Front bumper waterstains

[Steve]

I just cleaned my car. I have a problem with the front air intake/bumper area.

As you can see, theres waterstains on it. These will not budge, unless I rub very hard with my finger. I can only assume someone in the past has used something for cleaning the car, that they shouldnt, and didnt wipe it off. I have only had the car a couple of months. Its even on the red areas!

Is there any easy way to remove these stains without wearing out my fingers / arms. Perhaps tar remover? Will this also shift the bugs?

I should add, this photo is post-wash, and I did go over the black grille to try to remove these marks, while wet, with a damp cloth.

 

[breezer]

bumper cleaner.

i know that MER make / sell it but there must be other brands available. it really does make it looklike a new bumper. Some one thought i had had a crash first time i used it, becuse the bumper looked like it was brand new

 

[libby lou lou]

Wipe it over with a little olive oil on a rag.

 

[Belle427]

clean it first with any decent wash solution and then apply either autoglym bumper care or meguires gold class trim and bumper, both available from halfrauds

 

[Donkmeister]

Hmmmm, looks a bit like the marking you get if you get polish on textured plastic... And sounds like it too.

Back-to-black/bumper cleaner products will mask it, but you'll need to reapply it.

Autoglym make a solvent for removing car polish that's got onto the wrong areas, Halfords seem to sell all their products so try there.

 

[Steve]

OK. First, Halfords have the worst space planning department in the known universe. Their car cleaning aisle is the least logically laid out space I have ever seen.

However, I managed to find, in the chaos, some Mer bumper/black trim cleaning gel. I used this after cleaning, and it shifted most of the stains. It says to leave on to dry, so I did.

I also got some autoglym tar/bug remover. This stuff is very solvent, like petrol. Its wiped over the surface with a cloth, and dissolves anything it touches. I used it on the bumper, then I realised most of the "marks" are actually stone chips. All over the bumper. Doing 130kph on the french motorways perhaps wasn't so clever.

So I did my best with the bumper, it looks very good now, much blacker than before. Its the kind of plastic that doesn't take too well to cleaning though, I still had to rub hard in places, around the fogs etc.

 

[libby lou lou]

How much? to proud to try olive oil?

 

[Steve]

How much? to proud to try olive oil?

No they dont stock it at halfords.

 

[Donkmeister]

Doing 130kph on the french motorways perhaps wasn't so clever.

Seeing as we've got the "we can fine you anywhere in the EU" rules now, and the French are most unsporting in their placement of Gatso's, it was probably more clever than overtaking the stone-throwing cars!!!

As someone who works in France from time-to-time, colleagues have told me wistfully about the good old days when they would head down the empty autoroutes at 120mph with an almost constant twinkling in their rear-view mirrors, with no worry of an impending fine.

Perhaps the way to kerb speeding in the UK is to spread gravel over the motorway. No-one would dare approach the car in front for fear of a pebbledash finish to their nicely polished bonnet!

 

[JohnD]

"Armorall" is fantastic for putting the gloss on plastic and rubber parts. It even makes old radiator hoses look smart. You can spray it on or wipe it on with a rag, leave it to soak in, then polish off. You can also put it on tyres (but not if you have a bike)

As well as putting the shine back, it is supposed to protect against future ultra-violet which can degrade plastic and rubber.