rubbing compound (detailers come in!)

[rice]

so i painted some dents and dings on the car's front bumper(sand, primer, paint, clear). After a couple days, i rubbed in some medium-grade rubbing compound, some of the compound stayed on the bumper, because i figured i could just wash them out when i wash the whole car. Well, it's been a few days now and after trying to wash it out and rubbing it with some wash cloths, it's staying on THERE!! I can't get it out!! The rubbing compound has dried up on the bumper and no matter what, i can't get it off. My whole bumper now has a white glaze to it like Wax has dried up, but its not wax, it's the rubbing compound! Help!!

[Mike Gerber]

This is not my area of expertise, but I would try more rubbing compound to "rewet" the area again and then try to rub it off. Follow it up with a good coat of wax. I hope that some professionals with actual paint and body experience can comment here.

Good luck.

Mike

[Kingdom934]

Are these the black rubber bumpers or painted ones?

If it's those black ones (on Gen1 & 2)...
It's going to come off eventually for sure but it will take a month or so depending on your weather (raining and wet will make it come off faster). Not exactly sure how to take it off the bumper now though. What I usually do is I apply a tire spray to the rubber bumper to give it a wet look and that sometimes causes that ugly white compound stain to become not as noticable.

IF it's those painted ones (Gen3 and up)
Hmm, I have not exactly come across a painted bumper which had the white glaze to it after it was compounded. Is it like the actual compound is still on the bumper? I usually get those annoying 'hard on streak' of compound on painted surfaces when I do it in the sun, leave it too long on the car, or over do the compound. It's a PITA to take it off as I usually have to use a rougher cloth and some nails to get it off.

[rice]

it's painted bumpers, do you recommend Mike Gerber's idea of adding some more rubbing compound? When I used the compound, I didn't completely wipe it off because i thought it was like Wax where after 15 minutes or so, I would be able to wipe off the excess dried up stuff.

[Tommy]

ive heard peanut butter will remove dried up wax from textured black parts, but personally that seems too messy. ive had decent luck with detailing spray and a scrub brush myself though. just spray the detailer spray on it liberally, scrub it down, then wipe it all off.

[Pb]

LOL

Polish doesn't need to dry. You can wipe it off immediately. Once you are done rubbing, the polish is done working.

You can try re-polishing it. Or wiping it down with some alcohol.