Car wash soap stained paint

I have seen this happen. The soaps used on a lot of car washes is very caustic...it's harsh to say the least. You should be able to polish/compound the spots off. What happened is the soap actually etched into the clear.


And here is a link to some bulk quality car shampoo:

Car Wash Shampoo | Car Wash Supply | Car Washing Soap


Hope this helps!

 

Regarding the car shampoo/soap I agree. I have used Adams products for several years and find them to be excellent products. I get great results with their products and am very satisfied with them.

Their car shampoo/soap is fairly concentrated and has quite a bit of lubricity to it.

Regarding the damage left by the soap from the car wash. That may be very difficult to correct. I would try a small area of the car, and remove the old wax, followed by using a clay bar, followed by the least aggressive polish available. If the least aggressive polish does not remove the damage, I would try a more aggressive polish, and if that does not work possibly another aggressive polish. Numerous companies make different levels of polishing compounds so do a little bit of research and select a line of polishing compounds. You might try Griots or Autogeek on line.

Good luck and let us know your results.

 

It happened to my yellow TR once I was in a hurry to a car show and car was dirty after driving there for a fairly long distance I went in a touchless carwash too. I was furious when I saw that. After hand washing the car a few times it disapeared.

 

Sorry but ..."you put your Ferrari through a car wash?"

360 is the next 275GTB

 

My exact experience last year. In a hurry and arrived at a show after a 3 hour drive. No place to wash so I went to a wash station and used the hand wash bay with there soap. No problems on the exterior paint but it did stain some engine bay parts. I just recently started to clean them up and I think all will be well after several hours work. Never again.

 

I have a feeling it has more to do with the recycled water (full of petroleum and mineral contaminants) used at car washes, rather than the soap they use. Iridescent stains speaks to petroleum products, imo. I've used soaps similar to what I suspect many car washes use, for the grungier tasks (simple green for the green soaps, and sodium metasilicates such as in the pink or purple cleaners), and have never noticed the issue.

 

If you have a clear coat...it will polish out.
Start with s scratch remover polish and ease into a fine grade polish.
Todays clear coats are impervious to just about anything that comes along.

 

I think thats a good point about the recycled water.

If this happened to my car, I would go right for my favorite "miracle" product: Klasse All In One. Its not the newest thing out there but it works and is generally harmless unless you use way too much, let it dry too long, and then wipe it off with too much pressure- basically you can scratch your clear coat. Anyway, its a very good cleaner wax, and it has the benefit of lasting- I will do a car and then drive through winter and water is still beading...

https://www.amazon.com/Klasse-ALL-IN-ONE-Polish-10-oz/dp/B00CZD7QOS/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1482808914&sr=1-2&keywords=klasse+all+in+one

 

In my case it was NOT recycled water. The last stage of soap or wax or whaterver it was in the process was multicolored and that is what stained the paint.

Anyway these car wash are totally useless!

 

I believe you there, godabitibi. I had forgot about those multicolored products as foams I've seen. I first envisioned the rainbow sheen oils mixed with water gives. The soot from an oil consuming engine shows it when hit by water, for example. I could have misread the type of staining ncjetskier meant.

 

They acid washed your car. I had a white M3 I put in the hand wash in the winter.

They were to use nothing but wash soap. It was very dirty and salty, and some rocket scientist put it in for an acid wash. Got the car with streaks of gray all over the Alpine White Paint.

A good paint cleaner and polishing took care of the issue.

 

I think for a bulk product that would be good for your other vehicles, check out Meguiars. Their basic wash product would be effective on the trucks but mild enough not to strip the paint. Also works pretty well in a foam gun.

I know it comes in gallons, but if you need 5 gallons at a time this might be an alternative: Heads Up - Vehicle Wash and Wax In One - 5 Gallon Pail [expensive stuff, though]

 

Why, will it disintegrate?

 

Not so.....

The modern low VOC paints are water based....

I had a white car brand new, heavily damaged when the gas cap seal failed and blew fuel all down the quarter panel on a two hour drive.

They had to respray half of the two week old car!

Anyway, that gives legs to the comment on some type of petro contamination in the water.

 

meguiars hyper wash in 5gal is readily available from online detailing.com

 

The clearcoat isn't water based..