ABC

Hi everyone,

Driving from Vegas to SoCal yesterday, i got caught in a 5 minute sandstorm. No way to avoid it... i slowed down to ~10mph, but it was pretty bad for the few minutes it hit the car. Well, today i wake up to find my windshield is covered with a billion pits. Headlights/fogs are the same (though, i'm not worried about these). I haven't inspected my paint much yet, but i'm fearing the worse.

What would be first course of action to help the paint out? Compounding/wax? Claybar/wax ? I'm not interested in polish because polish wears off after awhile. I don't want to spend the $$ on a re-coat either (maybe i will at some point, but not right now).

What do you think? Suggestions? Much appreciated! Thanks!

UDel

First I would gentley hose off all the dirt that you can, don't rub/wipe it with anything yet or else you will create bad scratches and swirls. Inspect it and maybe take a few pics to post on here and detailing forums. After that I would take a wet microfiber rag/towel with car wash and wipe very gently to get the rest of the stubborn dirt off, use the two bucket method because you are probrably going to be getting alot of dirt or and replace the microfiber with a new one every few panels. Then inspect again and take pics. Claybar would be next, after that most likely a fairly heavy duty polish on a random orbital. Polish will not just fill in but will get rid of those swirl marks and fine scratches caused by the sand, afterwards I would do an All in One like Klasse or Jeff Werkstatt Prime followed by a layer or two of wax. You definitely want to get some pics of the car after you wash the dirt off so you can post them up to determine how bad the damage was and what can be done, Autopia is a good place to ask too.

jfelbab

First action is to call your insurance company. If the glass is pitted everything else is pitted as well. I would guess at the very least you need a new windshield and headlights plus a serious examination of the paint by a body shop/paint professional. It might be correctable but paint is much softer than glass and I'd bet that the clear coat is damaged beyond buffing.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

yeh they might have to respray the whole vehicle...

and do it matter if u go 2 mph or 50mph? aside from not being able to see but i doubt that helps your paint any

ABC

Thanks folks for the advice. I checked out the paint in the sun today and yes, the bumper is completely pitted with white specks, but the majority of the hood, roof and fenders are fine. What's funny is that the pitting blends in so well with the paint. it's an even pitting, so it almost looks normal, lol.

The windshield is pitted, but I'm going to deal with driving with it for now. It's only bad at certain sun angles. otherwise, it's fine. Though, i haven't driven at night yet, so we'll see...

As for the paint, i'm going to compound/wax and see how well I can get it. I rather not spend a ton of money on this right now and definitely do not want to respray anything. I know it'll never be perfect, but i'll be happy if i can get it to a point that it looks decent.

EDIT: After reading autopia a bit, compounding is probably too harsh to start with. So i'm going to polish/wax it and see how it looks

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

isnt this one of the reasons why u pay for insurance? its a legit claim and shouldnt do much to your premiums.

ABC

you're right, but if i don't need to file a claim, i rather not.

I think i'm going to order this kit http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-pershine-kit.html and go to town on the bumper, headlamps/fogs and some other areas (very front of hood, very front of roof, front of mirror housings and a touch on each fender). If i can't get it looking decent with all of those products, then it's time to think about respraying the bumper or living with it.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

maybe have a professional look at it before u take the expensive steps to correct something that cannot be corrected. It will save you some cash. See if anyone is local to you on Autopia.

Caoboy

iTrader: (2)

Why not file a claim and have an appraiser come out and see how much damage was really done. If you mess with the car trying to fix it yourself, it might void your chance to file a claim.

I say just see what they say about the car. If they think it's bad enough for a repaint, and they'll replace the fogs and headlights and windshield, why not spend the money on the deductible?

jfelbab

Stop by a body shop and ask for a quick quote. They should be happy oblige. You can then decide what action to take. I'd not start on a correction attempt until after you have a pro determine just how bad it is as you could be making things worse and as mentioned, may disallow a claim if it is needed.

Do try driving at night. I had a pitted windshield and it was very distracting to have all these pinpoints of light exploding on your windshield.