Acquired a 99 Silver 2.8 QMS in December, have had it for about 1.5 months, and put a few hours in yesterday washing& waxing it by hand. Looks fantastic.<p>Problem: scattered all over the car are tiny black spots that look like 'tar' or road gunk. Soap and mild elbow grease failed to work, so I gently scrubbed with a fingernail. What remained behind was a reddish-brown (Rust?) color that would not come out, i.e. part of the clearcoat. The spots are really small, only visible up close- but this is troubling. I live in SoCal, so I'm not rust educated.<p>Anyone seen this? I don't have the cloudy silver finish either- my paint otherwise looks awesome!

<br>nt

I think it might be from the brake pads.?<p>I have noticed it as well.

Have seen two types of spots on my pearl paint that resemble what you're talking about. I seem to pick up little spots of grease or tar as well, which you can pick off with your nail. Cleaning the paint with some of the stuff mentioned below usually takes off the underlying brownish stain for me. <br>A second type of spot that I see on this light paint that I've not seen before are little spots of rust. This has been discussed before on the forum. My dealer said that little flecks of metal on the road from brakes, etc. land on the car and can immediately rust to the paint surface. I've noticed this is much worse in inclement winter weather with salt on the roads, so this makes sense. According to the dealer, all cars have this problem, but it shows up on light paint easier. It is very superficial surface rust that can also be removed with a fingernail. Keeping the car waxed regularly will probably make both types of spots easier to remove.<br>Both types of spots can be removed with a clearcoat safe polishing "cleaner" such as those sold by Meguiars, Mothers, Griot's Garage, etc. I've also found that the paint cleaning clays sold by the companies mentioned above also work well to remove both types of spots and other dirt from the paint before doing a good wax job, though I've found the clays a pain in the ass to use at times. I typically use the clay in the spring and fall to clean up from and prepare for winter. Hope that helps to keep your A4 shiny..have fun out there..<p>Rich<br>'98 2.8Q sport

I had a problem similar to yours last fall. I came out to my car one day and it was covered with what looked like tiny iron cinders. A body shop told me that these rust-colored spots were actually caused by a tree (poplar, I believe?).<p>Anyway, I used a mild tar and bug gel before figuring out that McGuire's Cleaner Wax did the trick. FYI, my car was about a month old when this happened; no problems since then.<p>This doesn't sound like the situation you encountered. But it could account for some of the "brown spots" out there.<p>Good luck,<br>David<br>

Could be brake dust flying off of the brakes - I've noticed some of this. Kind of stubborn to get off. Could this be it?<p>

my wheels that I just cleaned 5 days ago. I hope I get the new brake pads for XMAS!!!!!

I've used it for degreasing engine parts to washing my garage towels. Spray it directly on tar or bugs and they practically disapear.