Seafoam65 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I recently had a disaster on my 1970 Chevelle SS 396 that I thought I would share and perhaps save others a lot of misery. My Chevelle which is a serious no.1 condition show car developed some valve problems which required me to pull the cylinder heads and redo the valves, and while I was at it I decided to get the A/C working with new A/C hoses, compressor, evap core, condensor etc. I got mostly finished with everything and then got really busy and the car was just sitting in one of the front bays in my shop for about a year, in which time it got covered with dust which was very thick. I didn't have a cover on the car because in my shop we've had a problem with crickets getting under the cover and crapping on the paint, and leaving spots in the paint that are impossible to get out, so I thought I would leave the cover off while it was sitting there. My shop is on an extremely busy street with a very high traffic count. I finally got back on the car and finished up the mechanical repairs, and then proceeded to wash the car to get all the dust off and wax it. This is when I discovered that both the windshield and rear window on the car had thousands of deep pits in them like it had been through a sand storm. Also the stainless trim around the glass had the same deep pits in them. The side windows were OK, and the paint had no damage whatsoever. I figured out that the dust on the car was not really ordinary dust, but the result of the car exhaust soot that was blowing into the shop from the busy street 75 feet away. The chemicals in this car exhaust dust destroyed the glass and the stainless trim on the car but did nothing to the paint or chrome. I now never allow any dust to build up on my cars when they are in the shop for any reason.... i dust them off every couple of days with a California Car Duster. I'm really disgusted because I had already put all new glass in the car just a few years ago. The stainless trim will have to be sanded down and polished to remove the pits....what a PITA! I'm still amazed that this could happen......I always thought that dust could not harm your car, it would just wash right off......I now know that is not the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsgun Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Incredible, I wouldn't have ever guessed that. Could it have been a acid rain type situation, where moisture made it acidic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 No, absolutely zero moisture exposure on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65VerdeGS Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I've never head of such a thing before. I 'm surprised road dust would cause such extensive damage. Could it be that some a truck drove by venting some harsh chemical? Or that a corrosive chemical drifted down from above, pitting the windshield and back glass? That might explain why the side glass was not affected. Good luck getting the damage fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Doesnt make sense that the fallout would penetrate stainless and glass but not paint?? Sure someone wasnt grinding metal around the car? That`ll do it.... Tom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 No grinding, the car was off by itself nothing going on within 25 yards of it, no harsh chemicals being sprayed, what was on it looked like regular dust. It had to be the chemicals coming out of the tailpipes of the vehicles driving by. I agree it doesn't make sense that the paint wasn't ruined but the paint still looks absolutely perfect. It had a lot of wax on it that might have protected the paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 The only damage to glass I've ever experienced is sand pitting, rock chips, delamination, and shot from the neighbor's kid's shot gun (what a young goofus.) Nothing chemical. Really strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIVNIK Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 No idea as to the cause of that, but ditto on the metal grinding! Not long ago I was mindlessly cutting through a piece of angle iron about ten feet from my showroom perfect '83 Turbo Thunderbird (I know,I know, but in my defense an absolutely awesome ride) and completely ruined the front & right side glass. Everywhere a spark touched glass or plastic melted a tiny pit into it without damaging the paint whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Years ago my company washed and repaired a high rise bldg in Ft Lee Nj. Really windy. The chemical we were using was ammonium bi flouride ( not available anymore). The wind drift caused the chemical to land on cars below; even tho we had guys stationed on the ground with water hoses, the metal trim of certain cars was damaged beyond repair. The only cars damaged? Mercedes Benz. We were working over a stock brokerage company. Any exposed stainless , mirrors, trim, around the headlights ( this was 30 years ago) was ruined. What a lawsuit!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWB Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 So sorry. Yet holy Hannah that’s some tough paint. Please share your paint build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinRiviDad Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 (edited) To think this is the same stuff we breath 😳 Sorry to hear about your misfortune Edited January 26, 2019 by RockinRiviDad (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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