When I bought MY02 back in August I'm going to admit that I probably should have waited for a different S to buy but I wanted one really bad so I did it anyways - Can anyone say impulse buy? It's all good though because I love my car and theres nothing wrong under the hood . But I have some discoloring on the paint in some spots and I'm not sure what it is, it doesn't look like rust though. Do you guys have any ideas? I feel like it's the primer or whatever is under the paint job. If you guys know what it is and what would you recommend I do?

This pic is the bottom of the fender/door of the drivers side.

 

Wow not sure man I can't really tell by the pic? But maybe ur car had a respray. Check the jams real close run ur finger across the jams see if u feel any over lap of paint! If u do then the car had been painted..

 

^^

I agree. It's really hard to tell from the photo.

I'd recommend trying to hand-polish a tiny spot just to see if it is actually something on the surface.
Use a foam applicator pad or a microfiber towel and a little polish about the size of a pea and work it on one edge of the discoloration to see if it improves. If you dont have any, most auto stores carry some inexpensive stuff - Meguiars Scratch-X is a nice small tube of light polish that you can do by hand and easy to find.

If it seems to help the problem, we can always hit it with a polisher to really knock it out

 

did you carfax it? any accidents? You buy it from russians?

 

Huh, I've never seen something like that before. Is the paint peeling back from those areas? Or does the discoloration just seem to be "sitting" on top of the paint? If the discolored patches appear to be some sort of stain, you can try polishing it. Don't polish, though, if the paint is actually peeling.

Did the car ever have any sort of vinyl wrap on it? Cause that's what it almost looks like in the photo--the unpeeled remnants of some wrap.

 

Yes I used carfax and it's never been in an accident, clean title, and no I didn't buy it from Russians! I bought it from an older white man. Anyways I just went out to the garage to run my fingers over it again and it's definately ON TOP of the paint. I actually feel like a kid in a candy store because I used my fingernail and started to scratch it and it started coming off!!!!! I don't know why I never tried that before - I guess I only tried rubbing it off and not using my fingernail. I guess I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend. Now my question is - How should I remove it all off? Fingernail or another tool? Thanks again for all you guys trying to help me out, I really appreciate it.

 

I'd use my fingernail as much as possible, but then it will be time for the Porter-Cable

 

Thanks! I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

If you can pick it off it might just be tar or maybe even left over wax. Plus where the paint is discolored is where my car is always dirty too so it might be stuff kicked up from the road.

 

Ok well I have been out there for about 30 minutes trying to get it off and it's really tough and I don't think it's working 100%. It feels a little be sticky to me. Maybe it also sucks because I just cut my fingernails yesterday so it's hard to scratch it off. Here is an updated pic of it a little bit. It's definitely on top of the paint though.