Removing Berry stains from paint

M

metalli445

New member
May 30, 2011
47
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Good Morning,
I recently parked under a callery pear tree which really did a number on my paint. Evidently the birds and squirrels love eating part of the fruit on this tree and dropping the rest. So I attached some photo's of the damage and I'm looking for advice on how to remove these stains with my flex 3401. I already tried washing, claying and then an orange pad with Menzerna SIP which did not work very well. I'm looking for some opinions on what to try. The kit I currently have can be found here. Menzerna Complete Ceramic 5.5 Inch Polishing Pad Kit
Thanks
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Wow that sucks. Maybe try a tar remover like the new CarPro TarX. If that doesnt help i dont know what else to suggest except a more aggressive compound, Menz PowerGloss with yellow pads would be my last resort.
 
Are those pictures before or after you did the wash/clay/polish? They have to be before, right? If not, you really need to soak that stuff to soften it up. As Mike Phillips advises try laying a wet towel on them for a while.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Are those pictures before or after you did the wash/clay/polish? They have to be before, right? If not, you really need to soak that stuff to soften it up. As Mike Phillips advises try laying a wet towel on them for a while.
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I have the same question... is the picture of the staining "substance" before or after washing?


Here's the tip Mike aka Setec Astronomy was referring to... it was an article on how to soften dried and hardened bug splatter but this would work for anything that is water soluble.



Here is the sugggestion...

Take a wash rag and saturate it with water or your car wash solution.

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Place the wet wash rag on top of the dried bug splatter and allow it to sit for a few minutes. A variation of this would be to use warm/hot water.

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To speed up the process, apply some gentle pressure while drinking a cold soft drink and if need be, hum or whistle a little diddy.

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A variation of the above but for a larger area would be to use a larger cloth such as a bath towel. Saturate a clean, soft 100% cotton towel with water and place it over the affected area.



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Allow the wet towel to sit for a short period of time and then remove the towel and wash as normal or wipe the area down with a quick detailer.


Whatever it takes to safely remove the dried substance...

Once you remove the dried substance, then we can tackle any imprint staining...

:)
 
Thanks for all your responses. The pictures were taken before I did the work. I'll try the damp towel method and let everyone in on the results. Thanks!
 
They always seem to fall on white paint too. There is a car I pass every day at work that is covered in them. I want so bad to leave a noted and tell them to come over to my house so I can fix it. It drives me NUTS to see them on a beautiful BMW every day
 
Jenn1270 said:
They always seem to fall on white paint too. There is a car I pass every day at work that is covered in them. I want so bad to leave a noted and tell them to come over to my house so I can fix it. It drives me NUTS to see them on a beautiful BMW every day
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Jenn

If you leave a note, let us know the response. There are several cars in my parking deck I would love to leave a note on. How people can let expensive cars get so nasty is beyond me.
 
Robert8194 said:
Jenn

If you leave a note, let us know the response. There are several cars in my parking deck I would love to leave a note on. How people can let expensive cars get so nasty is beyond me.
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I totally agree. I walk by a lot of Mercedes, BMWs, and even Bentley's etc. (working in Boca Raton, FL) daily on my way to work and always wonder how someone can pay that kind of money and not care about the overall condition of the car. I just feel better that my little Ford is lookin good and parked far away!
 
Robert8194 said:
Jenn

If you leave a note, let us know the response. There are several cars in my parking deck I would love to leave a note on. How people can let expensive cars get so nasty is beyond me.
Click to expand...

One of my patient's dad has a new detailing business. Maybe I need to suggest that he go down to the doctors lot and put business cards on all the cars windshields. They all REALLY need to call him for a good wash.

Jenn
 
I haven't had a chance to try the tips in this thread because its been raining but I've been dealing with this tree for about 20 years and every fall its the same thing. Since I've been washing my vehicles way longer then I've been a member of this forum I've been using different detergents\car soap products and nothing seems to take these off but a lot of time and elbow grease. That's why I was hoping the flex would really cut down on the time it takes to get these off since I have a full size pickup truck.

On another note, the clay bar that I used was yellow and made by mothers. After looking at autogeek's store I see that Mothers makes a "more aggressive" clay bar which is purple and its used to removed paint overspray and things of that nature. Do you think this is another viable option to remove these?
 
Now you're confusing me. What is it that you are trying to remove, the fruit itself, or staining that remains after you wash off the fruit?

In any case, you want to get yourself some really good wax/sealant to make this stuff easier to get off. What do you use now?
 
Robert8194 said:
Jenn
How people can let expensive cars get so nasty is beyond me.
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Reflexion said:
I totally agree. I walk by a lot of Mercedes, BMWs, and even Bentley's etc. (working in Boca Raton, FL) daily on my way to work and always wonder how someone can pay that kind of money and not care about the overall condition of the car.
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I agree too, same thing goes for all the cars you see at most car shows, you'll have a collection of diverse, cool cars and the majority of them are all swirled out...

For people with new cars, whatever they may be, to the owner it's just a means of transportation, something to get them from point A to point B, they don't know the difference between a squirrel and a swirl.

For all the folks that own swirls out cars at car shows, they don't know how to fix it themselves and they don't trust anyone else to "touch" their baby...


It drives us detailing type people up the wall!



:)
 
Sorry I don't mean to be confusing. When I think of fruit I'm thinking about the actual nuts that fall on the truck. They leave the red stain after impact that is in the pictures. I'm trying to remove those red stains. The pictures I posted is what the truck looks like after a wash. Basically just washing it does not remove anything. I have Collinate 845 waiting to be applied when I get the vehicle the way I want it. Since the truck is never garage kept, from searching different threads I thought this was a good product that would handle everyday environmental abuses.
 
metalli445 said:
I haven't had a chance to try the tips in this thread because its been raining but I've been dealing with this tree for about 20 years and every fall its the same thing.
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IF it's been raining, then any substance "on" the paint, if it can be softened with water will be softened by the rain water and now is the perfect time to try to wash or rub these stain splatters off.


metalli445 said:
That's why I was hoping the flex would really cut down on the time it takes to get these off since I have a full size pickup truck.
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If the staining is no longer a "substance" on the paint but the paint is "stained" sub-surface, that is the color of the offending substance has penetrated into the paint, the you should be able to take a hand applied compound like Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and using your fingers on some type of applicator pad, rub the compound onto the stained paint until you remove enough paint to remove the stain and expose a fresh layer of paint.

Usually when you rub hard with a compound doing something like this you'll inflict some marring to the area but you can remove the marring by machine.

The point is that while we all to often reach for the machine, (normal), sometimes you can get better results faster for removing defects like this because you can exert a lot of pressure to a small area, (your fingertips), and thus remove a little paint to remove the defect, (staining).

Make sense?


metalli445 said:
On another note, the clay bar that I used was yellow and made by mothers. After looking at autogeek's store I see that Mothers makes a "more aggressive" clay bar which is purple and its used to removed paint overspray and things of that nature.

Do you think this is another viable option to remove these?
Click to expand...

I think you're looking at the Meguiar's Aggressive Clay?


Here's the skinny...
Clay is for removing above surface bonded contaminants, emphasis on "above".

If the substance is "on" the paint, then rubbing an aggressive clay might remove it but the hand applied compound would do a better job faster.

If the substance has been removed and what's left is a sub-surface stain then the clay won't work but the compound will.


If we're talking about a sub-surface stain, then you can remove it as long as it doesn't penetrate too deeply and I doubt that's the case with a basecoat/clearcoat paint system.


:)
 
But your pictures look like there is raised gunk sitting on the paint. Once you get that off, is there staining IN the paint? You need to get the solid stuff off through some combination of washing, soaking, claying, plastic razor blade...yikes! Then see what kind of stain you have left...and you will need at least some sort of paint cleaner, a chemical cleaner--if that doesn't work you will have to use something abrasive. After that you need to get the paint sealed well with something, and after that, you need to get the pears off as soon as possible, I would keep some ONR mixture in the car and a lot of towels.
 
metalli445 said:
They leave the red stain after impact that is in the pictures.
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Get this,

"]Ultimate Compound


Something from this collection,

Foam Applicator Pads at Autogeek.net


Rub over stains, put some passion behind the pad...

Put a little passion behind the pad - Mike Phillips

Read through these,

Removing Scratches By Hand

How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand

How To Remove Paint Transfer



After you remove the stains by hand, re-buff the area by machine for a uniform, high gloss appearance.


:xyxthumbs:
 
Excellent information! I have all the information needed to get the job done. Thanks so much.
 
metalli445 said:
Excellent information! I have all the information needed to get the job done. Thanks so much.
Click to expand...


I think you'll find working by hand with a compound will make undoing the damage easy, kind of painstaking, but easy.

Be sure to apply some type of wax, paint sealant or coating after you're done removing the stains and polishing the surface to a high gloss.


If the trees are never going away so it's going to always be an issue, might want to look into a coating for the paint?


3-Categories: Waxes, Paint Sealants and Coatings



:)
 
You're correct. It's a city tree and I can't do anything about it. The coating looks like it would be the best option in my situation.
 
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