Tundra has speckles on it from"rail dust"???

LuvMyTruck · #1 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 02:01 PM

Okay washed the truck today and noticed that it had freckles. There is what looks to be rust speckles all over tailgate, pass. side, and a little on driver's side. Also inner wheel well painted and undercoated surfaces. Have a call into dealer waiting to hear back from them. The truck is ONE MONTH old with 2,400 miles on it. I am so sick right now. I hope and pray that it is NOT rust and something else but husband is sure it's rust that's coming thru the clearcoat. Not a great pic. Anyone else this happen to????

***Just noticed though that it's on the plastic bumper valance so obviously not rust. Just heard from dealer and they think it's rail dust and can take a clay bar to it. But we had the scotchguard from dealership sprayed on - how will that work with clay bar? If it is sealed underneath the scotchguard, how are they going to get the "rail dust" off?

Billy Bob · #2 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 02:30 PM

I have the exact same thing happen to mine. It was 68 degrees here last Monday (very warm for that time of the year) so I took it up to a do it yourself car that is only 1 block away and when I get home I dry it off. That's when I noticed the small rust looking spots all over. So after I dried it off I took some Mother's paste wax and started to rub the spots off. They came off but it took just over 3 hours of HARD rubbing with a paste wax.

My Tundra is silver, it looks like yours is too ? ? ?

Now I have had my truck since the last week of June and almost 9K miles on it. I have at least 4-5 coats of wax before the winter set in and those spots were not there all summer and fall. Today I just washed it again and no spots were seen when I dried it off this time but I'll be watching for them all the time now.

I never heard of rail spots and I worked on the railroad for 30 years with my vehicles always parked only a few feet from the rails in the railroad yard. I also never heard of any of my co-workers getting rail spots on their cars. So I Googled "rail spots" and learned quite a bit about them. I do notice some manufactures have a white plastic coverings on vehicle now a days. Never seen that years ago when I worked on the RR.

Good Luck and get waxing,
Bob

mike100 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 02:34 PM

Sounds like dealerships are still finding new 'marks' to rip-off on the super-duper special wax upsells. There is no magic shield that really protects paint against hard environmental conditions.

LuvMyTruck · #4 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Bob

I have the exact same thing happen to mine. It was 68 degrees here last Monday (very warm for that time of the year) so I took it up to a do it yourself car that is only 1 block away and when I get home I dry it off. That's when I noticed the small rust looking spots all over. So after I dried it off I took some Mother's paste wax and started to rub the spots off. They came off but it took just over 3 hours of HARD rubbing with a paste wax.

My Tundra is silver, it looks like yours is too ? ? ?

Now I have had my truck since the last week of June and almost 9K miles on it. I have at least 4-5 coats of wax before the winter set in and those spots were not there all summer and fall. Today I just washed it again and no spots were seen when I dried it off this time but I'll be watching for them all the time now.

I never heard of rail spots and I worked on the railroad for 30 years with my vehicles always parked only a few feet from the rails in the railroad yard. I also never heard of any of my co-workers getting rail spots on their cars. So I Googled "rail spots" and learned quite a bit about them. I do notice some manufactures have a white plastic coverings on vehicle now a days. Never seen that years ago when I worked on the RR.

Good Luck and get waxing,
Bob

We are to take it in tomorrow for them to wash and clay bar it, then re-scotch guard it. He says he "promises" that's what it is and it'll come off no problem. That is something that they should look for when it arrives at dealership and take care of before anyone buys it. My question is "why did it take a month for it to show up?" But yes, mine is silver and no one would notice it on darker vehicles. I have since done a search on here and seen it's quite common. And here I thought we bought silver so it won't show dirt so bad

We have not waxed it yet but as soon as we get it back that's the first thing i'm doing.

mgsw530 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 02:53 PM

A clay bar should take it off. The paint protection from the dealer is nothing more than a glorified wax job. The clay bar will remove the paint sealant and the spots and you will need to re-wax/seal your paint. You will be amazed how smooth your paint feels after the clay. My crewmax only had 1500 miles on it and the paint never really "felt" to smooth, I was really impressed after claying/ re-waxing. I think it's worth a shot. I got a clay bar kit at Wally's for around $14.00 and its really easy to do.

ZX10R · #6 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 03:31 PM

Ditto on the clay bar.

07DCwhiteSR5 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgsw530

A clay bar should take it off. The paint protection from the dealer is nothing more than a glorified wax job. The clay bar will remove the paint sealant and the spots and you will need to re-wax/seal your paint. You will be amazed how smooth your paint feels after the clay. My crewmax only had 1500 miles on it and the paint never really "felt" to smooth, I was really impressed after claying/ re-waxing. I think it's worth a shot. I got a clay bar kit at Wally's for around $14.00 and its really easy to do.

clay bar. rail dust is not uncommon....GM cars got it all the time at the chevy dealer i worked at in high school and first of college. clay bar takes it right off. the dealership should be familiar with it enough to know what to do and they should detail it correctly with the clay bar to address the issue. espeically since its not uncommon....it actually happens all the time.

that1seven · #8 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 03:49 PM

yeah think of owning a white truck, my truck has it allllllll over it sucks

LuvMyTruck · #9 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by that1seven

yeah think of owning a white truck, my truck has it allllllll over it sucks

did you take it back to your dealer to fix?

southpaw · #10 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 04:22 PM

This explains what I had on my 04 Runner. I always wondered what it was and since it didnt have it that bad I just lived with it.

LuvMyTruck · #11 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 05:37 PM

You know the salesman never said anything and i'm wondering if they are going to make us pay for this detailing with clay bar etc. I don't believe they should as it is defect from before we bought it. I wish it wasn't very noticeable but if anyone just looked at truck they'd see it and think it was rust.

tundradg · #12 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 07:34 PM

I noticed the issue when cleaning my truck a short while back. I'm going to take it to one of the Toyota stores within our group when I have another reason to be there (I'm sure there will be one soon, I am there periodically). I thought it was rust until I searched on here and read about the rail dust issue...I'm pretty sure that this is what my truck is plagued with...allllll over the sides

Koldsimer · #13 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 07:57 PM

As many have said, a clay bar will get out rail dust. Be careful that your dealer doesn't let some schmuck break out the orbital polisher on your truck. With this paint being so thin, I wouldn't wan't them trying to get it out with a buffer.

If I wanted to solve it quickly I would just wash her down with a dawn wash and then get after it with the clay bar. RE-WASH, then put on at least one coat of your favorite wax.

biffs_tundy · #14 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 08:20 PM

My last truck was a white sierra. I bought it on a rainy day and found later it had rail dust on it. I bought it back and they did a clay bar job that got it out completely. It left the finish of my truck silky smooth. It was impressive, I couldnt believe they could have got it to look and feel that good. The dealer stepped up and made it right and even admitted that it should not have been delivered in that condition. I would expect no less from Toyota.

MOREPOWER · #15 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koldsimer

As many have said, a clay bar will get out rail dust. Be careful that your dealer doesn't let some schmuck break out the orbital polisher on your truck. With this paint being so thin, I wouldn't wan't them trying to get it out with a buffer.

If I wanted to solve it quickly I would just wash her down with a dawn wash and then get after it with the clay bar. RE-WASH, then put on at least one coat of your favorite wax.

+2 Don't let them touch it, try Koldsimer's suggestion first.