How Can I Remove Caked on Salt?

SleeperLS

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Oct 19, 2008
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So my wife refuses to wash her car throughout the winter, even after I keep nagging her about it. Now she has what looks like caked on salt drippage in a few spots on her hood. She parks in a parking garage and my guess is the salt runoff from the cars above her dripped on a couple of spots on her hood and she not only let it dry but let it sit for a while.



I saw it today and went to a normal car wash which did nothing. I came back and tried goo gone, wd40, some polishing compounds, onr, and carpro eraser stuff. I have gotten some of the thin spots off mostly, but the main spots are not budging at all. It isn't etched into the clear and paint from what I can tell, it is just caked on above it.



Anyone have a clue on what I could use or try? Thanks for the help gents.

872d047becb5b98355d9f4845b369dbb.jpg
 

SleeperLS

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Oct 19, 2008
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As with anything paint finish related, start with the least abrasive method first and work up from there. It looks more like bird poop stain to me than salt however


It is hard to get a good picture of it, but it isn't bird poop. Each pile of build up has a stream of runoff all the way down the hood. I was already able to get some of the runoff off, but not entirely and it won't really show up on my camera phone.
 

SleeperLS

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Little update. I pulled some cotton balls apart and layed them along the buildup. Then drenched it all in straight vinegar. Let it sit for a bit over an hour and the major buildup is gone. There is still some residual lines but i am going to try the nanoskin and a porter cable tomorrow. Getting too cold to work on it any more. Hopefully I can get it all off tomorrow.
 

SleeperLS

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It looks like acid etching kind of. From acidic bird dropping or a big dead bug left on the paint. Hmm. Have somone wetsand the panel maybe?

I thought it was going to have to come to taking it to a body shop, but I think I got it figured out. The pics make it look like bird crap, but it is not. It is definitely a salt slurry buildup from the parking garage she parks in. The pics don't show it correctly.
 

07si

DanJoys brother
Jul 13, 2011
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I thought it was going to have to come to taking it to a body shop, but I think I got it figured out. The pics make it look like bird crap, but it is not. It is definitely a salt slurry buildup from the parking garage she parks in. The pics don't show it correctly.
Interesting I wasn't aware having salt on the paint would do that? I got a couple similar suspect spots on my daily accord but they look in the clear coat. Good to here ya got it cleared up!
 

SleeperLS

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Oct 19, 2008
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I have never seen this happen before, but I also wash my car regularly. It was raised up off of the paint and not etched into it...very odd. If you scratched the surface with the back of your nail it felt raised up off of the paint surface and like a chalk board. The small amount that would scrape up was white powderish. I wish the pic showed it better. After talking to her it was on there for like 2-3 weeks and sat in the sun on top of it. It was such a pain in the ass to get off...she will pay. And not with money if you catch my drift.
 

07si

DanJoys brother
Jul 13, 2011
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aurora
If you have issues in the future with either tree sap or something of this nature id recommend giving goof off a shot, hopefully it didn't etch the clear.
Goof off work good on SAP and etc? How safe is that on clear coat I've used it some nothing for anything to big. Before we got this kerosene based tar remover which is $$$$$$ but works wonders we used gasoline for tar removal at the jiffy lube I work at which worked quite well.
 

Bird1989

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Dec 24, 2015
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Goof off work good on SAP and etc? How safe is that on clear coat I've used it some nothing for anything to big. Before we got this kerosene based tar remover which is $$$$$$ but works wonders we used gasoline for tar removal at the jiffy lube I work at which worked quite well.

Goof off is definitely a stronger solvent compared to the kerosene based tar remover you used, I only use goof off after trying a tar remover beforehand. It is clear coat safe in all the applications I have used it in. I would not recommend using it on painted door moldings or unpainted plastic trim.
 
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