Soap-stained Nose

[joetiger]

I'd like to find recommendations on how to handle an issue that's really bugging me...

First things first, I did something really boneheaded.

I drove my Vanagon through a car wash a while back without remembering to take the bra off of the front. I am aware that leaving the bra on traps moisture underneath and promotes rust. What I didn't realize was that the soap from the car wash was also trapped under there.

I removed the bra a few weeks later (having completely forgotten that I'd gone through the carwash,) and found huge swaths of curvy white patches all over the nose above the upper grill. I have tried to remove these blotches by washing and in a more desperate attempt by using bug & tar remover and elbow grease, but with no luck.

I read an article online that talked about removing water and soap spots with white vinegar, but I don't want to destroy what's left of the clear coat.

Does anybody have any ideas for how to remove these big white blotches that won't completely destroy the paint and/or clearcoat?

I don't want people thinking that my Vanagon has a coke problem.

Thanks
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[seanjenn]

I've used T3 Resin Glaze on all of my vans in the past. I don't have the bottle infront of me but I think it's safe for clear coat. It hasn't bothered the clear coat on either my current van or my previouse one. Removes all kinds of unwanted scuffs and blemishes. Sometimes it can be hard to find but the Mcguckin's hardware in Boulder carries it, $6 or so.
_________________
1987 GL Sunroof
2.1 4 spd

[camerahunter]

Water put it on, water will take it off. You can drape wet towels over the front and wait for it to soften up and be gone. I don't think Vinegar can remove clear coat, it's not paint remover, it's a mild acid, very mild at that. Many bathroom cleaners will do it. Remember they are designed to clean softer surfaces like fiberglass so they will be very gentle on a vehicle paint job.

Thank you,

David
_________________
1984 - Daily driver

[joetiger]

Thanks for the responses!

David, I think I'll try your method this weekend (assuming my garage is above freezing) and see if I can get this stuff off.

Sean, I found the TR-3 on Amazon. The reviews are very positive; I wonder why it's not more readily available?

http://tinyurl.com/yh4v9jl

I'm ordering a can to see what it can do!
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[seanjenn]

My isea on it lack of availability is that it's kind of an old school product and they never did much advertising anyway. I got turned on to it by an older paint and body guy I worked with.
_________________
1987 GL Sunroof
2.1 4 spd

[tschroeder0]

if it were me I wouldn't use vinegar, it's stronger than you think

I would use a polishing coumpound ,you can use it by hand or if a little more muscle is needed use a foam pad on an angle grinder, the foam pads are much more gentle than a cloth one and much less likely to burn.

If the polishing compound won't cut it just use a light grit rubbing coumpound followed by the polishing compound.

In college I worked at a body shop and buffed out cars, bras really take their toll on a paint job over time.

[Terry Kay]

3-M Finesse will take the stain right off the nose.
It's available at any local body shop supply.

Great for clear coat finishes.
_________________
T.K.

[joetiger]

Well, I laid some towels on it last night and was able to scrub some of it off.

I found the TR3 at Checker Auto and tried that with no luck.

I haven't been able to source the 3M stuff yet.

This stuff is really, really on there thick:

_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[Terry Kay]

Joe,

I've been refinishing all kinds of vehicles for an awfully long time--and I gotta tell ya I've never seen just soap screw up paint this bad on anything--

It's a WOW moment--

It looks like the clear just sucked up the soap ,and destroyed it.

Try this---and don't worry it's evasive surgery.

Get some dawn in a pail --mix it with warm water, and with some 1500 wet sanding paper gently hit a small area.

I like & use 3-M stuff, so get some 3-M heavy duty rubbing compound and rub the sanded area.

Then rub the area with a diaper with some Finesse on it and it should look clear again.

Wow---that looks like double Ca-Ca--
And I can't imagine any urethane clear coat sucking up moisture / soap like that--

Unless the Van had been repainted,and it wasn't urethane clear coated.

This one is really a puzzler--

Hit it with 1500 in a small spot and see it it clears up--
If it doesn't--I'd say you got the Tide look--

Another WOW-
_________________
T.K.

[joetiger]

I take pride in the fact that I just got a WOW out of you, Terry.

If I have the time tomorrow I'll get on it again and try your plan out.

I'm pretty sure this is original paint, but it was not in the best shape before.

Let this be a warning to bra-wearers--be sure to take it off before you hit a drive-through car wash!!!!
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[Terry Kay]

Joe,

What's a real mystery here is I've got braziere's on two of my Van's, run them through the car wash all the time--and neither one of them ever had the paint attacked like this .

Maybe the soap the wash was using was super caustic or something wild like that, and then getting trapped between the Bra & the paint ate the clear up---
Caustic Soda won't attack a urethane based paint--usually.

Who Know's?

If the 1500 ( you can be even less agressive and use 2000 ) paper dosen't cause the clear to un-white, un-fog itself---

WOW.
_________________
T.K.

[tschroeder0]

WoW is right???

did the car wash give you a "presoak" ie some heavy duty wheel/engine cleaner first?

Can you tell is it on top of the clear? (if you take your finger nail can you cut through it? of did it actually cut through and get under or even lift off the clear?

[camerahunter]

I'm curious to see if you've made any progress with this.

David
_________________
1984 - Daily driver

[hippiepilot]

Oh dude I'm sorry that sucks I hope you can get that off your paint. Let us know, good luck
_________________
83 air-cooled Westy
91 Carat (daily driver)
http://www.changeisland.com

[joetiger]

[funagon]

Try polishing compound!

Most FLAPS sell Turtle Wax polishing compound. It's cheap and it comes in a light and heavy formulation. Try the heavier (more abrasive) of the two.
_________________
1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[RCB]

You have moisture imbeded into the clear coat, go to an auto body shop and ask them to fog on some retarder or a real slow thinner. This may soften up the finish enough to allow the moisture to escape.

The top coat itself will be a little soft after doing this so keep it outa the rain or fog and definitly dont go to a car wash for a few weeks.

[joetiger]

I finally got around to this, several years later...

I scrubbed the nose with Dawn and soapy warm water to get any wax and dirt off. I'd done this before and had gotten some of the detergent off. Then I wet sanded with super, super fine grit sandpaper, which finally took off all of the detergent. On the spot where the detergent had been thickest, I actually went through the paint to the white primer.

I did two layers of wax after that. My front end has hundreds of rock chips, so it's not anywhere near show-quality perfect, but it sure looks a lot better than it did:

I need to paint it, but because nose paint is not a primary system, its functionality is low on my priority list.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[msinabottle]

Good on you for getting it done!

That is an improvement. I'd so love to get Winston painted, but I'm just having horrid year after horrid year economically. About the one treat I can afford for the dear old Van is to have his oil tested using one of those Napa sample kits. You send in the sample and get back a report on the shape the oil's in, what's in it, that sort of thing. That'll be worth something.

Best!

Oh. Look. My 2500th post. Do I get a cookie?
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[BlackDogVan]

I think Vanagon bras net more damage than protection...
_________________
Gone but not forgotten - 1991 Carat - AAZ transmogriffied to mTDi.
Still addicted, looking for Doka...