What are these marks? (1 Viewer)

[Orca Brody]

A few weeks ago I returned home in my motorhome and notices that some of the rear and passenger side had gotten really dirty on the way home. The next day I gave it a quick sponge down and noticed that a lot of the dirty marks left like a 'shadow' on the panels. These would not come off with regular cleaning. They almost seemed part of the paint work. I used a little Autoglym Tar Remover and had to serious agitate the marks to get the off even with that. Are these tar marks? Is there something better I could use? I can't remember going past road works but unsure. The front and drivers side panel escaped fine. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[lorger]

No idea what they are, I think there's an awful lot to be tar marks. How old is the van?

 

[buzz1]

Hi
Try one those magic sponges slightly damp
Your be surprised how good they at removing stains , you can get from places like BM OR POUND SHOP ETC ,
worth a try they are so cheap,
Good luck .

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[Orca Brody]

No idea what they are, I think there's an awful lot to be tar marks. How old is the van?

Thanks. 11 years old. These marks and others like it weren't there until I got home.

 

[L' Hobo]

Thanks. 11 years old. These marks and others like it weren't there until I got home.

You weren't following another M/H who had its grey water tap open were you, its surprising what comes out of that spout!

 

[davidbaldam]

Looks very much like lichen, how you get rid of it I don’t know.

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[daveandsan]

A few weeks ago I returned home in my motorhome and notices that some of the rear and passenger side had gotten really dirty on the way home. The next day I gave it a quick sponge down and noticed that a lot of the dirty marks left like a 'shadow' on the panels. These would not come off with regular cleaning. They almost seemed part of the paint work. I used a little Autoglym Tar Remover and had to serious agitate the marks to get the off even with that. Are these tar marks? Is there something better I could use? I can't remember going past road works but unsure. The front and drivers side panel escaped fine. Any ideas? Thanks.

View attachment 771670 View attachment 771678

You haven’t got a diesel leak have you?

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

If it is lichen alcohol should remove it. Try meths first, soak an leave a minute or two. If meths doesn’t work try some rubbing alcohol from a pharmacy.

 

[Orca Brody]

Looks very much like lichen, how you get rid of it I don’t know.

Thanks David. I'm not sure it's linchen. I had that on a caravan roof years ago and it was a slow developing thing. I cleaned the motorhome before I left, it was clean when I left my pitch and the rear and side were filthy 2 hours later when I arrived home. When I washed the marks, it's like the top layers washed off but these marked remained. In fact even getting the top layers off required a harder scrub than what I was expecting.

You haven’t got a diesel leak have you?

Not as far as I know. The exhaust is on the other side and I can always see it when driving.

If it is lichen alcohol should remove it. Try meths first, soak an leave a minute or two. If meths doesn’t work try some rubbing alcohol from a pharmacy.

I'll try your suggestions on whatever this may be. Thanks,

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[MattR]

Hi
Try one those magic sponges slightly damp
Your be surprised how good they at removing stains , you can get from places like BM OR POUND SHOP ETC ,
worth a try they are so cheap,
Good luck .

I wouldn't use magic sponges on vehicles (they are abrasive) or if I did, I would do a very small area first and check the outcome under different light conditions and when dry.

 

[Speve]

Did you pass any fields where farmers were spraying crops?

 

[Badknee]

Have a quick check under the engine to make sure it’s not developed a leak just to be on the safe side

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[GJH]

We used to get similar marks on our Burstner, but only on GRP areas.
It seemed to be some sort of interaction with aging GRP, not attributable to driving past anything in particular.
Wonder Wipes spray used to solve it.

 

[Orca Brody]

Thanks for our your input. It's a bit of a mystery. Like I said, the motorhome was badly marked on one side and part of the upper rear. Like I had gone through something. Could have been roadworks, no idea. It looked like regular mud until I started to clean it and I could instantly tell it was something more. The Tar Remover shifts it with a bit of work but I was hoping someone would recognise it and have a proven method.

 

[Sue and Rick]

I had similar marks but lower down. Right next to where we had been doing some bacon on the grille. Pig to get off. Only noticed when we got home from France

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[donkey]

I had similar marks but lower down. Right next to where we had been doing some bacon on the grille. Pig to get off. Only noticed when we got home from France

Are you saying it was hard to get the bacon off the pig?

Geoff

 

[ontheroadagain]

Looks like splashes of wet concrete.

 

[TheBig1]

Traffic film. Basically diesel soot and dirt from other vehicles. It embeds into the wax on the van and can be a sod to get off. Clearly traffic film remover works but can be damaging to paintwork plastic windows and stickers. If you do use a tfr based product clean immediately after with copious amounts of water.

TFR was developed to clean lorries and trailers

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[buzz1]

I wouldn't use magic sponges on vehicles (they are abrasive) or if I did, I would do a very small area first and check the outcome under different light conditions and when dry.

The magic sponge I’ve used wasn’t abrasive,
My Daugher caught the her wing mirror on gate post, I tried polishing out as it marked it with black grazing from post ,then I used the magic sponge but slightly damped rub quite hard and it removed it completely ( her car is white with matching white coloured paint wing mirror )
No marks what so ever,
Try a small area first.

 

[MattR]

The magic sponge I’ve used wasn’t abrasive,
My Daugher caught the her wing mirror on gate post, I tried polishing out as it marked it with black grazing from post ,then I used the magic sponge but slightly damped rub quite hard and it removed it completely ( her car is white with matching white coloured paint wing mirror )
No marks what so ever,
Try a small area first.

They are very slightly abrasive (similar to 3000 - 6000 grit sand paper) ... That is how they work... I've used them for years when decorating etc but would highly recommend testing the surface first

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