weird substance on car hood and recommended removal techniques?

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detailer_2020

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Occasionally, I find a weird substance on my car. Some of it comes off in the car wash but some of it remains. Here's a pic of my car hood from my latest experience and I'll describe each color-coded circled area in the pic:

Dropbox - sketch-1573340389876.png - Simplify your life

The area circled in yellow shows what the substance looks like when it first appears on my car. The top part (light circle outline) was mostly removed by going through the car wash. But as you can see, the bottom part remained.

The area circled in red had some of the same substance on it. I had some ethanol and an old t-shirt in my car which I used to rub and remove the substance from that area but as you can see from the pic, that approach was not kind to my car's clear coat. I thought that the ethanol might have been the culprit for those marks in the clear coat, so I lightly rubbed the tshirt without ethanol on the area circled in orange but as you can see in the pic, this approach was not kind to the clear coat either.

Funny thing is, I was able to remove the substance in the bottom part of the yellow circle by rubbing it around with my thumb, using natural thumb oil. When my thumb oil ran out I wet my thumb with some water and rubbed it into the substance which worked less than half as well.

Given this info, do you have any idea what the substance might be? I only garage park my car. Also, can you recommend a good removal technique other than using my thumb with it's natural oil lol? Maybe an applicator like this would be gentler on the clear coat than a t-shirt:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002J8379C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iS0XDb25DPZKQ

I could probably dab some mink oil on the applicator and work that through the substance on my car hood. Mink oil, shea butter or jojoba oil seem unconventional for removing surface debris from an auto finish, but may work well for this particular scenario, given my success with my thumb lol.
 
Those Meguiar pads are a good idea.

You should buy a cleaner wax for your initial go at it.
If this makes an improvement, which I am sure it will, you can step up to a polish for better results.

That looks to be some major residue baked on the hood, although I have no clue what it is.

What brand car and year?
 
Do you park inside of a public parking garage?

Some run off inside them can get the water filled with minerals or the cement dust. If getting them very fresh a waterless wash may be enough to desolve it and get lubrication from it. Look up a proper waterless wash technique and get you some quality microfiber towels and store them in something closed like a zip lock bag or a plastic box. Don't ever use an old or new t-shirt again LOL. You want to be gentle to the extremly thin paint you have on your vehical. If it's getting to being on for a day or 2 and the WW don't is enough. Get you a water spot remover to desolve it if it's hard water. And try to clean it up as soon as you notice it so you don't get it to etching your paint if possible. If it does so you can try a cleaner wax/AIO to gently abrade the damaged paint down.

Try to really find out where from you get these stains and avoid that place from now. This will lead to clearcoat failure in the near future if you don't already have gotten it. The paints are so thin these days so it can not hold up to repeated damages as you get through the clearcoat. Also now when you have gotten this sorted out. Get some good protection on the vehical. As you get damaged paint and correct it or it etch. The most of the UV protection left in the clearcoat is gone and need some help to survive from clearcoat failure. Optimum Car Wax has a patent pending UV protection in it. That may be an option to go with.

Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine: clay lubricant, optimum rinseless wash, no rinse car wash, optimum detailing products

Optimum MDR Mineral Deposit Remover, water spot remover for paint, water spot remover glass

Optimum Car Wax is a spray wax made with real carnauba and synthetic paint sealants for protection & shine! high-grade carnauba wax and silicone

/ Tony
 
It's a 2016 Audi A6. I know it looks like the substance was baked into the hood but it appeared in less than a week with no outdoor parking. Considering that I was able to remove the substance with my thumb and thumb oil, it seems like rubbing into it with jojoba oil, while probably unconventional for detailing, would be a good first step. Since it's such a gentle moisturizer used on skin, it seems unlikely to have any wear on a car's paint job.
 
Well pick your poison.

There is already nail scratches + swirls in addition to the mineral deposits.

Oils will just mask what is there. Try vinegar if you are going with home brews.

But also wipe the vinegar residue off with maybe distilled water.
 
@spazzz - I was able to actually remove the deposit from the bottom of the yellow circle by rubbing into it with my thumb using natural thumb oil. This didn't just cover it up, it actually removed the deposit. Jojoba oil is very similar to human sebum so it seems like jojoba oil would be one of the most gentle substances that could be used to rub into a surface deposit for removal.
 
@spazzz - I was able to actually remove the deposit from the bottom of the yellow circle by rubbing into it with my thumb using natural thumb oil. This didn't just cover it up, it actually removed the deposit. Jojoba oil is very similar to human sebum so it seems like jojoba oil would be one of the most gentle substances that could be used to rub into a surface deposit for removal
 
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