Question to owners of white Vettes.

[Paul Higg]

Does anyone else see little specks of black stuff in the rear lights area and in the rear license plate area, especially after a wash? Is this just crap from the road? No sooner do I wash it and drive it does it appear. This is my first white car and man does it show dirt.

Thanks.

Paul

 

[gmjunkie]

Does anyone else see little specks of black stuff in the rear lights area and in the rear license plate area, especially after a wash? Is this just crap from the road? No sooner do I wash it and drive it does it appear. This is my first white car and man does it show dirt.

Thanks.

Paul

Yeah Paul,My White 94 gets them too!!It's road tar,grease and other crap off the road!!But if it's real bad maybe you better look under it for a oil leak!!

 

[Paul Higg]

Thanks Junk. There's no leaks at all, it actually looks like (and I know this may sound crazy) little bits of tire, tiny specks. I have new tires and it did it even with the old tires. It looks like specks of tire that are being worn off other people's tires.

By the way, where DOES all that tire material go when they wear down? There must hundreds of thousands of TONS of that stuff on the roads.

 

[Toms007]

Yea Paul, I get it too. The crap just boils up around the back of the Vette and sits on the "light sockets". As far as it showing the dirt....I think white is the easiest color to keep clean. Even dirty it "looks" clean...that is until you touch a spot on the car, then you can see how dirty it is. But I'll take my white over several other colors, that really are hard to keep clean.

 

[Paul Higg]

Thanks Tom, I knew you'd reply, I was hoping you would. Good to hear from you.

Yeah, that crap is unreal. I mean I JUST washed it, and even dried it and drove about three miles to my house and BANG, it's full of these little lousy black dirt specks. So I take some cleaning wipes and carefully remove them.

 

[bradslt5]

it also could be exhaust . a way to combat it is get some liquid glass wax . put a couple of coats on . you will find that things dont stick as much . ots what i use on my artic white callaway zr1

 

[Paul Higg]

Great idea, I'll try it. Thanks.

Paul

 

[Paul Higg]

Gee, if it is exhaust, I hope it passes emissions.

 

[MusclecarJohn]

Does anyone else see little specks of black stuff in the rear lights area and in the rear license plate area, especially after a wash? Is this just crap from the road? No sooner do I wash it and drive it does it appear. This is my first white car and man does it show dirt.
Yeah I DO (times 2) :eyerole

 

[spikebot 81]

Paul, Ive got the same black spots here too. I dont notice it everytime I take the car out but have seen this several times

 

[ken mohr]

Me too. It is on all cars it just shows on white.

 

[Toms007]

Bradslt5 is right, except I use Zaino products, they just don't "stick" as bad when I have a good coat on there......makes me think I need to go out and give it another coat.

 

[Paul Higg]

Good to hear guys, glad I am not alone on this. Thanks for all your feedback. I am going to take your suggestions about the wax. I appreciate it.

Paul

 

[B17Crew]

I think it’s normal. Had a ’93 Competition Yellow coupe, it too would show everything. Those “speckles” would always appear after a drive. It seemed to me like it was tar from the road. This was on a off the showroom floor new car, so it wasn’t anything leaking. They would appear on the rear bumper and the tail-light/license plate recesses. They are three dimensional (raised up a little in the center). Keeping the car waxed/polished will help them come off easily.

I also have found dead bugs on the rear bumper after driving 65-70 mph on the highway.

B17Crew

 

[Paul Higg]

Me too. I am just going to have to put extra wax there. After working aircraft for years I know a little bit about aerodynamics. My guess is the design of the car is such that there are a lot of vortices generated behind the vehicle and they suck that crap up onto the car. In aviation to eliminate that they use winglets. Winglets stop the vortices from rolling off the wing and help save fuel and allows them to fly higher. I wonder if a spoiler would help but I don't really want to add anything to it, I like the cleanness of it. It would be interesting to see this car in wind tunnel tests.

 

[Tuna]

I'd clean the car good then clay bar the rear to get the black stuff out of the paint. The clay bar treatment will pull that stuff out of the paint. After that, keep a good wax on it to minimize the problem.

My mostly white '92 has the same problem. It just shows up more on the white cars I think.

 

[B17Crew]

Glad to hear that I’m not the only one lowering the insect population with the back end of my Corvette. :L Always thought it had to do with aero of the car. I thought I’d only have to clean bugs from the front, not the back too!

B17Crew

 

[Paul Higg]

I have only seen this on Vettes. Must be the aerodynamics. Oh well. I'll keep extra wax there. It comes off easily with a clean cloth and water.

 

[B17Crew]

I have only seen this on Vettes. Must be the aerodynamics. Oh well. I'll keep extra wax there. It comes off easily with a clean cloth and water.

The bright side is the solution is an easy one!

B17Crew

 

[Epimax]

Yes Sir, got it here too. I was wondering about that as well! Thanks for posting the question!!