Hello everyone!

I recently got a set of 'genuine' steps off ebay which looked great!

Unfortunately when I took it to have the car washed they guys sprayed the whole car with that break down dirt stuff. Not normally a problem but its wrecked the steps! Any ideas what I can do??

Thanks.






Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Ouch, shows how acidic that spray is. I wouldn't let them touch your FL2 with it again, think of what it is doing to the paint!

There won't be much you can do now, maybe a bit of polish? Wonder Wheels has the same effect on non lacquered alloys.

G 2010MY Freelander 2 HSE Auto
Santorini Black with Ebony Napoli Leather

Triple7 wrote:

Ouch, shows how acidic that spray is. I wouldn't let them touch your FL2 with it again, think of what it is doing to the paint!

There won't be much you can do now, maybe a bit of polish? Wonder Wheels has the same effect on non lacquered alloys.

G

Scary isnt it! From now on i'm gonna be washing the car myself!

tried a bit of polish which helped but they still look rubbish!

Who sold you them on eBay? If a LR dealer you should have some warranty

if not a very fine wire wool dipped in metal polish might help, if it's got a directional grain in the metal then rub in that direction only, just an idea I have never tried it Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

npinks wrote:

Who sold you them on eBay? If a LR dealer you should have some warranty

if not a very fine wire wool dipped in metal polish might help, if it's got a directional grain in the metal then rub in that direction only, just an idea I have never tried it

The manufacturer has gone bust, so don't think that will be an option. My dealer said new supplier has been found and 8-10weeks before LR can start supplying sidesteps again.

Your best bet is to see if you can hold of just the metal trim, or remove it completely. Alternatively, just live with it. 2010MY Freelander 2 HSE Auto
Santorini Black with Ebony Napoli Leather

I removed similar marks with good old solvol autosol...worth a try !

you may be able to remove the marks using certain products, but they will always come back as the surface has been damaged by the chemical.

either need replated or replaced.

Iain

I guess the aluminium that is affected has a clear coat of laquer to protect from corrosion. So after a good polishing or rubbing down, maybe spraying a new clear coat will fix the problem  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

I don't have genuine LR steps and with the climate here they're definitely showing a lot of wear. Anyone reprinted the alloy coloured part? If so with what?

 HSE, td4 - Stornoway Grey - full alpaca interior - 2011 front facelift - privacy glass.
Just added side steps, replaced the yellow side lights & body coloured handle and wing mirror covers. Now for the spoiler!

As Nick says, very fine wire wool and metal polish, I used brasso. Came up like new, although mine are after market.

Just found these from the same guy
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREELANDER-2-SID...257aee5380

Its the salt wot does it!

I had a similar problem with a car wash when my Insignia was less than a week old. He sprayed all this acidic stuff on the Chrome grille, and exactly the same thing happened.

I took him to task over this, and he gave me £300 in cash to replace the grille....clearly, he had no PLI in place, despite a professional looking premises. I would suggest that you go and speak to the site owner in the first instance, as it's hardly the fault of the seller. Failing that, you always have your Paypal protection or Credit Card company to fall back on I suppose... Foraging near Gaydon....
——————————————
MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

It looks like it is an aluminium side bar from the photo and they will be anodised, when people use strong acid/alkaline cleaners it can strip the anodising from the part to reveal the base material which then leaves it susceptible to corrosion. There's not a lot you can do with the bars still on the car but you could have them striped, grind the corrosion marks out (maybe 180,240,400 grit depending how bad the corrosion is) and re anodised but then way up the cost of that compared to new. I'm a metal finisher by trade (chrome plater) so see things like this on a daily basis. Hope this helps people in similar positions.