I had to clean some of the snow, mud, & salt off the car yesterday ( I couldn't wait any longer) so I went to a "do-it-yourself" HP wash.
After getting most of the dirt off, I noticed the sides of the car were covered with tiny brown specks. A rub would not remove them so I used my fingernail to take a couple off. Upon close inspection you could see it was metal rusting. I am guessing it is brake dust from the front brakes sticking to the car & rusting. I wash and wax regularly when the weather is warm but the winter sucks for keeping the car clean. I figure if I don't wash the car well soon, these metal specks will damage the paint. Any comments or has anyone else noticed this?
They use so many rocks on the road here in New Brunswick that maybe the rust spots will just blend in with the thousand rock chips I received so far :(

Now's probably a good time to post this. Anyone think this thing actually works or just drains your battery?

http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoitem.jhtml?CATID=4504&BQ=jcw2

LOl i love Jc Whitny always wanted to order a vw part by part and build it in a bottle.... anyway...
In Theroy this does work, but in theroy it also will slowly weld every aluminum part to every steel part on the car. Electrolosys
Is there a metalurgyst in the house? lol
Rock!

I'm having the same problem. I noticed it last week for the 1st time. I've been washing my car at least once a week since winter has started and the salt started hitting the roads. Plus, I have about 6 coats of Zaino on it. :)

My 1st guess would be rail dust but I'm not sure how many of these cars were transported by train. I detailed cars for 3-1/2 years and I saw quite a bit of this on lighter colored cars. A clay bar does a good job of removing it but clay baring a car in the winter sucks.

I removed as much as I could with a little bug/tar remover but unless it gets warm here in Michigan soon then I'll wait to spring to clay bar and reapply Zaino.

Chris

It's (semi)metallic brake dust. It drove me nuts the first time I
saw it on a white car I owned. It didn't "stain" the paint, or
cause any other rusting to start. It is a pain in rear though but
it will come off after a couple of good washes in the spring.

Stu

Originally posted by 6Pack
Now's probably a good time to post this. Anyone think this thing actually works or just drains your battery?

http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoitem.jhtml?CATID=4504&BQ=jcw2

I had one on my old Buick way back. It came with the car. Belive it or not... the car never rusted. Now I took really good care of it, so wether or not it was the box is unknown.

At one point the rear bumper rusted up, and it turned out that the connection strap that included the bumper in the box's coverage had fallen off.

According to the dude who sold me that car, the box I had (Rust Buster) was $700! I don't belive him, he was a car sales man after all.

-Pete

I believe rust is covered in the warranty.

Originally posted by wrxlvr
I believe rust is covered in the warranty.

Normally the rust warranty is for perforations only. A rust spot
or bubble likely isn't covered, even though it will eventually
become a hole if left long enough. I think they bet on the fact that
it will take longer to become a hole than the warranty coverage.

S.

Originally posted by 6Pack
Now's probably a good time to post this. Anyone think this thing actually works or just drains your battery?

http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoitem.jhtml?CATID=4504&BQ=jcw2

In scientific terms it's a "sacraficial anode." I've never seen this done with a battery but it should work.

I've always seen "sacraficial anodes" with magnesium. I saw this once on a 50's mercedes. This 50's mercedes was absolutely an enginerring marvel by the way. It had little bags of magnesium attatched to the frame to act as sacraficial anodes, the engine was machined to tolerances so tight that no head gasket was needed, and the bolts which held the pistons onto the rods had holes drilled into them to stop defects from accumulating in the metal.

Anyway, back on topic... You'll also see "sacraficial anodes" on a lot of sewer pipes and metal pipes that are in other highly corossive environments.

So, this product works in theory. Then again, the Ginsu knife works in theory too, who knows if it actually works... Try www.epinions.com

Move to california! No salt here!

Won't stop the annoying brake dust tho :rolleyes: