Hi, I have just taken delivery of a new Ka. Next day I washed it and discovered it is covered in small black specks surrounded by orange rust marks. The dealer agrees this is contamination known as rail dust and proposes to deal with it by machine polishing. I am worried about having this done as the car is only one week old. Research on the net seems to indicate that the best way to deal with it is either a chemical wash or the use of detailing clay followed by a polish.

Has anybody had experience of this problem and will machine polishing deal with it?

Thanks in anticipation of any replies.

If the car is machine polished without the proper preparation - the results could be catastrophic for your paint.

Your research seems to be going in the right direction, I would recommend using a Fallout remover (Autoglym's for example) or Iron-X. Following that, the car should be clayed and then you'll have nice filing free paint.

dan is correct, if they machine polish it then chances are that the iron filings are going to be rubbed around the paint and they will act like a very harsh sandpaper and will scratch the paint to ribbons, best to do as above

Rather then machine it out u could use some stuff could ironx, which removes iron fileing, its stuff that i use on alloy wheels as well as when i detail car, it can allso be used on paint work,

As per the above, use Iron-X to safely remove the embedded rust spots, amazing how much it removes when you see it in action :) . Follow this with a tar remover such as Tardis to remove any tar spots. Then I would recommend claying with Bilt Hamber soft clay as this is easy to use for a beginner & only requires water as a lube. Then add the LSP wax of your choice.

Before all this you should safely wash the car using the 2 bucket method.

All of this is essential for a white car such as mine IMO, not sure what colour you have.

See http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/ for more helpful info.

Hope this helps :)

As far as I know, there's nothing better than clay for removing rail dust.I had the orange spots on my white Car. I washed it, clay bar'ed it, and waxed it. My dealership told me it was from the chemicals sprayed on the road during the winter.Just do a proper wash and then a clay bar treatment.