The Trouble with Autocrossing

  • Thread starter Jordan
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Jordan

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So I went autocrossing for the first time a few weeks ago and had an absolute blast! The bad news is, while I was running the course, a few cones jumped right in front of me and I just couldn't avoid hitting them. The main problem came from one very black cone at the exit of a "Chicago Box", which jumped in front of me several times. It ended up leaving a pretty big black scuff on the leading left edge of my car's front lip. A good deal of scrubbing during a good wash this afternoon got most of it off, but there's a bit that just won't budge. It hasn't really scuffed the paint or anything - it's completely smooth, but it makes it nearly impossible to get off.

I know some of you have autocrossed here before, and I'm sure you've probably encountered this problem before. Do you have any recommendations for removing that little bit of rubber? Next time I'll be sure to tape the edge of that lip up
...
 
Tape would work, but then again the glue from the tape might also damage the paint. It is going to sound a little odd, but drag racers sometimes put vaseline on the body panels behind the driven wheels (ie, the rear bumper's sides on a rwd car, and the rocker panels on a fwd car) so that the rubber buildup can be wiped away with no harm done to the paint... It might work with rubber marks left from cones, too.

At least cones are relatively harmless... which can't be said for armco, guardrails and tirewalls... :banghead:
 
Blue painters tape is the hardcore way to protect from track day troubles. It's also a great way to make numbers (who wants to spend money on those, really?) and leet decals come raceday.

Try bug & tar remover to get the scuff off.
 
A good dose of degreaser should do the trick, thats what we use to get the rubber spatter off the rear of the burnout torrie.
 
Wax the heck out of your front end before you go.

Heck, my Neon ACR had cone marks all over it when I bought it, and I added a few of my own. They eventually all came off.
 

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