Car Cleaning

Hmmm...I've only used clay bars to remove rail dust. For refinishing, I use either Meguire's or 3M Fill 'n Glaze and a light buffing.

Hachiroku ???? mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

Forgive my ignorance but... rail dust?

That stuff is HELL on paint.

It's a metal (steel / iron) dust kicked up by trains that's created by the friction between the wheels and the rails.

Rail dust settles on cars and RUSTS, on top of the paint!

It's also the reason why everything around the tracks is reddish-brown in color.

A lot of cars here, but especially Domestics are shipped by rail. The wheels riding on the tracks causes what resembles iron filings (or, if you've ever seen what a foundry spews out, it's quite similar) and it adheres to the paint. It doesn't was off, so we use detailing clay to remove it, and then there is a treatment after using the clay. That was for the Lincolns and Mercurys. Believe it or not, Ford was really picky about how the rail dust was removed and treated.

Most Toyotas are moved by truck, so you didn't see it often on them.

Bonehenge (B A R R Y) mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

Well you learn something new every day don't you!? Thanks! Sounds similar to what I had to get off after anglegrinding my (well my cars) rusted under-body for 2 days solid - it settled on everything around and then proceeded to rust on top of everything - im sure its what caused a stone chip on my bonnet to go wild when it was happy before!

Thanks guys

Hachiroku ???? mumbled incoherently to the rest of alt.autos.toyota:

Thanks for the enlightenment - something id never have considered!

In my case, I used to park next to the New Haven line. 8^(

I used to live near a foundry that built boilers, and had to hose down the cars and throw soapy water on them before I even TOUCHED them with a sponge! It wasn't as bad as rail dust, but pretty damn close.

That had to be tuff on your lungs as well I would think...

Hmmmm...I bet it was...

So is 27 years of Marlboros!