This is a very interesting article.I own a valet company where this sort of problem occurs daily due to many of my clients being factory workers.please send other info about paint and how to maintain and protect.great site
Joe
Very helpfull site I'm dealing with this problem with my truck. It's been acid washed 3 times now and it still remains.
I have montero with this issue The clay bars only hide the problem every march after winter the spots come back real bad It takes us a full day to do the clay bar thing- But they always return clay bar does not remove the problems forever just covers them (the rust spots) up for awhile
I can assure you that a clay bar can't possibly be covering them up, because a clay bar takes stuff away, it doesn't add anything that would hide fallout.
There are a number of reasons your rust spots return. The first is that you are parking somewhere where your car is exposed to fallout. You will continue to get the problem as long as you park in the same place.
The second reason may be that you are using one of these retail products available in motor accessory shops. These are too weak for removing real fallout. They are designed to be soft so that enthusiast can 'clean the paint' but aren't at risk of causing any scratches to the bodywork. If you are using one of these, you may be removing the oxidized residue, but not the original metal particles.
A third reason might be that the particles have just been there to long and become buried deep, in which case the clay bar cannot get to them, you would instead require an acid wash.
The car dealers don't tell you this information when you order. What can be done with the manufacturer to solve the problem?
Well, many of them don't get it, many don't know.
The thing is that land right next to railway lines is cheap, it suits a commercial premises far better than a residential, so there are plenty of dealerships and showrooms next to lines. but it isn't always the case.
You also have cars being shipped by boat... they should be well protected from any fallout , but it does happen that they get parked at or near ship yards.
And then you have transportation by rail, and it seems that this is more likely to happen before they get to the UK, in which case they should be protected.
Cars are covered with a polythene plastic sheet like cling-film, or some still get coated in a transport wax. This should protect the paintwork, but it doesn't mean fallout isn't going to end up on the car and it can transfer.
The main problem is when they have huge numbers cars parked up ready for distribution. Sometimes this happens at the factory, and although they have devices fitted to their chimneys to stop fallout, we know that these can break down or run inefficiently and this can cause them serious problems.
So really it isn't a universal problem, especially as cars are now often made to the customer's specification, so they don't have large numbers of cars sitting around at ports, railways etc.
...but I'm told, anybody who has gone on the EurosStar would probably have seen large numbers of new Fords parked up near the lines.
Oh, and I should add, that the vast majority of cars that we see with fallout were parked by the owner at railway station car parks or on industrial parks... not fallout straight from the dealership.
what is acid washing?
It's exactly what you probably think it is! You wash the paintwork with acid.
Paintwork is surprisingly resistant to acid in the short term, so if you are quick, the acid can dissolve contaminants without damage to the paint. It is particularly effective against concrete splatter which is where we use it most often these days. I'll have to video it next time as it can be quite dramatic... the concrete will fizz and bubble.
However, don't get the impression that we go throwing buckets of acid over the car, it is a delicate operation... there are many areas that would be severely damaged if the acid got on them.
The acid is then neutralized with a caustic solution. And then the car will need machine polishing as the acid makes the paintwork a little dull which it effect the very top-most layer.
It all sounds a bit harsh doesn't it. And it is, but this technique has been around for decades and it does work and is effective.
I just discovered that the tiny rust spots on my new Kia Rio with about 5,000 miles are due to rail dust. I keep my car parked in a garage and have never parked in an industrial park or near a railroad, so I am assuming the spots on my car are do to my car being transported by rail and not because of where it was parked.
Before learning that it was rail dust, I was told by the Kia repair person that my warranty covered an acid wash, which I will do, However, I was not told it was rail dust (which, from the sound of it could be due to the fact that some people in the car business don't even know about rail dust)
I am not excited to learn that I could potentially have hours of work with a clay bar to do if the spots return. Shouldn't it be the dealership's responsibility to completely solve the problem? I don't think it's fair that the consumer should have to fix the problem on his/her own even though the problem was present before the car was even bought.
Even after I get the acid wash I am not done fighting this. I've done a lot of research and it looks like many others have had similar problems with brand new cars. For being such an age-old problem it sure seems to be kept pretty well hidden from consumers!
If this happened before you took delivery, then it's not actually a serious problem, it's easily fixed. And once done, it won't return so you need not go rushing out to buy a claybar.
As long as Kia's customer service is up to par, then you shouldn't have too many problems getting this resolved.
Thanks Danny,
I am not sure what you mean about before I took delivery, but I am assuming it occurred before I bought and brought the car home as I really cannot think of any other place my car could have attracted fallout or rail dust.
Unfortunately, Kia's service is not up to par as I have tried to get them to do something about this for 3 months, thus allowing the problem to worsen. There are spots on the car that have grown substantially and have clearly damaged the paint. I am taking the car in next week, so hopefully something will be done then. I can email pictures for anyone who wants to see what I'm describing in my posts.
Sorry, I obviously hadn't drunk enough coffee before typing that reply... I should have been clearer.
If it got contaminated while it was with the dealer or before, and we are assuming it was, then it's not going to get recontaminated once the fallout is removed, which is an easy enough job. Thats what I was trying to get at.
I'd be interested to see the pictures if you would like to upload them on this page:-
http://www.clean-image.co.uk/que...stions/
menu.asp
Ok, thanks. That's good to hear! I was afraid that I'd get the acid wash and then in about a year I'd have the same spots show up all over again.
If I'm following you, you're saying that the only way I'd see rust again after getting the acid wash would be if where I'm parking and/or driving is actually where I'm picking up the fallout and not because the fallout was present on the car at the dealership. Is that right?
I'd bet money that it's because my car was transported by rail--but I guess only time will tell!
I'll upload the photos later today. Thanks for your expert knowledge, I appreciate it!
And another question:
I have a spot or two of rust in the door jam of my car as well. Could this be because of fallout?
Hey Danny,
I tried to upload my photos to the link you provided--not sure if it worked, let me know if it didn't and I'll try again. Thanks
It worked
Your photos are here: http://www.clean-image.co.uk/que...wers.asp?
qid=31
Thanks for your reply. Do you think the spots I have could be removed with an acid wash and stay away permanently?
I have no doubt that once removed they would stay away permanently, although, once it's done, you need to keep an eye on it, because there is always the chance that a few specks will get missed... after all, we are talking about something so small that it's virtually invisible.
My concern is that these are huge spots of rust and even after the acid wash has removed the particles, it is going to take some work to remove the residue. The rust has stained the paintwork, and the acid wash is unlikely to put this right on it's own. The car will need to be machine polished.
Would getting an acid wash followed by a new clear coat of paint prevent future fallout rust from appearing on my car?
A new coat of clear coat is going to mean a total respray. That's probably over-kill.
The acid wash should be a permanent solution... if rust spots do re-appear, it is likely because you have got new fallout from somewhere.
It is said that raildust does not travel far. Are we talking 1 block, 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, or farther? Can it come from a single set of tracks that a train just passes over, or only in areas where there are multiple tracks and braking? Ken
You will be glad to know that I'm not a train spotter... so I'm no expert on the specifics.
However, We do have experience with one customer who used to park at a nearby railway station.
The width of the car park was about 80yards. Then there was a chain link fence, a bank and then the tracks. so the tracks were no more than about 7 yards from the nearest cars.
Obviously, trains were braking as they came into the station, so this is probably as bad as it gets at the far end of the car park when the trains would still be moving at speed. At they station end, they would usually only be moving at 10mph as they passed.
He used to arrive early and park next to the fence at the station end so that he'd have less far to walk... his fallout was one of the worst we have ever seen.
After removing it, we suggested that he park the other side (about 80 yards from the tracks.) This reduced the fallout by about 80%. Again we removed it and now he started using the car park down the road which is about 350 yards away from the tracks. This reduced metal fallout to nothing -- although he started getting more natural forms of fallout from tree sap, berries and bird lime.
However, I believe that metal fallout from other sources may travel further because it's pumped higher into the air. Power stations, Ship yards, and industrial plants could possibly spread fallout for miles. But I don't know for sure. One of our customers is a retired steeple-jack, and from what he has told me about chimneys, the updraught from some of these is enough to lift the actual chimney off the ground so that they need to be tethered! He has seen metal chimneys which weight tons, floating 6" off the ground only held down by inch thick cables. I can only guess that this would put metal fallout many hundreds of feet into the air.
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