How to Remove Yellow Rust Spots from Car Paint
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It’s called rail dust… and it was all over our car, literally on every side
What is rail dust? It’s basically steel or iron dust that lands on your car paint and begins to rust. It can embed itself pretty well into the paint surface. To remove it, you’ll have to do more than just a carwash.
Sources of rail dust
- Rails from when cars are transported by rail.
- Dust from brakes.
- Grinding metal in the garage, where you keep your car… won’t do that any more!
How to remove the rust
Step 1: Wash your car… use soap and some wash mitts. Remember to rinse the mitt of any dirt or sand before dunking back into the soap bucket. I know… I used to wash cars for a living. Okay… it wasn’t really a living.
Step 2: Get some Iron X by CarPro. Follow instructions on the bottle. You will basically shake it, spray it, wait 5 minutes, rub in with a sponge, and rinse well. This stuff works like magic!
Step 3: If some spots remain, repeat step 2.
Step 4: Wash car again.
Step 5: Use a Clay Bar Kit by Mothers to remove anything remaining. Follow instructions provided. You will basically spray on the lubricant, rub clay bar over surface, wipe dry, knead and fold the bar, and repeat. Do about 2-3 square feet at a time.
Talking from personal experience…
We own a 2014 Toyota Highlander in Blizzard Pearl White, rail dust’s favorite color! I nearly flipped when I first noticed rail dust all over the car. At that time, I didn’t know what it was. I thought it might be some kind of factory paint defect, and couldn’t believe I didn’t see it when we bought the car.
I was ready to get out the warranty, call up the dealership, but after a bit of research online, I found out what it really was… rail dust. Luckily, it’s relatively easy to remove. You just need the right cleaner. The one I found was IronX. Reviews looked good, so I got it. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to work as well as it did.
The moment you spray on IronX, a chemical reaction takes place which essentially “dissolves the sintered iron by forming a water soluble iron complex” – carpro-us.com
This cleaner started working immediately, turning the rust purple and slowly washing it out. It may be tempting to stop at that, but you should also rub the car with a damp sponge. The larger particles are not likely to dissolve completely just from the cleaner. Since I had enough of the cleaner, I sprayed it twice.
After a couple hours of work, the car was clean and I was pretty happy with the outcome.
The end result
