Weird Spot

[digitalscars]

hey, Noticed this spot on my hood a few weeks ago, doesnt want to seem to come off, its more of an outline.


tried claybar and other cleaners, even tried waxing it..wont budge


any thoughts?

heres a pic:

[DietoRemain]

Looks like an etching of some kind, any birds get to your car? Maybe some nasty hard water?

[digitalscars]

i dont think so, not sure about birds. dont think its a hard water stain or whatever.

just showed up, probaly sometime after winter....

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by digitalscars

hey, Noticed this spot on my hood a few weeks ago, doesnt want to seem to come off, its more of an outline.


tried claybar and other cleaners, even tried waxing it..wont budge


any thoughts?

heres a pic:

If I had to guess, I would say it's a bird poop scar. If you have plenty of paint, you can take it down with polish to get rid of it, depending on how far down it ate into the paint.

I have a few like that on my hood and have decided to leave them alone.

[ToyotaJimD.]

It would be helpful to know what "polishes" you've tried.

If it's etching from water or bird, you should be able to see the defect with a magnifying glass.

If you're unsure from where it came, are you sure it's not a breaching of the clearcoat from a previous attempt at a repair?

But if it's etching, and if you didn't give Mothers Scratch Remover a try, I would definitely try a few applications.

Whatever you use, be sure to keep an eye on the clearcoat -- you don't want to breach it.

[digitalscars]

ill try that. i dont think it breached the clear coat, but what would happen if it did? also what polish would u suggest i try?

[PolishAndWax]

There's no way to tell by eye if you are about to punch through the clear coat. Even with a mil gauge, you still don't know how much clear coat you have because it measures total paint (primer, base coat, sealer, clear coat).

If you punch through the clear coat you are HOSED.

Just to give you a rough idea of paint thickness, my friend's 2005 Tacoma has 3 mils (.003") of paint (that's total paint) on it. That's about the thickness of a piece of inkjet printer paper. So, he has less than 3 mils of clear on it.

[JayMax03]

I have something like that but the damage is waaayyy past that point I'll take some pics on the weekend to see whats what.

[digitalscars]

oh ok. so would u suggest i just leave it alone? i dont want to ruin it more. if i rub my hand over it i can feel no difference in texture.

[Pb]

Polish it. It will go away, or at least look much better.

[digitalscars]

any suggested polish to pick up Pb?

[JayMax03]

its my trunk too but its not that bad...

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by JayMax03

its my trunk too but its not that bad...

Looks like you clear coat said 'Hasta la vista'...

[digitalscars]

wow. mine doesnt seem to be growing. what if it is the clear coat? anything i can do?


if its not what polish should i use to try to get ride of it?

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by digitalscars

wow. mine doesnt seem to be growing. what if it is the clear coat? anything i can do?


if its not what polish should i use to try to get ride of it?

I'm getting confused here between the spot and the peeling roof...the peeling roof sure looks like blown-through clear coat.

If we're talking about the ring, it looks like clear coat damage, but not a punch-through.

99% of professionals will tell you that you need a new paint job once the clear coat peels, although some will say there's a 'fix' for it available to consumers in the form of an acrylic or similar substance.

I've seen some of these products online and although I haven't tested them, I'm skeptical. However, I'm skeptical on everything until I've tried it!

I think that once the base coat is exposed, you're hosed. Even if you could somehow reclear it, I think the damage to the exposed basecoat is irreversible and you would see a difference between the basecoat that was exposed and that which wasn't.