After a vehicle has been properly washed and rid of surface dirt and debris, the next step in cleaning the paint is chemical decontamination. This is done by using a fallout or iron remover. These products contain an active ingredient called sodium thioglycolate that reacts and dissolves any embedded ferrous metals in your paint. These particles are then made water-soluble and able to be washed from the paint.
Even if you have a new vehicle or don’t think your paint has any need for this process, you may be surprised. New cars have to be delivered all across the world and travel along boats, trains, and large shipping trucks. During this process, brake dust and rail dust can accumulate on vehicles while traveling and staying in shipping ports. Once you begin driving your vehicle, it immediately accumualtes brake dust from itself, the road, and from others cars driving around you.
Procedures like chemical decontamination are what ultimately provide a true cleanliness and shine by exfoliating the embedded contaminants from your paintwork. It’s hard to notice beforehand, but the reflection becomes much more significant afterwards. Most of these embedded contaminants cannot be seen with the naked eye, especially on darker paints.
A nice feature of iron removers is that you can see the contaminants being dissolved due to the nature of their main ingredient. Once the reaction begins you will see a dark purple dripping on the paintwork. After a few minutes of the chemical reaction, you can thoroughly rinse the panels.