# Lots of cement on car - will it come off?



## 6FIEND (Mar 9, 2008)

Ok people, I have a small scale disaster to try and clean up.

This vehicle was in a carpark building with a workman mortaring up above it when the inevitable happened. Of course, it's such a small amount of spillage that he completely missed the fact that it had happened, and neglected to rinse it off before it set.



















The owner has been in touch with their insurance company, and they're looking to respray the effected panels.

Being a sucker for punishment, I'm wondering if anyone believes it's possible to clean this off without having to resort to a respray?

(I guess, seeing as the respray is an established fallback position, we can get as aggressive as necessary, but I'd rather not melt the stuff off the plastic bumper )

Any takers? The cement has been set on there for 5days now. I have read the various recommendations involving vinegar etc, but I haven't seen any examples involving this much cement on the site...


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## KingfisherA3 (Sep 5, 2007)

A solution called 'Surge' by Concept. Magic stuff. Spray on and leave it for a few mins, then wash off with a hose. 

I've used it on two cars (golf & civic), similar enough to your pictures above. 

After a good wash and a light polish it was back to normal.


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## Mike_Rose (Jul 21, 2008)

I've recently suffered some cement damage to roof of the girlfriends car. Seems that cement dust in water has dripped through the work car park drainage pipes straight onto the paint work. Has dried on (very thin layer) of what appears to be cement water solution (something like that).

The damaged areas does have a yellow shade to it so god knows what else is in the mix.

Do we think Surfex will do the job? - I've used some snow foams over the past couple of days and rinsed off but it's not shifted. Only got hose, no pressure washer to apply foam. Advice in terms of application of the product would be appreciated also.

ta.


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## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

Whatever you do, dont make contact with the paintwork until the cement is 110% off


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

i would try and penetrate the cement, it is porous after all, try a freeing oil such as wd40 and soak the nads off it, then pressure wash off?


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## Fred108 (Apr 25, 2008)

A fried of mine drove his XK8 through a concrete "puddle" that wasn't cordoned off, (bad times)he ended up having the lower panel car repsrayed and wheel arches replaced care of the local council who left the puddle.


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## Mike_Rose (Jul 21, 2008)

WD40? Really? That safe for the paint work? Has anyone had successful results from this - if its safe on the paint then I'll give it go!


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## Wally (Sep 2, 2006)

Cement contains of water, sand and lime.
Lime is solvable in vinegar.
Beside the fact that your car will smell like a pickle, it would come of.
If you're not sure, try a small patch, otherwise, soak a MF towel into vinegar and place it above the spot. After a few minutes the lime (and cement) will loosen.


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

wd40 is fine on the paint work, just degrease after, good excuse for a detail  let us know how you get on


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## 3dr (Mar 1, 2008)

i'd also try a tar remover such as tardis or AG tar remover, again soak it to penetrate it.


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## AutoshineSV (Feb 21, 2008)

You can buy brick and morter acid, its designed to remove splashes of cement, you can water it down then spray on the cement which will disolve then aggitate with a stiff brush and rinse off .


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## 6FIEND (Mar 9, 2008)

Thanks for all the replys and suggestions guys. I will definitely give the vinegar a go when I get my hands on it tomorrow.

There is some question/doubt over whether or not this is actually 'cement' or some other type of bonding agent. 

I will keep you all posted.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

I used Surfex in a strong mix on some cement blobs and it softened them so a rinse with a PW took them off :thumb: You need to keep it wet for a while though but it does a great job


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## 6FIEND (Mar 9, 2008)

It gets worse.... The cement is mixed with a bonding resin of some kind - almost glue-like. 

I get my hands on it tonight, so we'll see what works (if anything)


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## lambo driver (Aug 7, 2008)

Vinegar is too weak to dissolve cement. It'll take gallons of the stuff. Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid 37%) which is used in swimming pools and to clean concrete will make quick work of the cement. But dilute it 5:1 water and be careful not to let it get on the paint or rubber. Remember the rule about adding acid to water, not vice versa, and wear gloves and do it outside. It is very strong.


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## Neil_M (Apr 5, 2007)

Fingers crossed you can get it sorted.

I will be interested to see how you get on.


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## Mike_Rose (Jul 21, 2008)

to aid 6fiend in his quest i'd thought I'd share the success I'm having with my stubborn cement laden watery dried on damage on my other halfs car I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Got some Surfex HD (1 litre) from your nearest internet stockists  - about 6 quid for those wondering. Diluted it to 1:10 (a part surfex) in the sprayer - went to work spraying the damaged areas.

Couple of rinses (normal hose on shower setting) and re applications later - not a lot happening. Got my finest lamb wool mitt out and broke all the 'no contact' rules and wiped over the damaged area once - into the rinse bucket with mitt - repeated action with mitt very lightly as to avoid unnecessary pressure - into rinse bucket again - repeated a lot of times.

Decided to go 'neat' the surfex - this is where the big results happened. Spraying above the damaged area and letting the surfex work its way over the damaged area via the cars natural downward curves. This time letting the surfex do its magic for a lot longer and as it was quite windy out tonight I occasionally misted the areas very lightly to keep the surfex moving over the damaged areas and the surface wet.

Again - very, very lightly passed the mitt over each damaged area once and one at a time with rinsing in the rinse bucket I have in a little under 2 hours (including time for me tea) managed to remove half of the damage without damaging the paint work.

The key is time and patience and obviously the right product - WD40 did nothing, snow foam (valet pro) did nothing. Surfex is just eating it up !!

Now because I got into so much I forgot the obligatory before and during shots. if i remember I'll take some shots of how it looks in the morning and then when I'm done after another few hours on the job.

Hope this helps!


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## Mike_Rose (Jul 21, 2008)

I'm still new to these forums so I can't send private messages yet but if someone can get hold of 6fiend and let him know how i got on that would be great so that he can perhaps share the success i have had.

Ta.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

told you Surfex was your friend with this stuff 

I need shares in BH :lol:


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## 6FIEND (Mar 9, 2008)

Thanks to Mike for sharing his experiences!

Unfortunately, I have no way to get hold of Surfex in NZ without a lengthy delay on shipping, and I had to get the vehicle cleaned up last weekend...

I used Vinegar... (and a plastic blade) It was slow going... The splatters ofcement/resin came off with absolutely zero damage except for the 'large pool' of it.










The larger area had eaten into the paint and pitted&etched it :wall: I got it all off, and compounded then finished the area, and was left with a pretty reasonable outcome 










Thanks everyone for your help!


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## isherdholi (Sep 18, 2007)

Wow, thats not a bad result at all :thumb:


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## Dixondmn (Oct 12, 2007)

thanks for the update, its good to see the results too. well done for persevering


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Excellent outcome.


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## carsey (Jun 27, 2008)

great outcome. Glad you got it sorted


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

so them and their insurance company got away without paying anything??????? think they should compensate you for that


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## 6FIEND (Mar 9, 2008)

bidderman1969 said:


> so them and their insurance company got away without paying anything??????? think they should compensate you for that


LOL. Yeah - I'm not sure about the culprit's liability, but the owner compensated me with 4doz beer :thumb:

Which ain't actually too bad a rate


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