Have you tried re washing the car to remove the spots?
 
I agree it looks like the polish has filled in stonechips, but many of the speckles are tiny pinpricks that I wouldn't have expected of stonechips. Its almost like pores in the paint.

I very quickly wiped away the spot of WD40 after I was convinced it didn't work as yes it seemed dodgy...I tried washing thoroughly with hot water and soap and also neat IPA. I haven't (yet!) damaged the paint, it is very hard.

I think I will try soaking in neat IPA for a few minutes plus my girlfriends ultrasonic face brush next weekend.
 
Pete7 said:
I agree it looks like the polish has filled in stonechips, but many of the speckles are tiny pinpricks that I wouldn't have expected of stonechips. Its almost like pores in the paint.

I very quickly wiped away the spot of WD40 after I was convinced it didn't work as yes it seemed dodgy...I tried washing thoroughly with hot water and soap and also neat IPA. I haven't (yet!) damaged the paint, it is very hard.

I think I will try soaking in neat IPA for a few minutes plus my girlfriends ultrasonic face brush next weekend.
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Depending on the IPA strength, you may risk allowing some to get under the paint and actually do more harm than good. I have seen someone wrinkle the paint with full strength IPA( neighbor removing a bird bomb with IPA) Maybe others will chime in, but I wouldn't soak in IPA, just wipe down. On another note, my wife has a face brush that you described. I would never use that on my paint. It would probably leave fine swirl marks. I would say that would just make more work for yourself. You will have compound back in those same holes due to having to re-remove the swirls from the face brush.
 
I'm gonna say since your car is from 2008 that those are just rock chips! Try doing a wash to remove what you can of the polish thats filling them, then IPA if necessary.
 
Dmb5450 said:
Depending on the IPA strength, you may risk allowing some to get under the paint and actually do more harm than good. I have seen someone wrinkle the paint with full strength IPA( neighbor removing a bird bomb with IPA) Maybe others will chime in, but I wouldn't soak in IPA, just wipe down. On another note, my wife has a face brush that you described. I would never use that on my paint. It would probably leave fine swirl marks. I would say that would just make more work for yourself. You will have compound back in those same holes due to having to re-remove the swirls from the face brush.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Do not let any mixture of IPA dwell on the paint.

OP, why not start off with the least aggressive approach and re wash the car with a stronger dilution of soap before you start soaking the paint with IPA.
 
Ok I hear you, I wont soak it with IPA. I did start with detergent, and then progressed to dilute (1:7) IPA, WD40, peanut butter (lol) and then neat IPA, all to no effect.

I suspect that perhaps the previous owner filled these micro-stonechips/pores with some kind of dark wax or something, which my polishing removed, since they only appeared after I polished it.

I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do to remove the dried compound, and/or what to cover them up with...
 
Those look to be small stone chips or paint defects like solvent pops. Is this a repaint? Did you wax the car after polishing? It could be the wax or sealant in the pits.

I would rewash and reseal with a product that doesn't dry white, Meg's ULW for example. Might need a soft boars hair brush to agitate and loosen the white residue.
 
Having filled a few stone chips in the bonnet I'm confident it has not been repainted. I have not waxed it.

I shall buy a clay bar and give it a go.

I shall sell the Collinite I was going to use and buy some Meg's ULW since I'm sure the former will dry white and cause the same issue once I get the compound out!
 
Normal process goes like this,

Wash and dry
Compound
Polish
Wax

Neither compounds or polishes provide any long term protection, this comes from the wax.

Always a good practice to seal the paint with a wax or synthetic paint sealant after compounding and waxing.


:)
 
RFrommann said:
You used ultimate compound and didn't follow that up with polish?
Click to expand...
Just to be clear it is not a requirement to follow up Ultimate Compound with Polish. Ultimate compound can produce an outstanding finish that is LSP ready.
 
Yeah, my paint is so hard I think a polish applied manually would do nothing to it, the shine from UC was top notch. I was going to protect it with wax of course, but have to sort this issue first.

I hope clay does the job!

I will then be using Megs ultimate liquid wax so it dries clear in the pores.
 
For future reference you should always clay/decontaminate your paint prior to compounding/polishing.
 
The Collinite you own dries clear, not white. Same as the ULW. I have 845, 476, & 915. They all dry clear.
 
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