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The car is a white Toyota Camry 2012.

As you can see there are many tiny black dots on the roof. I can't remove them by scratching by hand or with a high water pressure cleaner.

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What caused these dots? What can I do to remove them?

Anthony Kong
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9 Answers9

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Looks like tree sap indeed.

The best way to remove it is to use a clay bar after a good pre clean without putting too much pressure on the paint.

Pierre P.
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The cause can be one of many possibilities:

fly spots

tree sap

or worse paint overspray

The first two should come off - good cleaner / polish and lots of work, but the paint may mean that you need a re-spray at the worst - there may be a professional treatment that could do it. So go and see a good paintshop and see what they say.

Solar Mike
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Looks like tar spots to me - unusual to have that many on the roof but not impossible.

Try a dedicated tar remover - Autoglym do a good one (called "Intensive Tar Remover" IIRC) that should have a good chance, it also works well for tree sap (which is another likely culprit).

motosubatsu
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I removed mine effortlessly with a spray bottle of Spic and Span and a washcloth.

Jeanie
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They are artillery fungus caused from parking near wood mulch. Read up on it. Very interesting. Very hard to remove. You must do one at a time. Ugh.

Ashley
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We had little black spots all over our Motorhome We tried Allsorts the only thing that got them off was Pink Stuff paste and a sponge this was amazing. Pink Stuff available from £1 shops

Dorothy Marshall
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It is definitely some type of fungus. When I used Clorox cleaner it did come off but I don't want to do alot because I don't want to damage the clear coat

R Burgis
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My guess is tree sap that then takes in road dust which hardens over time. Just today I’ve tried iron spray and tar remover , no joy, used clean slate by chemical guys too. Gonna finish cleaning the rest of the car and set aside a day or two for this. Going forward I’d recommend getting a good wax or sealant or coating on the roof and keep on top of maintenance.

Mark Cotter
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Her is a good news video explaining the source of the problem: https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Black-spots-on-your-car-could-be-from-a-nearby-fungus-in-your-mulch-509250841.html

Jose Arocha
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