Acid Rain?
 

The Boxster was in the rain on Friday and I have never seen this issue (including with the other 2 vehicles in my driveway). I came out this morning and my red boxster was a bit white all over. I washed it, tried to use cleaner waxes in vain. It does not want to come out. The surface is very smooth and it was last waxed 1.5 months ago. I thought the wax would protect from this sort of thing, but apparently not. I have never waxed my other two vehicles (DDs) and neither the BMW or Jeep have the problem. Both of my DDs are never garaged and have been in the elements every day for 6 or 11 years depending on the vehicle. The Porsche paint job looked like it was still a relatively new car until Friday. I normally put a car cover on it, but the car was already wet from being in a heavy downpour. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal for 1 day since I was needing to work in the garage.

Has anyone experienced this with the boxster? The solution I've seen is to wet sand it and redo clearcoat. I tried another solution with Meguiars scratchx 2 and it did nothing for it. I saw the Meguiar Professional Series and thought about going with the strongest cleaner, but not sure if it's worth the $35 at this point.

The boxster looks like it has leprosy...:mad:

It is all over the car, but mainly on the top surfaces (rear deck, hood, tops of front quarter panels)

I've only seen one semi-related thread on here about repainting the whole car, but that is something I'm definitely trying to avoid. I have comprehensive coverage, but I don't know if acid rain is covered. I'd have to go research that if I have to do a full repaint which will basically total the car under my insurance.
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Take it to a detailer and get it polished out... wet sand is your last solution before repaint...

Porsche paint is extraordinarily durable so I would be more concerned about what substance it was that did this, and what it is doing to my family. A local detailer with experience in these issues should get it looking new again. :cheers:

Your profile says Austin TX, how close to any of the fossil fuel power plants you have around Texas are you? Carbonic, nitric and sulfuric acids are a problem you may be facing and could be a cause of what you are seeing.

Back in 2006 the Texas Energy Commission was already warning about acid rain due to coal power plants back then.

You may want to try the Autogeekonline Auto Detailing Forum. It is a pretty active forum and I'm sure one of those guys has seen this before.

Good luck.

The rain came from the Houston area which is known for it's pollution. My hometown (Port Arthur) kept getting fined for pollution until they figured out it was Houston.

One is coming on site today to do a test spot and then the whole job if that works. It requires sanding a little bit off the clear coat, so will have to keep it up with good wax. He was not impressed with the Meguairs products I had been using. He is supposed show me some higher end products to keep this from happening again. I'm surprised it made it through the 1.5 month old wax that had only been through 1 wash since. So ditching that wax.

Yes, I spent the weekend reading that and other similar forums. I need to learn how to detail as well as the pros. I might start out on my BMW before I do the Porsche myself. I'm more mechanically inclined and far less inclined to detailing/waxing skills.

Yes, I don't want to redo the clear coat, but I'd take that over a repaint. The paint job would cost as much as I paid for the car. Yikes...

Wow. one rain event did that to your paint? Your air's pollutants have reacted severely with the waxes you use on the Porsche. My car is parked outside all the time lately and even here in polluted NJ I've never had that issue merely from rainfall.

But I think the Porsche is the least of your issues. If you haven't already I would install some industrial strength filtration for faucets, showerheads and would not cook or brush teeth with anything but bottled water.

I have similar but different issues now living in a 100+ year old building, I don't even drink out of glasses anymore, only disposable recyclable cups. Everytime I wash glassware, even with a PUR filter, the glasses dry with a weird film. I now have to see a dermatologist on a regular basis.

Good grief! It rain did that, that is terrible! Nothing that extreme a couple hours north to my knowledge. Keep us updated what the outcome is.

Try using ZeroWater...it really cleans up my tap water and removes the VERY hard minerals/limestone. Found out from a Pro Porsche detailer (used to do all the Porsche inventory at the local dealership until he semi-retired) that it was my new house roof. Acidic glue had come off my new home roof and only the Porsche was affected due to the water based clear coat. The Jeep and BMW use an oil based hard clearcoat this is less susceptible to this. The downsize of the clearcoat on the Jeep and BMW (and my 350Z with rock chips galore) is that the clearcoat is hard and pebbles at high speed will chip off paint to bare metal. This doesn't happen with the softer Porsche clearcoat (at least of my year model - I know there are new laws requiring harder clearcoat since). Apparently, it was a trade-off between high speed driving and the assumption that the Porsche will always be garaged. He's going to walk me through protecting the car with the right kinds of stuff I can pick up anywhere for my specific color (red and black loose oil/moisture in the clear coat faster) and type of clear coat. The spots are actually where my clear coat dried out due to the acid. He is going to oil the clear coat, clay bar, buff/polish, then wax it a couple of times to keep it from happening for a bit.

All your answers are in here:

http://www.autopia.org/forum/autopia-detailing-wiki/136815-togwt%AE-detailing-articles-index-hyperlinks.html

You aren't kidding! Thanks!

I have found that some bird droppings are acidic as well.

I have been polishing the heck out of one particular bird dropping and the surface is dull and will not restore with wax.

I'm thinking claybar next and if that doesn't work maybe some fine abrasive like jewlers rouge or polishing compound.

I'm a bit afraid though of just making things worse so I may just give up after the claybar.

It appears the urethane clear coat is lifting from the base coat. The previous owner may have had it repainted by Maaco or some ****************. The paint looks good for a few years, but it's the sun that chemically breaks it down. There's nothing you can do with buffing or waxing. To do it right will require a complete whole new paint job. I hate to bring the bad news.

I think it's moisture.

Yep, just got the news. It's the original paint, but they said it looks like someone threw bleach or something on it and the damage became much more noticeable after it got wet. It's all the way down into the paint. I'm seriously pissed as I drive slow (below the ridiculously low speed limit) through my neighborhood (or any neighborhood) unlike most of the people that live there. The only thing I've done is own a Porsche. :mad:

Are you sure there's any clearcoat left?

Major bummer. Maybe your insurance co. will spring for a new clearcoat- do they still have catalyzed urethane clear there???