I have heard people say you need to clay a car to get all the rail dust off of it, but I have a few questions:

1. How can you tell if the car has rail dust on it
2. Do all cars transported by rail have rail dust (so all east coast G8's will have it?
3. What will rail dust do to paint, what are the problems it causes?
4. What is the best way to make sure you will not have the problem.

Thanks for your help, I have never had a car before shipped by rail.

Thanks for your help, I have never had a car before shipped by rail.

You may have and simply not realized it. Depending upon where produced and where retailed vehicles ship via a combination of rail and/or truck. For example, from Delaware to nw PA or w NY the Sols all went 100% by truck. For Ohio and further tehy went by rail to Lordstown, and either by truck or additional rail. Shipments to GA were rail. Folled by trucks for final delivery. My seat of teh pants guess would be 500 mile radius truck only, but that's just a guess.

What you don't want is a car that traveled rail on the lowest deck, the ones exposed to "taggers" with spray paint. Even though the railcars have grillwork some paint still gets through.

Little black/rust colored specs, my GTO had it pretty bad, a long Saturday with a clay bar, buffer it was way better than new.

Thanks for the info on rail dust issues. I will begin to look for this on new cars in lots, so I know what to look for when I get my G8.

You may have and simply not realized it. Depending upon where produced and where retailed vehicles ship via a combination of rail and/or truck. For example, from Delaware to nw PA or w NY the Sols all went 100% by truck. For Ohio and further tehy went by rail to Lordstown, and either by truck or additional rail. Shipments to GA were rail. Folled by trucks for final delivery. My seat of teh pants guess would be 500 mile radius truck only, but that's just a guess.

What you don't want is a car that traveled rail on the lowest deck, the ones exposed to "taggers" with spray paint. Even though the railcars have grillwork some paint still gets through.Thanks, I live near a major port and all my cars have come in by boat, the G8 is my first domestic car, so this will be my first car that comes in by train (and to the north east at that, so a long journey before it get here), so I will expect rail dust.

Little black/rust colored specs, my GTO had it pretty bad, a long Saturday with a clay bar, buffer it was way better than new.Thanks, I guess I will have to stock up on the clay, any recommendations?

I look for these cars when I buy cos I can get a better deal. Ill correct the paint asap anyway so it wont matter. But im NOT going to tell the dealer that I know how to do that.... ill just demand a lower price because of a flawed finished... which every new car is anyway!!

Put your hand in a Plastic bag and run your finger along the paint.... if the bag grabs on gritty surface, youo have contaminents and you need to clay. Fresh rail dust can be dangerous to clay if you dont know what you are doing. IOW, you could easily pick up some loose particles and scratch the paint!

Be careful... Happy to advise if you need it.

Clay bar and a whole lotta patience FTW.

Living in the "salt belt" I get "rail dust" ALL OVER my vehicles every winter. I get the Griots clay bar because it is really big and wear latex gloves because it is messy. It takes some time but it will come off. The "rail dust" just leaves spots of rust all over the car. It's the number 1 reason why I buy darker cars now. I have a white truck and it looked like a spotted brown cow after the winter even though I washed and waxed it like crazy...:nonono:

You can also use a non abrasive polishing compound to get it off but you run a bigger risk of swirl marks.

www.griotsgarage.com (http://www.griotsgarage.com)

Living in the "salt belt" I get "rail dust" ALL OVER my vehicles every winter. I get the Griots clay bar because it is really big and wear latex gloves because it is messy. It takes some time but it will come off. The "rail dust" just leaves spots of rust all over the car. It's the number 1 reason why I buy darker cars now. I have a white truck and it looked like a spotted brown cow after the winter even though I washed and waxed it like crazy...:nonono:

You can also use a non abrasive polishing compound to get it off but you run a bigger risk of swirl marks.

www.griotsgarage.com (http://www.griotsgarage.com)



yeah if you dont know how to use it right. Proper compounding will fix these issues if you know how to use a polisher... which granted is not easy.

I love Griots... their clay is actually own of the better you can get.

Thanks 4gasem and Ausstar for the tips and how to check.

The last few weeks I started noticing little tiny rust spots all over my white car. Heard about "rail dust" but had never seen it in person. I spent about an hour Sunday going over most of the car with a Mothers Clay bar. I say most of the car because I ran out of the quick detailing/lubricant spray before I could finish the hood and roof. When I get more I will finish those and go back over any spots I may have missed. I think the problem has been solved on the rest of the car though.

Funny thing about Griot's, some of their stuff is great. Most is the same stuff you can get at harbor freight but 10xS more expensive.

For What It's Worth :

In a tree sap removal discussion Google'd from the web, it was suggested that childrens modeling clay may be almost as effective as the 'higher proced spread'

Anyone want to volunteer to try an experiment?

Remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it.

Where are you seeing this "rail dust"? I took delivery right after my car got off the truck and it was completely covered in white plastic on all of the horizontal surfaces. I have a picture of it somewhere, so if you have it on your hood, trunk or roof then it did not come from the transport because it was covered.

I have no doubts that modelling clay would work. There doesn't appear to be anything special about the Mothers bar that came with my "kit."

I know about the protective plastic, I removed the adhesive lines after taking delivery of my car. When I found the "rail dust" It was most noticeable on the trunklid below the lip spolier, around the license plate and rear bumper area. I went over the whole car because there were a few spots down the sides on the doors and it really isn't much work to do.

Living in the "salt belt" I get "rail dust" ALL OVER my vehicles every winter. I get the Griots clay bar because it is really big and wear latex gloves because it is messy. It takes some time but it will come off. The "rail dust" just leaves spots of rust all over the car. It's the number 1 reason why I buy darker cars now. I have a white truck and it looked like a spotted brown cow after the winter even though I washed and waxed it like crazy...:nonono:

You can also use a non abrasive polishing compound to get it off but you run a bigger risk of swirl marks.

www.griotsgarage.com (http://www.griotsgarage.com)
does griots make good stuff? I had never heard of them until last week. I was washing the car in the driveway and my neighbor brought me over a bottle of Griots spray on wax. apparently he works for Griots and just thought he would give me a bottle for free to see if I like it. I haven't washed the car since then yet, so I haven't tried it. I guess I'll find out tomorrow...err...today I guess.

Wait. You say you have a neighbor that works for Griots? :D
They sell a PC that's modified. One of my friends bought one.

I have some brown spots about the size of a pencil lead on my hood. They are raised and you can feel them if you rub your finger over them. Are these rail dust spots?