What are these things?? Paint issues

[enkei2k]

Washed and waxed my car last week and didn't notice this. Drove my car yesterday and didn't notice it. The car was parked in my backyard outside over night and as I pull my car inside the garage today in the morning, I notice these spots.



What is this?? I tried using Quick Detailer on it and it didn't remove them. Any suggestions as to what to do? It's all over my fender starting from about 12 o clock all the way down towards the side skirts.

Help! and thanks in advance!

car: 2012 Black, 780 miles.

[FairladyZ]

Man that looks like your clear coat is flaking, as if something ate through it.

Try a clay bar and see.

[w0rM]

Damn! That doesn't look good. Looks like damage to the clear coat to me too. Did anything sit on your paint for a while before you washed it?

[enkei2k]

Thanks for the help. I was worried it was the clearcoat issues. I will get clay bar and see if it helps. Unfortunately when I went to pick up cleaning supplies yesterday that was the only thing I didn't get

To my knowledge no, nothing major was sitting on it that I know of. The only thing it COULD have been was the wax (Meguiar's NXT) as I did notice I missed a few spots this morning. The car was waxed last week and maybe I didn't completely wipe down the entire car, but I usually do a complete walkthough of my car first before driving off. Very strange that I missed this completely.

Is something like this under warranty? Or am I SOL? Thanks for the help again.

[Davey]

Kind of hard to tell but it looks like fisheyes to me, which would be contamination under the clear (like oil) that caused it to come loose.

Best you can do is have the dealer look at it, or a paint guy you trust.

Where is it on the car?

[LakeShow]

Wow, I've never seen anything like that before.

[RonRizz]

Hard to tell from the pic. Does it seem like it is on top of the clear, or in it?
Hard to believe its a paint fail, I would think you would have noticed it previously.
I have a crazy idea what it may be. Was the car parked near an area that has mulch in it??

[enkei2k]

Originally Posted by Davey

Kind of hard to tell but it looks like fisheyes to me, which would be contamination under the clear (like oil) that caused it to come loose.

Best you can do is have the dealer look at it, or a paint guy you trust.

Where is it on the car?

It is located by the passenger rear fender, all around from the very top, all the way down to the side skirt. I'll contact the dealership where I got the car from (Joe @ Koeppel) and see what he says.

Originally Posted by LakeShow

Wow, I've never seen anything like that before.

Me either, that's why I'm worried about it. I know that the Z has thin paint, but never heard about this before.

Originally Posted by RonRizz

Hard to tell from the pic. Does it seem like it is on top of the clear, or in it?
Hard to believe its a paint fail, I would think you would have noticed it previously.
I have a crazy idea what it may be. Was the car parked near an area that has mulch in it??

It looks like it's the clear coming off to be honest, it feels bumpy. Actually, yes. I park in front of an area that has mulch. But there's a fence that separates my parking space and the mulch. What can it be? Don't tell me it's bugs eating at my paint...lol

[RonRizz]

There is a fungus that grows in mulch, or any rotting wood source, called "artillery" or "shotgun" fungus. When the spores are full, they actually shoot up into the air, and they stick to anything they can find like friggin crazy glue. It is incredibly hard to remove, as well. The "shot" are tiny little black dots, the size of a pinhead, some larger. I have seen it on houses 10ft high or more.
Obviously, like a shotgun spread, the closer you are to the barrel, the smaller the pattern.
I have heard the best thing to remove it from a car is vinegar, although I cant confirm that. I would think a clay bar would do it.

[enkei2k]

Thanks for the feedback Ron. I'll run to AutoZone and pick up some clay bar tomorrow and get on it. If it doesn't work, then I'm going to have to assume it's clear coat peeling issues.

- what's weird is that my car was parked there overnight only. It's strange that only my car got 'hit' if your theory is correct. My parents' minivan is parked there almost M-F every week with no issues. And also, why would it only be on the passenger rear fender? If it does shoot up like you say, wouldn't it hit my roof, trunk or rear bumper first? Seems strange that it would only be on the fender.

I've taken a pic of the parking spot and also the supposed mulch if this is what you think it is. The thing is, I don't usually park as close to the back as possible. I usually leave about 3-4 feet of space.

[RonRizz]

from the pics you posted, prolly not your likely suspect. I would think you were to far away to get such a tight grouping. The stuff doesn't just spray straight up, though....... The spores grow facing in every direction, so it would shoot at different angles as well.
I doubt thats what it was though, seeing those pics, but you never know. Best bet is your claybar. Hope it works out for you.

[scottIN]

That's CC failure. If it's only on certain panels, find out if your car was touched up when it was at the port or arrived at the dealer.

Whether it was like that from the factory, or touched up, definitely a warranty issue.

[robones]

Yeah just stop messing with it, leave it alone and take it to the dealer. That's why you have the warranty for. If you start doing things to it, the dealer may blame you at the end and not do a damn thing. Feel assured that at least you have warranty and they will fix it.

[enkei2k]

Originally Posted by RonRizz

from the pics you posted, prolly not your likely suspect. I would think you were to far away to get such a tight grouping. The stuff doesn't just spray straight up, though....... The spores grow facing in every direction, so it would shoot at different angles as well.
I doubt thats what it was though, seeing those pics, but you never know. Best bet is your claybar. Hope it works out for you.

Thanks for letting me know. It's never happened to any other car that's parked there so I doubt it also. Thank you for the idea though.

Originally Posted by scottIN

That's CC failure. If it's only on certain panels, find out if your car was touched up when it was at the port or arrived at the dealer.

Whether it was like that from the factory, or touched up, definitely a warranty issue.

Originally Posted by robones

Yeah just stop messing with it, leave it alone and take it to the dealer. That's why you have the warranty for. If you start doing things to it, the dealer may blame you at the end and not do a damn thing. Feel assured that at least you have warranty and they will fix it.

I'm definitely not going to do anything else to it until I hear back from Joe. Hopefully he can help fix this. You're right, that's what warranties are for and that's why I got this car. So I don't have to worry (much) about car issues that aren't my fault.

[enkei2k]

Well, here's an update for you all...I decided to just go get some clay bar, since some of you mentioned it and also because some of my friends mentioned it also. One of my friends mentioned that it is possible that it's WHEEL/TIRE CLEANER and that I didn't properly clean off the excess when I washed/waxed my car last week. So a few minutes after claying the section, it's all gone!! Thank goodness, I thought it would not have been able to get out because it was there for over a week from washing to getting it off tonight!

Thank you all for your help and suggestions and I'm glad I don't have to take it to the dealer to have it checked out. Totally my fault for not knowing how harmful tire/wheel cleaner is to the paint.

Lesson learned.