The paint on my Mini has little black specks all over it... My hypotheses for what the cause could be are the following... but I wanted to see if this was a problem experienced by anyone else before I go to the dealership:

1) defective silver paint
2) I drove through something (or something drove past me) that sprayed tiny black dots of paint/tar/etc. on the vehicle
3) the convertible roof "sheds" these flecks of black which then stick to the car

Thoughts?

 

could it be some kind of tree sap? I have a huge problem with tree sap where I live. I have assigned parking and my space is right under a tree that drops sap all over my car. It looks like paint overspray and for the longest time I thought that's what it was but after investigating I narrowed it down to that tree. Every morning I have to clean my windshield otherwise after a couple of days it dries and sticks and I have to use a razor or rubbing compound to get it off.

My last car was black so it was very noticeable on the paint too. My Mini is velvet silver which is a dark silver so it's not as noticeable on the paint but it is still very noticeable on the windshield.

 

Good point and thanks for the reply... I still haven't brought it to get cleaned... but tried scratching it off and it didn't seem to work. Hopefully it can be taken off w some special soap!

 

Yeah, on my last car, the black one, the sap wouldn't come off the paint even when I tried scratching it off using my fingernail. I even had a hard time taking it off with a clay bar. It's really annoying. At one point I almost took it to a detailer who was going to polish it off for 100 bucks but then I realized that within a week of parking it under the same tree, it would have the same sap spots again and I would have paid 100 bucks for nothing.

I don't know if that's what the spots on your car are from but that's what it was in my case.

 

It's sap! My wife was getting it on her Lexus. The only way to remove it is...

Use fingernail to pop the hi spot off.
Use clay bar
Then a polishing compound (Prima swirl works good)

 

Well at least it isn't a defect that I need to have my car repainted lol