Suggestions for dealing with concrete dust?

[JLKoupe]

The road that I live on is also home to a stone quarry/concrete plant. It's not a huge facility but it is busy. Because of the trucks running in and out all day long, the road has a thick coating of stone dust for about a mile in either direction. I can't always avoid driving that stretch of road; consequently, the car has accumulated a coating of stone dust that doesn't come off with washing. Claying seems to be the way to attack it but I'm a little hesitant to just dive in and start scraping what are essentially tiny rocks against the surface. Any suggestions on how to float stone dust off the surface or a particular claying technique that might help minimize scratching? 

[chops1sc]

This is just my personal thoughts here....

 

When you clay your paint, you are marring the clear coat/paint regardless of what the contamination is. You are in a unique situation where you actually know what the contamination is (the other 95% of us may not know). If you didn't know what was on your clear coat/paint, would you still clay??

Edited November 23, 2020 by chops1sc

[Rich]

First off.........MOVE!  

But seriously, hose it down with just water first, then get a foam cannon or gun and hit it with a good layer of foam and let that attack the heavy stuff. Hose it off, then gently wash with a two bucket wash.  Take a plastic bag and put it over your hand and run your fingers over the paint and see if you still feel a lot of the residue through the bag.  If it's light, then go ahead and clay.  Then I recommend going the ceramic route whether it's regular ceramic or Graphene.   Will take you a day of work, but it should make removing that dust a lot easier for the future. 

[JLKoupe]

17 hours ago, Rich said:

First off.........MOVE!  

But seriously, hose it down with just water first, then get a foam cannon or gun and hit it with a good layer of foam and let that attack the heavy stuff. Hose it off, then gently wash with a two bucket wash.  Take a plastic bag and put it over your hand and run your fingers over the paint and see if you still feel a lot of the residue through the bag.  If it's light, then go ahead and clay.  Then I recommend going the ceramic route whether it's regular ceramic or Graphene.   Will take you a day of work, but it should make removing that dust a lot easier for the future. 

I know, right???!!!!

 

I tried a sort of pre-wash by spraying it with a solution of the rinseless wash, let that work a bit, then washed it down with a bucket of suds using the regular car shampoo. I followed with the usual two-bucket wash with fresh buckets of wash and rinse water. I can still feel a lot of particulates, don't even need the plastic bag, which is why I was concerned about claying. But as Chops1sc rightly points out, claying scratches no matter what, so I'll proceed with that.

 

Rich - Would the Strip Wash help at all? I'm thinking that stone dust particles may be trapped under older layers of product like Detail Spray and H2OG&G, and wondering if Strip Wash would loosen the products and make it easier to catch the particles with clay. 

[falcaineer]

39 minutes ago, JLKoupe said:

Rich - Would the Strip Wash help at all? I'm thinking that stone dust particles may be trapped under older layers of product like Detail Spray and H2OG&G, and wondering if Strip Wash would loosen the products and make it easier to catch the particles with clay. 

 

I'm not Rich 😁 But Strip Wash wouldn't hurt. There's solvent in BG, too, which might help loosen some of the particles as well.

[Rich]

Exactly, Strip Wash wouldn't hurt.  I definitely recommend a good machine polish once you're done claying to get minor scratches out before you wax or ceramic coat your car. 

[JLKoupe]

5 hours ago, falcaineer said:

 

I'm not Rich 😁 But Strip Wash wouldn't hurt. There's solvent in BG, too, which might help loosen some of the particles as well.

 

BG - that's positively Brilliant, Not-Rich! 😂

 

OK, we'll give it a go. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for a few more days.

 

Thanks, everyone.  Have a great holiday! 

[Dan@Adams]

I didn't see it mentioned, but when you washed, did you do just a hose and bucket wash? If yes, I would try a pressure washer with the appropriate nozzle tip, keeping the pressurized stream about 12-18" away from the paint. The pressure washer will hopefully remove some of the concrete dust build-up before you move onto a Clay Bar, Clay Mitt, Polish, or Brilliant Glaze. If you were on the other side of PA I would offer to help! Happy Thanksgiving!

[JLKoupe]

If I were on that side of PA, I'd accept! With many thanks! And pie. Maybe cookies...

Happy Thanksgiving!