Metal shavings on my car! Please help!

[AdamEL]

Tonight, I hit my garage door opener to get inside, and I heard the dreaded sound of my garage door getting off track, and it stopped raising (turns out the cables are broken). My Camaro was inside, as usual, and when I went to examine it to make sure nothing damaged it during the garage door fiasco, I noticed that there are tiny metal shavings on the trunk and roof. I guess it's from the cable snapping above it. I'm assuming the best way to get that off with no damage is to let the water hose lightly rinse them off (meaning I shouldn't use my sprayer or any water pressure), and then a full wash? My car is properly waxed, so I'm not overly concerned about the shavings damaging the finish as long as I remove them correctly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[chops1sc]

What about a magnet? Maybe come in right above each piece if possible?

[Cwilliams]

Might try blowing them off. If they are just small shavings and you have waxes/sealants layered I doubt any damage will be done gently rinsing or blowing them off as long as no pressure is applied to them towards the paint.

[rrmccabe]

I would just water rinse and then wash.  Should have zero issues. The water will provide some lubrication and allow them to slide off.

[AdamEL]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I actually tried blowing them off, but they're so tiny, they just kind of sit there when I put the blower on them. The metal fragments are so small, it's almost like metal "dust". It's sort of hard to explain, really. I'm going to rinse them tonight after the door gets fixed and hopefully that will work out alright. Thanks again for the replies.

[Chris@Adams]

I think I would blast them off at a coin op car wash go over it several times. Maybe even spray down the area with DS or WW first to make your paint slicker.

[Ricky Bobby]

Pressure washer.

[PacificNWBuckeye]

Any pressurized water could cause damage as the pieces are removed. Since the air method didn't produce results I might try a magnet held safely above the surface, then mist with detail spray or waterless and pool rinse the surface, both mentioned above.

[Drive XR7]

I probably would not use a magnet, unless the body panels are all aluminum. You risk the magnet pulling itself directly to the body panel, causing more damage.

[BrianT]

As a side note, do you have safety cables running through the inside of your springs? This would prevent the springs from bouncing off the car when the cables broke. Ask me how I know this...

[sahls01gmc]

As a side note, do you have safety cables running through the inside of your springs? This would prevent the springs from bouncing off the car when the cables broke. Ask me how I know this...

Noted....I just replaced my springs last weekend, but have not installed the safety cables in them.  Will do that when I get home!

[AdamEL]

Thanks, guys. It already has safety cables, which is what saved my car, I guess. I do have a further problem now, though. The tech came to examine the door, and it's the spring (and cables) that are broken. As a result, he could only shut the door for me until Monday when he will be back with the parts. Therefore, I can't get my car out of the garage until Monday night. Is there anything I can do in the meantime? I have a full bottle of waterless wash, a gallon of detail spray, and just about everything else, but I can't get the hose in the garage to wash it off. I'm concerned that leaving those metal fragments on the car for that long might damage my finish. I've worked so hard at keeping it perfect, I'd be really upset if this ended up causing permanent damage. Thanks in advance.

[marquez93]

It will be fine if you just leave it be. They won't cause a bit of damage just sitting there. Wait until you can remove them properly.

[AdamEL]

Cool. I'll take your advice. Thank you, marquez93.

[Ricky Bobby]

If you think about all the crap that peppers your car every day on the windshield and front end (including metal shavings I'm sure) trust me you won't damage the car.

 

Pre soak the car with Rinseless diluted so it can encapsulate and lubricate the paint, and then either pressure washer or coin op.

 

We recently had our roof replaced at work and I had small metal pieces that wouldn't blow off (looked like rust dust) and I did this and no damage was inflicted.

[gabhart]

This is a tricky one. If the 'dust' was heated when it hit the paint it could be slightly embedded. What process did you wind up using to remove the dust?