When I came home late at night the day before yesterday I thought I get a heartache. I parked my daily driver in the underfloor garage, next to my teener and saw that the front of the car cover is all wet. Then I realized that there is still water coming down. I tried to get my teener out of the "danger zone" and went to bed. Next morning I took my digicam to take some photos.
Today I met a lawyer to make sure I do the right things, to get all this mess up with the insurance done.
Here are some photos ...

Sorry to see the mess. Does it look like it will polish out? The fender looks like a different color. Is that damage also or just the photo?

i also learned the hard way that a wet cover can mess up a paint job.

the problem is, that the water running through the concrete is kind of aggressive
a site engineer told me that this water is rich on base
so, this attacks the paint and bleaches it out
before the "water brake through" the entire car was the same colour - now the drivers side fender and about the half front hood is much brighter than the rest of the car - and I was told that there's hardly any alternative than a new paint

all this happend because a plumber, who did some repair at the main boiler, damaged a main water line, which runs directly above the underfloor garage

but the lawyer told me that this should be no problem - it seems to be pretty clear that the insurance of the plumber will have to pay the new paint

Gustl

At least this happened at the end and not the beginning of driving season. Lots of luck and I hope you will show us pictures of the new paint job when it is finished.

Sorry to hear of this Wolfgang! Incompetant plumbers!

of course I will show photos - but this may happen towards spring
we have snow all around and I won't drive the teener to a paint shop through snow (they use salt in my area ... you know what I'm talking about)

Gustl

Milk it for all its worth man, make sure you get it fixed the way you want it fixed.

Just coat the area with a baking soda and water paste. Sodium bicarbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. And is sold in baking areas of U.S. grocery stores near the flour.

- it neutralizes acids AND bases.

Then just wait for a few minutes, remove the paste with wet rags, and aapply a little rubbing compound to remove the thin layer of stained paint. If that doesn't fix it, sue the bastard. ...but I bet it will fix the problem.

And when you are done, dump some in on the hell hole area to neutralize the acid from the battery.

Thank god it wasn't WD 40 (old 911 concours weenie joke).

Ken

Wolfgang,

I would try the baking soda paste method (very thin paste), remove with lots of H2O the next day & try buffing it down. Assuming yours is the original paint, it may take well to a clay bar & (if necessary - rubbing compound). Try to protect that original finish, but go at it SLOWLY.

I wish you lots of luck & bet you can bring it back. Should just take a little extra effort, though the plumber should pay for your time & effort & materials.
Pat

my teener wasn't the only problem, caused by this plumber ...

I live in a house with 20 appartments, and this guy damaged the main hot water line. So we had no warm water for 2 days and the heating system didn't work. Yesterday morning I had about 60°F in my appartment ...

Gustl

Thanks for all your advice with the baking soda. I will have to wait till an expert witness from the insurance checked out the teener and the whole situation. He will have to decide what's the next step. I don't want to do anything wrong, which might cause any problem at the compensation.
Luckily it's not the factory original paint. The 2nd owner repainted the front hood due to a big scratch, somewhen in the 80ies ...

Gustl

Sorry to read that Gustl ! ... I hope you will be able to fix it the right way without spending any Euro.