Lots of limescale on paint/headlights.

[carlwhitley]

A friend of mine (who isn't a detailing buff (pardon the pun!) - Jetwash is as close as he gets) parks his car in an underground car park - he lives in an apartment building. He was told to move his parking space to another area of the car park, which he did. He works away quite a bit and had left his car for a couple of weeks in the new spot.

He arrived back to find his car in this state...




Caused by limescale driping from one of the conduits on the car park ceiling...


He has had some advice and a quote from Audi (he doesn't want to void the anti corrosion guarantee by having a re-spray done by another company). The said that they'd need to replace the lights and grille and respray the front end (bonnet, bumper and wings).

So he's been driving around with it like that. Initially, I thought it might clay off, from what he told me, but having spoken to a professional, they seemed to think that the paint was damaged.

However, someone he knows expanded on a comment made about neutralising the pH in the limescale with citric acid. So he bought some lemon juice and applied that (through a cloth) to the affected area (a small area). It fizzed for a bit...


This is the result of a couple of applications of lemon juice...



Any thoughts on how best to remove the rest of it.

He said he might try to polish it. I said, he'd be better off using the citric acid and having a go with some clay bar, then using; a compound, polish and a wax. But if he did it, it would need to be done by hand. Would it need machining once the limescale deposits have been removed?



Any help/suggestions appreciated.

	PH Dodo Wax Purple Haze

[carlwhitley]

Also - he doesn't park his car in that spot anymore!

[dsolds]

The citric seems to be working. OK it's going to need a couple more hits but that's what I would do fro sure. Then once it's gone the paint can be inspected for a decision on the next stage. THis might be compounding but equally it might only be a reapplication of the LSP.
Clay would not be a preferred choice IMO since bits of the limescale might break away and impart scratch damage. Better to fizz it off with the citric acid.

[carlwhitley]

Cheers for that. I was under the impression that claying lifted the contaminant from the surface without scratching?

Also - being a bit dim - what's LSP?

[farcrygamer]

I suggest him to continue to soak that lime scale with lemon juice and continue removing it bit by bit. The acheivement so far is very good so i see no reason why this wouldn't remove the rest of it slowly. He could also try with cider vinegar as acetic acid should also shift it a bit.

After that just a good machine polish, some nice sealant and a few coats of good wax on top of it.

[ade33]

Originally Posted by carlwhitley

Also - he doesn't park his car in that spot anymore!

And perhaps a word with whoever maintains the building wouldn't go amiss - the source of the water looks very much like an electrical conduit

[carlwhitley]

Having seen the car park, I don't think that the water is coming from the conduit. I think it's running along the conduit, water being gravity fed and all that. The building maintenance have done a temporary job to divert the water - that conduit wasn't wet, but there was still lots of standing water, with deposits in the bottom of the puddles.

To say he's not impressed is something of an understatement!

[dsolds]

LSP = Last Stage Protection. Wax etc.

[carlwhitley]

Ah - gotcha

[cheekeemonkey]

Carl

Also worth putting a claim in against the landlord as this simply shouldn't have happened - your friend is right to get this sorted and it shouldn't be at his expense in terms of £ or time.

Perhaps get a detailer near to him to inspect the car and then detail it back to its former glory?