I have an 05 flame red srt-4 and a few days ago, I encountered some love bugs. Being a full time college student with a part time job, I don't have much time or energy at all to keep it as clean as i would like. The love bugs ate/etched the clear coat on my front bumper and on the hood a little. Is there ANYTHING that I could use to correct this? I know that nothing short of getting it repainted will take care of it completely but is there some kind of rubbing compound, wax, or clay bar that could help clean the clear coat up and make it look decent again? Links to products would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time.
There is nothing that you can do. I had the same issue on my old Red SRT-4 as well. The previous owner didn't take care of the paint and let the dead bugs sit on the car and eat away the clear. I tried EVERYTHING. You name it. Every name brand wax...tar remover...bug remover...household crap. Nothing wanted to make the blemishes go away. I even tried Zaino clay bar and wax kit and that made everything else look AMAZING, just didn't get rid of the clearcoat blemishes.
There is nothing that you can do. I had the same issue on my old Red SRT-4 as well. The previous owner didn't take care of the paint and let the dead bugs sit on the car and eat away the clear. I tried EVERYTHING. You name it. Every name brand wax...tar remover...bug remover...household crap. Nothing wanted to make the blemishes go away. I even tried Zaino clay bar and wax kit and that made everything else look AMAZING, just didn't get rid of the clearcoat blemishes.
x2.......best u can do is repaint it & if the body shop does a crappy job it will still be there
X2 i had mine clay barred and everything and still resides the spots. so now i am just gonna black out the cross bar and black my front lip the width of the crossbar.
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Quote: Originally Posted by Goldenshisno
Wouldn't a little water be OK because when you heat up water it turns to steam the Hydrogen separates from the O2) and so all you would be adding is some extra air and hydrogen and last i checked that's pretty flammable.
Quote: Originally Posted by S10jimmi
What? Steam is still H2O. It doesn't separate into H and O2, thats much more complex. It stays as H2O.
There is hope, I encounter this problem all the time. You just need some polish like meguiars swirl remover and keep working it in until it goes away, also dont press hard and clean the surface first. If it doesn't work after 3 tries or so then move up to a stronger polish like their fine cut cleaner. An orbital buffer will make life 10x easier. If you never used polish before I wouldn't recommend sanding paper because you can easily make things worse if it's not done right. Do not try rubbing compound first, start with a light polish which is the least abrasive then gradually go stronger if needed. There's also a vendor on this site called Adams that has good stuff from what I hear.
There is hope, I encounter this problem all the time. You just need some polish like meguiars swirl remover and keep working it in until it goes away, also dont press hard and clean the surface first. If it doesn't work after 3 tries or so then move up to a stronger polish like their fine cut cleaner. An orbital buffer will make life 10x easier. If you never used polish before I wouldn't recommend sanding paper because you can easily make things worse if it's not done right. Do not try rubbing compound first, start with a light polish which is the least abrasive then gradually go stronger if needed. There's also a vendor on this site called Adams that has good stuff from what I hear.
LOL. Pushing hard is the idea behind POLISHING. Meguiars Scratch-X is the least abrasive hand polish made, it's also a diminishing abrasive. That means as you work it, the abrasiveness wears down and becomes more of a moisturizing agent for the clearcoat, since paint is porous like skin. Don't be afraid to push hard as shit with a foam pad, multiple applications may be necessary. If it doesn't do much after 3 tries, move up to the next step abrasive. Hopefully that helps him out! Best of luck!
Be VERY careful sanding and compounding the front of an SRT-4! The paint is not always as thick on the fenders and hood as it is on the rest of the car!
Even if you have years of experience, you should still be careful, but it is probably not the place to learn wet sanding and corrective compounding unless you have given up and are planning to repaint he front end anyway.
Last edited by harold97 : 11-01-2008 at 05:21 PM.
Reason: I missed an important word!
same thing on my 05 OB. 1st owner didn't do shit to keep the front clean. my whole lip is owned, and a few spots on the front bumper closer to the hood. when i claybar or wax or anything i just avoid the front bumper because it seems to make it worse
I live in Oregon and have heard about the love bugs in Florida. Heard you have to make the time to get them off immediately or they will kill your paint. Bummer.
LOL. Pushing hard is the idea behind POLISHING. Meguiars Scratch-X is the least abrasive hand polish made, it's also a diminishing abrasive. That means as you work it, the abrasiveness wears down and becomes more of a moisturizing agent for the clearcoat, since paint is porous like skin. Don't be afraid to push hard as shit with a foam pad, multiple applications may be necessary. If it doesn't do much after 3 tries, move up to the next step abrasive. Hopefully that helps him out! Best of luck!
LOL that is not the idea behind polishing. If he's polishing by hand he shouldn't press hard, that'll do nothing for the paint except induce other marks and you can't "push hard as shit with a foam pad" cause the machine will bog down, well that is if you're referring to a foam pad on a machine. Scratch-X is a joke because it contains fillers that will cover up the blemish temporarily.
Last edited by Sriquixotic : 11-03-2008 at 07:49 AM.
LOL that is not the idea behind polishing. If he's polishing by hand he shouldn't press hard, that'll do nothing for the paint except induce other marks and you can't "push hard as shit with a foam pad" cause the machine will bog down, well that is if you're referring to a foam pad on a machine. Scratch-X is a joke because it contains fillers that will cover up the blemish temporarily.
I dunno about you, but I apply Scratch-X by hand, with a small foam pad. Induce other marks? Isn't the idea of polishing, inducing miniscule marks all over to bring the clearcoat down to the level of the scratch you're removing? I agree, Scratch-X is a joke for everything but a small scratch put on the car by the wind blowing...
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bugs ate clear coat
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