My 98 has little black dots all over the paint, they are about the size of a pinhead and if you pick them off with your finger, it leaves a brown stain behind in the exact same size and shape. My father's car has it too, I think it may have come from the air. Anyone know about this or how to get rid of them?

i found bug and tar remover works but it is a pain if you have tons. try clay barring it...if you can find one. no stores around me seem to have them but others have said they work great for that.

Do you live near a railroad track?

You probably have rail dust or brake dust ... I've found an orbital buffer, patience and wax will lift it right off though carefully picking them partially off with a fingernail helps.

Clay Bar.
-Cyrus

Ooooooooooo, I wanna do that on my pearl white Max
My bumper looks like crap, some clay bar action would be good.

BTW Cyrus, you gotta PM me after you've hooked up the pager and tell me what you think of it 'k? I'm most interested in the range of it.

that doesnt sound nice

It will help a lot, it removes all of the debris, tar, and bugs and bug & tar cleaner just can't and then some. It really is a good product but takes to much time to do the whole car. I suggest just the front bumper, hood, and fenders.

Will do. mb1 is going to ship it today.
-Cyrus

That is strange. The same thing happened to my friends Altima yesterday. Lots of little black dots all over the driver's side. We found them on the top of the car too. Tree sap of some kind maybe?

You might try Zymol HD Cleanse. It's a non-abrasive chemical cleaner for paint. It will strip old wax/oxidation/crap off your paint (and in the process make the color look incredible). It's expensive stuff, but very worth it. When you're done with that make sure that you wax it, since there will be no wax left after you HD Cleanse. I use Zymol's waxes but any good wax (not the stuff from Autozone) will do the job. Personally I think "hard" waxes (i.e. Zymol Carbon/Creme...stuff that doesn't pour, you just wipe the pad on it) do a better job of protecting the car.

Other people have said to use the clay bar...I know they must work because everyone uses them, but I have never really had a lot of luck with them. I have also heard that they're relatively aggressive in cleaning your paint and should only be used when really necessary...

I have the same problem. I think it is coming from an oak tree that I park under. SGMAX Do you park your car near or under any trees?
I wash my car and remove the stains with my nails. Keep a good coat of wax on your car, the marks will come off easier.

I've got this problem too. It's road tar. If you try and wipe it off
it smears. It's a PITA to get off. I use bug and tar remover. Works swell. Thats what we get for having white cars.

Man I guess we have no farmers on this forum..Sounds like you are describing "Fly ****" when I was living on the farm I bought a black truck because of this. It is from huge-azz horseflies. If you are no where around these flies then I am wrong and it is road tar>....The pin head appearnce is what the flys leave....any of the described methods listed above work.>

D

Nothing works better than fingernail polish remover.. And no... It won't harm your paint. It is fast and you can do a large area with not much effort and it really cheap.

Uhh...putting acetone (a.k.a. nail polish remover) on your paint is NOT a good idea. I am 100% positive that you are harming your paint by using it (try wiping it on the paint on your license plate numbers and see what happens)...that **** will strip paint no problem. Besides, there's no reason to use a harsh solvent like that when there are much better and safer cleaners available.

I knew someone would chime in.
Your licence plate paint is not the same as auto paint. I have been doing it for 20 years without doing any harm or removing any paint.
The reason I always use it on tough stains, marks, is. It works better and faster than anything I have ever used. And I can't think of anything mentioned here that I haven't tried before.

I get the same thing on my pearl white max.
It looks like if someone took a marker and with just the tip
made dots all over the car.Well what i found out is that it was
flys.... yes thats right flys. For some reason they are attracted
to the color i guess.

I noticed these dried turd water dots on my Mom's car the other day; they really stand out against its burgandy color. Anyway, each year aroud this time our vehicles usually get a dabbling of sap, I guess it is just more severe this season. All of our vehicles are parked under a large Black Walnut tree. Does anyone else park under a Walnut?

Yea, I had a feeling you'd reply.

I know license plate paint isn't the same as car paint, but I would still be extremely worried about using such a strong solvent on a relatively delicate finish. I know detailing people that freak out that I use Zymol HD Cleanse because they say it's too strong...I can't imagine what they would say about Acetone. I mean, if you've been using it with no ill effects good for you...but no one would ever get NEAR my paint with that stuff. I would think that acetone would have a lot of other unpleasent effects given that it's not meant to be used to clean/preserve paint but it IS designed to remove things like paint...i.e. drying, discoloration, etc...but hey if it works for you. I hope that you're waxing over the parts that you use it on afterwards as I'm sure that Acetone will take the wax right off. I also wonder what would happen if there is a ding or chip in the paint...maybe Acetone won't disolve the clearcoat, but I wonder what kind of effect it would have on the paint underneath.

The other thing that freaks me out about this is that you are using a REALLY thin liquid in the presence of dirt and crap on the paint...there's not really a lot of lubrication going on there. I would think that you would get swirl marks really bad from doing that. I assume that you must at least use a terry cloth towel to help keep the dirt from grinding into the paint when you do it. If you use a flat cloth or (god forbid) paper towels or something, then I just can't believe that you're finish isn't being destroyed by this.

Yes, I always wax over the area i've just cleaned. As far as grinding dirt into the paint surface, I always clean the area first the old fashioned way before using the remover,and yes I use terry cloth.

Actually, the black parts come off very easily, it's the brown stain that's left behind after you pick off the black part that I can't seem to get off. I first thought it was rust until the same thing happened on my front bumper. Even polishing compound (you know, the stuff in the round green plastic container) had a lot of trouble getting them out - the clay bar will work better?

Yes the clay bar will work better. It is designed to remove contaminents. Polishing compounds add layers, so if anything they would seal the spots in.
-Cyrus

Hmmm...sounds like a nasty problem. The Zymol HD Cleanse might work since it's a chemical cleaner. Maybe try that in combination with the clay bar and see if that works. Polish/Compound will always get it off eventually, because you're literally removing a tiny bit of the clearcoat when you use it, but if the problem happens frequenty it would be nice to have a non destructive way of removing it. I would try and use the lightest polish you can that gets rid of the junk. I've heard that even the clay bar is somewhat aggressive.

I guess my best recommendation would be to 1.) try to find and eliminate the source of the problem (easier said than done i suppose), 2.) Clean the stuff off using a clay bar/HD Cleanse and polish if necessary, 3.) try to build up a few coats of good wax (Zymol Creme would be an example) to try to protect the paint from having the stuff stain it, 4.) When you see the stuff on the paint clean it off with water or a Speed Shine type of quick detail spray as soon as possible...the less time it sits on the paint the less likely it will be to leave a mark.

same thing happens to me and i found out it was flys. the marks look like if some one took a brown marker and with just the tip they made dots all over the car. i don't know why they are attracted to my car but they are, it happen every year in the summer. i just wipe them with some maguires pray polish (red bottle).i know its not trees cause i park in the garage and the door is allways open cause i have a dog in their.