white dots

sn00ty

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Just purchased a used bmw e36 coupe about a month ago, and recently noticed these tiny little white dots all over the hood, getting worse towards the end. They are smooth when you rub your hand over them. I tried hand buffing with a light polishing compound, and then waxing, didn't do much. then did this pre wax clean and clay bar, hardly did anything. What can I do do remove these white dots?

ignore rock chips

p7240773.jpg
 
It is sandblasted, basically while driving the debris that is kicked up is going over the car and after awhile the paint gets removed. Where the dots are is where the paint has been removed. The hood will need to be repainted if you want to fix the problem.
 
If from road debris,wouldn't their be some roughness,be it ever so slight.What does closer inspection show with a Brinkmann or similar devise ? The chips in the picture seem to differ from the white spots or is this the case ? Is this original paint or a repaired section ?
Paul S
 
There would not be any type of roughness because of the fine grit, almost like sand, is hitting your car at highway speeds, this is why they call it "sandblasting". I have seen this one 100's of cars, it can not be helped unless you choose not to drive the vehicle very often otherwise over time this will happen. The chips are bigger because they are chipped not being sanded away from driving. It is the samething that happens to headlights over time. Look at the headlight in the picture it is also getting sandblasted from road debris while driving otherwise it would be a clear lense not hazed.
 
Ironic because the worst case of that I've seen was on another black BMW. It was also more heavily chipped on the leading edge of the hood and bumper.
Yeah, there is a fix. I can't describe all of the steps but I can give you a general idea of what I've seen. There was a member on here that worked at a BMW shop. He did a thread on filling similar areas with touch up paint. He did them all at once with the paint, his special mix with linseed oil, and spread with a squeege. Areas looked new when he finished.
 
interesting, it would be great if I could get the process.
 
It seems there was another thread where he did a large area at one time but I didn't find that one. Here's a similar link from the same member http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...rsity/3150-rotary-boo-boo-s-chip-filling.html

Thanks Jimmie! Im new to this whole detailing thing so bear with my noobish questions and general confusion. I'm just wondering how it will be possible to fill all the spots. There are just so many of them, especially at the way end of the hood. They are also within really close proximity of each other. The other question I have is that because people are saying these dots are actually small chips, how come they are smooth to the touch even when wax is removed?

Thanks everyone!
 
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One is because they are very small and secondly like I explained above it is a sanding type action that caused it so it will leave the surface smooth. The samething happened on my vette behind my rear tires, little dots and it is very smooth.

It would be easier and look nicer if you just have the whole hood re-finished.
 
bummer.... it would be great if there was a way to at least make it look a little better. Is that possible? or is it just beyond that point?
 
To me it is beyond that point and there really isn't a quick fix other than polish it out as best as possible and see if that will make you a little happier. Other wise you are going to need to re-finish the hood to get back to were you really want it.
 
lol I'm in the same boat man...my 1992 BMW 325i's hood looks REALLY bad. I fixed my headlamps to like new condition though, but now they look out of place compared to the rest of my car. :D
 
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