Help! Someone painted my car

I had a nice looking car at 1 PM after lunch. By the time I went home it was covered in something. Windshield, hood, sides, etc. On the side view mirrors the coating was on the top of the mirror but not the bottom. On the doors it was obvious on the top part of the doors and not so much halfway down. It makes me think the spray came from above - in the middle of a parking lot. I did not notice this until I was on my way home. Beside, there was no one for me to contact at the time I left. When I got home, I used the hose on the car. It seemed to take of the bumps, but when I closely looked you could still see lots of spots on the car. The little droplets would smear when I used windex on the windows. I just cleaned off a few patches on the window. Hard scrubbing seemed to take it off, but moderate scrubbing turned it into a white paste. 98% of the window still shows spots as does all of the body if you look close. I worry about leaving it on. On the other hand, I don't want to remove it until I see if I can find who did this. I think I had parked by a light pole, so my first thought is that a crew spraypainted the pole and I got drift splatter. I am not sure I will ever find out who may have done this. I think a claying and 10 hours of rewaxing using Zaino system may clean it. That is a bunch of work and I would want to be reimbursed for that. I trust my own cleaning abilities more than a 3rd party. Anyone have advice on how to proceed? Try to find the guilty party. Talk nice to them and see what happens? Contact my insurance company? (They were closed when I found this.) There is always the chance this was malicious, but the spray droplets are hard to see and just cover the top of the car. I also did not see "Mustangs rule" on the side of the car. I really think it is drift spray particles. Thanks for the suggestions. Only 9 more hours for me to raise a ruckus! Mike

Bird spray from birds hanging out on the light pole? I never park near trees because of that and tree sap. It's not sap is it? Sap can drop in tiny little droplets, and if it's windy they can be carried a ways. Any security cams in the lot? Phil

this happened to me -- was overspray from a crew spraying a metal gouse roof 50 yards away -- ruined my 964 -- was a real argument but the insurance co fought for me and won -- was on the rubbers and got in everywhere

Test a small spot with Isopropoly (sp?) alcohol (cosmetics section at the grocery store will have it) and see if it cleans up. The sooner the better with this sort of stuff. You don't want it to sit too long.

You need a mild solvent that will evaporate quick and not attack the original paint. I would recommend something guaranteed to take it off but I would feel bad if the application wasnt done correctly clouding your paint causing an entire rebuff. I'd say, search the interwebs about removing overspray.

Has happened to me several times. You need to work quickly to remove. I hired a professional detailing company to remove every time and they worked wonders.

I would try paint thinner or kerosene.

I would go to a body to verify if it was paint over spray....if yes your insurance company is your next call. If it tree sap or bird $hit I would try denatured alcohol or even some bug and tar remover from Turtle Wax. Either way it sucks for sure. Sorry Bud.

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I had the same experience. If it's a light overspray, they can get it off without problem. Noooooooo!

That happened to me once before also. And same situation as you, in the middle of an empty parking lot - WTF? I could not figure it out. It wasn't on a "nice" car of mine though, so I guess I didn't care enough to try real hard to get it off, other than wash it real good and used some kind of detailer spray that I found that worked ok. You couldn't see it after that, but you could feel it a bit.

similar event, but was at the dealer for work. they parked the car on the top of their garage which happened to be under the approach to love field. best guess was a hydraulic fluid leak from a plane. they did a great job with the full detailing...

Ouch, sorry to hear about that... I'd say the sooner you deal with it the better... Don't know how long it'll take to cure? As far as fixing, a good paint correction should be enough to get it out. Good luck!

Overspray, is time consuming but comes off pretty easy with the right stuff. I'll look next time I'm in the shop for the exact brand, but is basically a clay bar, and it will come right off. As far as the windshield and windows (not the mirrors unless they are true glass), take a razor blade and it scrapes right off (scrapers are like 85cents at walmart). Been sprayed many times with previous cars (anytime I wanted rock chip repairs or body kits). If for some reason this doesn't work, 3m Light (or Medium if your very careful) compound and a buffer (wool and foam). No worries it should all come off, thats why you have clear coat, its a life saver.

Is the parking lot in an industrial area? Someone may have a paint booth that is not filtering properly and putting paint into the atmosphere and it is landing on everything downwind. It has happened to me at our plant when out neighbour's paint booth started to malfunction.

Thanks for all the info. I contacted the grounds folks who contacted the property owners. Nobody knows anything and they deny any spraying took place. For 2 + years I have been parking there because there is nothing around it. Big empty field behind the car, open parking lot around the car. No other cars seemed to have a problem because no other cars parked there. I don't think it was malicious because whatever it was settled just on the top of the car. No deposits on the bottom of the sideview mirrors or lower panels on the car but spread evenly across the whole top of the car. There is some building going on about 400-500 yards away. My best guess is that they were spraying and it drifted that far. This is Colorado where winds can whip up and there were certainly no trees to get in the way. So, I am on my own. On a test patch on the windows I used some windex. It did seem to come off OK. The droplets are only a few mm across. They are actually hard to see against the Guards Red color. Much easier to see on glass. I will try and wash the car with plenty of water and soap tomorrow. My biggest concern is that whatever the material is will scratch the car. In fact, I may take it into my IPD tomorrow just to get their take on it before I wash it. I will keep you updated.... Mike

Maybe automotive bug & tar remover would be safe. Also, 3M makes an adhesive remover that I've used many times on different painted surfaces without problems.

reminds me of when they painted the convention center down on the bay front. I think the insucrance company paid a few 100 thousand to clean overspray off all the boats in the neighboring marina. good luck. Hope you get it taken care of

If it's drift overspray then shouldn't a clay bar work to remove it?

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I was thinking the same thing. How about a wipe down with quick detail spray and then follow up with clay?

Try a clay bar (if no one has suggested that yet....)

I'd bet it is tree spooge - let's see some pics.

Remove it chemically if you can instead of mechanically . (Avoid compounds).

This happens near industrial coating facilities, Such as: Shipyards, Steel Fabrication, and possibly a construction site. The droplets will carry surprisingly far.

Just an update. A high pressure washer followed up with a wash seemed to do the trick. (Using a Zaino bucket and soap) I believe akfalar is correct. This drifted over from the construction site. I can't find anyone over there who could speak English, so that was a dead end. Regardless, it came out ok. I don't see more fine scratches than I had. It lookes like I have some detailing to do in the spring. I have to find a way to color in the fine scratches. I think I will look at Z PC fusion from Zaino. Thanks for all the help Mike