Sand on car

[RTB24]

I have a 2004 Pilot and was wondering about something. The bottom part of the car collects sand and dust particles which makes it hard to see what I need to clean in that area so I sometimes run my finger in a straight line to try and see underneath it. Will that scratch the paint at all? I don't know if it is dust, dirt or sand that is collecting on the car, but I didn't know if that was something that I shouldn't do. I tried rinsing my car off, but it doesn't get everything clean so if touching the car does scratch it then I'm out of ideas on how to clean this thing. I'm so afraid of scratching it by doing something stupid. SO, my question is, will rubbing my car with my finger while there are grains of sand or dirt on it scratch my car? If it does, what could I do about it? I don't imagine that it would leave a deep scratch so are there things I can do to fix it without a hassle? I just know nothing about these things and my sister told me that it "COULD" scratch my car, but she's not all that reliable. She's only 20. I was hoping somebody with experience could tell me for sure whether it is likely or not. I would like to think that touching a slightly dirty car would be pretty harmless. thank you!!!

[Sunday Rider]

In this case you should listen to your younger sister. YOU WILL scratch your car if you run your finger with dust/sand on your paint. You are better off to use car wash soap and a mit. Use 2 buckets, one with soap and water and one with water. After you wash with soap, rinse in the water bucket, that will trap most of the dirt. You can then go back to the soap and repeat the procedure. Always rinse your car with a hose first, so it is wet. Then use the soap and water. Always do it in the shade if you can, and the vehicle should be cool to the touch not too hot. If your only choice is the in the direct sun, then make sure you rinse a lot to keep the soap from drying and the surface from getting too cold.

You can also do a search in the forum on washing and waxes. You will notice lots of good and differing opinions.

Welcome to the forum RTB24!

[RTB24]

Thank you for responding.

I guess I was hoping that it would at least be unlikely that it would leave a scratch on my car. It doesn't really seem like something that would be harmful. Has this happened to you before? I really want to know what kind of scratch it would even leave. Thanks again for the response. What can I do about this kind of scratch? I don't think it's possible for rubbing a car to scratch a car badly, but if it scratched it at all, then I'm worried. I know how to prevent it, but how do I fix it?

thanks so much.

[Sunday Rider]

Try to wax that area after you have washed it. It will only be a deep scratch if it was mostly sand. But you will be able to see better after you give it a good wax. If it shows, there are brands for removing, or rather covering it up like Meguire's Scratch X. What color is your Pilot. The lighter colors don't show up as bad.

Here's a link to a thread to get you started. Again use the search area at the top of this page and you can enter terms like wax, scratch, and then be prepared to spend a lot of time reading.

Good luck

How do I remove swirl marks on black Pilot

[RTB24]

Hi thanks for writing.

It's a magnesium metallic car, and I have heard that scratches dont show up much on this color but it still bothers me. Would sand really scratch the car if I only rubbed my finger in one direction? I don't know if it's sand, but they are really fine grains of something that could either be dirt, sand or dust, but it really would cause a deep scratch? How do I begin to look for a scratch like that? I guess I would like to ask why it would scratch the paint? Is it likely at all that my car would be fine? thanks so so much for responding to my neurotic little post. I just need to ease my mind, cause I'll probably go batty if my car gets scratched from something I did.

[Sunday Rider]

Don't worry you didn't scratch the paint, only the clear coat I am guessing. To ease your mind, wash the car and give it a good waxing! You and your car will be better for it. Nothing more satisfying than driving a well waxed car.
That is a good color and it will not show dirt.

By the way if you wax your car well, you will notice all the defects in the finish, and it comes from the factory with lots of stuff on it. That is why you need to wash, clay, wash, and wax your car. It takes a long time, but you will be glad after, and the car will look great. Just take your time. This is the best investment you can make in keeping your car's finish looking great over a long period of time.

My kids used to use their finger to make happy faces on the car when it was dirty. I would show them, that after I was the dust off the car, that their happy face drawing was still there, and they should not do this any more. I would then wax that area, and the face would be gone.
So don't worry, enjoy your car, you didn't damage it.

I took such great care of mine, and some idiot let a shopping cart go, and I came out to find a big ding in it. So no matter how much care you take, there is an idiot out there that will have a meeting with your car!

[HannaC9]

This thread kind of intrigued me a little. While I regret to say that I can't answer your question, I also have touched my car while it's dirty and I have not yet seen any damage caused by it. For the record Sunday Rider, are you saying that it most likely WOULD not hurt your car to touch it while it's dirty? Say it were to do damage, would it be BAD damage, or very minor damage? This kind of stuff worries me too because I baby my car in every single way except for washing it. I don't feel like the average car should need to be washed as often as many car enthusiasts claim, but I do agree that waxing every so often is a good idea. What is the point of waxing if it's only going to draw attention to the defects in the paint? I used the WAX function on the coin operated coin wash before and I didn't see anything on the paint afterwards. THis thread is kinda scaring me because I've been going along thinking that it's really unlikely that a car will get damaged if you leave it unwashed for some periods of time, and I never dreamed in a million years that touching a SLIGHTLY dirty car could cause significant damage to your paint OR clear coat. This is so depressing, really, if this is all true because it's hard enough for me to keep the car safe against the cruel people of the world and from accidents on the road, now I have to worry that touching my car with my hand is going to do something that I can never reverse!?! That's really creepy! I also didn't think you really needed to give your car a thorough wash until it's significantly dirty. A mild amount of dust and sand build up is going to damage the paint? I can't even wrap my brain around that. It makes having a new car seem so pointless.

I'm scared now. Very scared. haha, oh dear.

[jl_ss]

Originally posted by HannaC9
This thread kind of intrigued me a little. While I regret to say that I can't answer your question, I also have touched my car while it's dirty and I have not yet seen any damage caused by it. For the record Sunday Rider, are you saying that it most likely WOULD not hurt your car to touch it while it's dirty? Say it were to do damage, would it be BAD damage, or very minor damage? This kind of stuff worries me too because I baby my car in every single way except for washing it. I don't feel like the average car should need to be washed as often as many car enthusiasts claim, but I do agree that waxing every so often is a good idea. What is the point of waxing if it's only going to draw attention to the defects in the paint? I used the WAX function on the coin operated coin wash before and I didn't see anything on the paint afterwards. THis thread is kinda scaring me because I've been going along thinking that it's really unlikely that a car will get damaged if you leave it unwashed for some periods of time, and I never dreamed in a million years that touching a SLIGHTLY dirty car could cause significant damage to your paint OR clear coat. This is so depressing, really, if this is all true because it's hard enough for me to keep the car safe against the cruel people of the world and from accidents on the road, now I have to worry that touching my car with my hand is going to do something that I can never reverse!?! That's really creepy! I also didn't think you really needed to give your car a thorough wash until it's significantly dirty. A mild amount of dust and sand build up is going to damage the paint? I can't even wrap my brain around that. It makes having a new car seem so pointless.

I'm scared now. Very scared. haha, oh dear.

You can wait to wash your car until it is fairly dirty - Sometimes we have to wait a while during the winter in the NE due to the number of storms. You do want to wash any damaging material off your car as soon as possible (bird doo, road salt, bugs, sap). Waxing puts a protective layer on the paint so that those damaging elements don't do any damage to the paint if left on for a longer period of time. The length of time between washes should be governed by the difficulty you have in getting it clean. It is a lot easier to clean a fairly clean car, but if you let it go for months it will be harder to get all the road grime/tar/bugs off. The wax in the coin operated car washes is not really a good wax. It will not provide much protection and will wash off fairly quickly. You need to apply a good quality wax by hand or buffer. Touching your dirty car will likley not scratch it unless you drag your finger along it with sand underneath. Then it will only surface scratch the clear coat. When you wash your vehicle that is why you rinse from the top down before you wash/soap.

To put it in perspective - I wash my vehicle by hand when I can (maybe 80% of the time). The other 20%, I go through an automatic car wash. I used to go through a touchless car wash but found that it didn't clean well and the harsh soap started affecting the plastics. I took some time to find a good all cloth car wash. This car wash keeps their cloth clean and doesn't attack the vehicle with brushes to clean the areas that the auto wash misses. The wash rinses the vehicle then the cloth machines spin the cloth against the car with some force brushing the dirt that is left off. I have yet to find any scratching in the clear coat due to it. The key is to find a good auto wash place though - most are not good.

People buy a new car for the reliabilty and warranty if something goes wrong. It is great if it stays nice but it is inevitable that damage will occur and besides your disappointment, the only negative effect will be reduced value at trade in. however, if you keep your car washed and waxed and try to minimize the damage (door dings, etc), your car will look better than 95% of the other cars that are being traded in and the value will not be affected. Just relax and enjoy it - it's not worth the stress to worry that much about a depreciating asset. I hope this was more reassuring than scary......... .

[HannaC9]

JL_SS, thank you for your reassuring assessment. This thread kinda shoved me into a level of paranoia that I hadn't quite encountered in a long time now. Well, I won't lie, I am guilty of trying to rub things off my car while it is dusty and slightly sandy... how would I know if I scratched the clear coat? That seems like almost impossible. I have such a hard time believing that rubbing even the dirtiest car on the planet will cause a deep scratch- which you kindly confirmed- so that's good. But I don't know the first thing about clear coat. I looked at my car and I don't see anything standing out at me as far as scratching, etching, or anything like that. Would clear coat scratches be visible to the eye? And if they're not visible, then how can they be true scratches? Not that I want any kind of scratching on my car, but if there is scratching on a car that isn't even visible, I would say that it can't really be a concern. I just washed off some bird poo residue off my car that had been there for a while, and I frantically searched my paint for any imperfections. I didn't see anything, which is why some of these posts scare me. I don't want to have to question everything I try to clean on my car. I know it is suggested to clean bird doo doo immediately, and rain and a couple of rinses to my car have taken off most of it, but there were some remains left, and I just recently rubbed it off with a wet cloth and it's completely gone. I guess I just wanted reassurance that most car enthusiasts tend to exaggerate what would or wouldn't harm your car. It's okay to say something MIGHT harm your car, but many people tell you flat out that you ruined you car. I don't think it's fair to make broad statements for individual circumstances. It's like when you rear end somebody and it leaves no damage.. nobody can explain why, but it does happen sometimes. I'd like to think it's the same way for rubbing a car that has some small amounts of dirt and dust on it, or for cleaning bird poo residue later rather than sooner. I wanted the reassurance because I think we all have done things to our car at some point in our lives without REALLY knowing what it could do. I just wanted to hear from somebody that anything is possible, but that it's also possible that no damage would come from something like that. Bird poo, bug guts and rubbing a dusty car with your fingertip all seem like minor offenses to me. Message boards are full of people who love their cars to death, and I'm one of them, but I don't think any of us take perfect care of our cars, and it's comforting to know that the small mistakes we make won't always have a damaging result. Thanks for the reassurance, I hope you're right and I hope other people agreee!

[jl_ss]

Originally posted by HannaC9
JL_SS, thank you for your reassuring assessment. This thread kinda shoved me into a level of paranoia that I hadn't quite encountered in a long time now. Well, I won't lie, I am guilty of trying to rub things off my car while it is dusty and slightly sandy... how would I know if I scratched the clear coat? That seems like almost impossible. I have such a hard time believing that rubbing even the dirtiest car on the planet will cause a deep scratch- which you kindly confirmed- so that's good. But I don't know the first thing about clear coat. I looked at my car and I don't see anything standing out at me as far as scratching, etching, or anything like that. Would clear coat scratches be visible to the eye? And if they're not visible, then how can they be true scratches? Not that I want any kind of scratching on my car, but if there is scratching on a car that isn't even visible, I would say that it can't really be a concern. I just washed off some bird poo residue off my car that had been there for a while, and I frantically searched my paint for any imperfections. I didn't see anything, which is why some of these posts scare me. I don't want to have to question everything I try to clean on my car. I know it is suggested to clean bird doo doo immediately, and rain and a couple of rinses to my car have taken off most of it, but there were some remains left, and I just recently rubbed it off with a wet cloth and it's completely gone. I guess I just wanted reassurance that most car enthusiasts tend to exaggerate what would or wouldn't harm your car. It's okay to say something MIGHT harm your car, but many people tell you flat out that you ruined you car. I don't think it's fair to make broad statements for individual circumstances. It's like when you rear end somebody and it leaves no damage.. nobody can explain why, but it does happen sometimes. I'd like to think it's the same way for rubbing a car that has some small amounts of dirt and dust on it, or for cleaning bird poo residue later rather than sooner. I wanted the reassurance because I think we all have done things to our car at some point in our lives without REALLY knowing what it could do. I just wanted to hear from somebody that anything is possible, but that it's also possible that no damage would come from something like that. Bird poo, bug guts and rubbing a dusty car with your fingertip all seem like minor offenses to me. Message boards are full of people who love their cars to death, and I'm one of them, but I don't think any of us take perfect care of our cars, and it's comforting to know that the small mistakes we make won't always have a damaging result. Thanks for the reassurance, I hope you're right and I hope other people agreee!

The clear coat is just that - a protective layer of clear "paint" that covers your color paint. If you can't see any scratches then nobody will be able to either because you are the most critical judge of your own car. You can only see fine clear coat scratches in certain lighting conditions (garage lights at night/sunlight). The scratches show up more on dark cars and are very hard to see on light colors like white and silver. Did you ever see a black car that had swirls in the sunlight? It's not in the paint but in the clear coating above the paint. A lot of people frequenting internet sites about vehicles ARE serious car care fanatics. If what you are doing is not leaving any damage that YOU can see, then stick with it and don't worry about it.

[HannaC9]

Thank you, you've been so helpful! I guess I should have realized early on that anyone that bothers to go on the internet to devote websites to car care are PROBABLY more obsessed than the average car owner. Bless their hearts but they scare the crap out of me!! The only way to truly protect a car is to keep it in your own private show room (I seem to have misplaced mine) and even Ferris Bueller has proven to us that even showrooms are not the optimal protection option!

I sure hope that bird poop, bug guts and the occasional finger swipe wouldn't damage my car. If it does, then maybe I should never get a new car ever again.

thank you. You've provided as much reassurance as I'm probably going to get at this point! Even if these small offenses caused damage, there are people that have it so much worse and I need to remember that. I saw a brand new Lexus with a huge dent in the bumper... huge dent... and the car had temporary plates on it still. That poor person. Then again, if you own a Lexus, there is a good chance that you have money. Hahaha.

thanks you and I'll try to relax for a second.

[jl_ss]

We bought a brand new 2004 Toyota Sienna that was supposed to be delivered with a bunch of accessories including a hood mounted air/bug deflector. The dealer screwed up and forgot to order the accessories so we left with the new van and an appt to install the accessories in another 10 days. On day 9 a huge rock hit the hood exactly where the air/bug deflector would have been to deflect it. It left a dent and a large paint scrape. The dealer was very apologetic but not willing to fix it at their cost even though they screwed up. We were upset but ultimately never had it fixed because we only owned the van for 8 months before we had to lemon it for mechanical problems. That problem turned out to be the smallest problem. The van was actually a replacement for a 2003 Acura MDX that we had to lemon after a year due to mechanical problems also. So after all that, I am happy if a vehicle is mechanically sound and I don't sweat the small imperfections.

[Sunday Rider]

Originally posted by HannaC9
This thread kind of intrigued me a little. While I regret to say that I can't answer your question, I also have touched my car while it's dirty and I have not yet seen any damage caused by it. For the record Sunday Rider, are you saying that it most likely WOULD not hurt your car to touch it while it's dirty? Say it were to do damage, would it be BAD damage, ......I'm scared now. Very scared. haha, oh dear.

OH HannaC9 I do not want to scare you in any way. I should explain, my Pilot is Black so EVERYTHING shows on it. I just want to make sure that you don't take your finger and rub the dust off, if you press hard it MAY show. If you do it easy, mabye not. I have a detailing spray from Meguire's and just spray it to clean up little areas. I was never this obsessed or shoud I say possessed by a car until I joined this site. My Pilot has become an addiction
It was because of this site that I found out about claying a car, and that is when you find all the "rough" stuff on the clear coat, which can be removed Without Damage. AND because of this site that I have good wax now, Klasse all in one (you are being drawn into this web of extreme car care as I type and as you read). You watch you will walk by your Pilot and then you will go to an automotive store pick up some wax and you will do it. Then you will want a better shine. You will not sleep, you will be polishing (which is not the same as waxing by the way). You have no idea what you have started. By the time you are done your car will have a 2 inch layer of wax all around, and then you will be satisfied. Until some guy like John802 or Jay or Robrecht will find a better wax and posts pictures and results. Then the cycle begins.
I am just trying to save you some time, and from yourself.

[HannaC9]

Hi, Sunday River. Thanks for your responses. I know you didn't mean to scare me, you were just giving your opinion based on what you know. I guess the part that scares me is the idea of touching a slightly dirty and having it leave a mark that you can't see. I don't know what to do with that informaiton, you know? What's done is done, I can't go back but it freaks me out that the small things I may have done will ruin my car indefinitely. I guess I wanted reassurance that there is a pretty good chance that my car's paint is still okay. Some people get in car accidents and don't see any damage afterwards, so you can imagine my surprise when I am being told that small grains of dirt, dust or sand will cause damage without a doubt. I'm just really nervous and mad at myself now because I at least wanted to reassure myself that there's a pretty decent chance that my little habit of touching my car will not hurt it. I still feel very doubtful. Have you scratched your car by touching it while it was kinda dirty? Is your opinion based on your experience? Cause when I see a smudge or something on my car, I almost always try to rub it off, pretty gently I would say but with enough elbow grease to remove a thin layer of the dust/sand. And I've done it enough times to not know where to begin to look for this damage I have or haven't caused. I'm just really upset that something so small could damage my car and I don't even know what I can do to help it... I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking for as far as scratches cause I don't really see anything. How hard am I supposed to look? My bottom half of my car has a thin layer of dust and sand on it at pretty much all times, even after it's been rinsed so it's hard to see. Would I be able to see any damage OVER the dust that's already on my car? How can I safely remove that dirt so I can have that part clean?

Thanks! I'm still so shady on this, but any advice would help me.

[Sunday Rider]

Don't worry about the dust on a car. Just leave it until you are ready to wash it. Don't remove anything unless you use a detailer, it is like a cleaner that will pick up this dust with out hurting anything.

The only way you can put this to rest, is to wash your car and see. You can then determine your course of action.

My car was washed, clayed and waxed last month. Right now it has lot of dust from the rain we have had. I am not going to wash it until the Sat or Sunday. But I know it has a couple of layers of wax to protect it for a couple of months anyway.

You should only worry about affecting the value of your car if you are going to trade it every year or 2. If you are keeping it for a few years, it will not matter.

My kids used to make those happy faces on the car, but you know kids, they would use lots of pressure, so it showed, but I was able to wax/polish it out.

I am sure you take more care than kids, so you probably will not see anything.
Now wash your car!