BigTime VTEX

I recently parked at a train station during the most recent noreaster. when I returned to my car my hood, fender, driver's side door and windshield were covered with what I thought was just salt. there was also a thick yellowish stain on my windshield that wouldn't come off. well yesterday I made 2 trips to the carwash - one brushless and the other manual(where I tried to brush the hell out of the spots) but had little luck. I have no clue what this stuff is and its extremely tough to get off. I don't care about the glass, but im concerned about the painted surfaces.

anyone have any ideas for getting this crap off? I was less than 10 feet away from the path of high speed trains so im sure that mayve played a role. ill try and post pics but any suggestions are welcomed. thx.

AZuser

Have you tried a clay bar yet?

BigTime VTEX

I haven't. i'll look that up and give it a shot. Will the clay bar affect the paint?

sorry about the lack of details in the story...this stuff looks like salt but just refuses to go away.

LoveMyTL-S

No, the clay bar will not hurt the paint.

Jesstzn

Can you feel it with your fingers? Or is it a stain only?

TOGWT

I would try a chemical paint cleaner / detailer's clay / polish (least evasive first)

TSXHunter05

sounds like rail dust, and it got mixed in with the snow. the clay bar should do the trick but you may have to clay the car a couple times.

the clay bar was originally made to remove rail dust from cars after they were delieverd to the dealers on the train cars.

Jesstzn

What was the outcome of this .. I hate dead threads ..

mklaudt

Not to resurrect a really dead thread -- I wasn't the original poster, but I came across this thread while trying get some sort of overspray crud off my windshield (and the rest of the car) - I had tried everything without any success. Tried the clay bar (which I had never heard of) and the whole windshield was clean / smooth in 10 minutes. Anyway, clay bar works great on windshield. Now this thread can RIP.