What is acid damage on car paint?
Battery acid is sulfuric acid. It attacks the paint from above. If it reaches bare steel, it can also start rust that keeps spreading under the paint around it. That hidden part is what makes some acid damage expensive.
What kind of repair does it need?
It depends how deep it went. Light acid damage can be flatted, compounded and polished. If it reached bare metal, the area is stripped back to clean metal, treated, primed and painted. That repair is usually bigger than the mark.
Light acid damage can be polished. If acid reached bare metal, the repair goes out to where the metal is clean. Nobody knows how far that is until the paint comes off. Ask what happens to the price if the metal is not clean.
What to do next
Neutralise it now. Mix baking soda into water, pour it over the area, wait a minute, then rinse with lots of clean water. A baking soda wash is also used when repairing chemical etching. When you get a quote, ask if it assumes clean metal underneath, and what changes if it is not.
Sources
- Sherwin-Williams Automotivepaint maker
Wash with baking soda solution and rinse thoroughly
- PPG GBpaint maker
accidental spillage of corrosive substances such as brake fluid, bird droppings, or battery acid…
- Wikipediaencyclopedia
concentrated aqueous sulfuric acid solution
- GarageWeldingblog
A rust hole is usually larger than it looks.
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