help! rust on my car
 

My underground parking garage has pipes running around the ceiling and some rust actually dripped on my paint from it and I'm pissed as f*ck cause I didn't notice till some time and it dried in completely and is now not coming off with water. Advice on how to remove the stains? Prefer not to spend tons of money at a car detail but I guess I have to if that's my only option. :shakes head:

A weak acid (eg, vinegar) should do the trick. Dab it on just the rust with a cloth, let sit a minute, and then rinse VERY well. Repeat as needed.

I had the same thing happen to my Xterra. Rusty water from overhead pipes in the parkade dripped on the hood, and dried leaving a residue. Could not remove it with soap and water. The hood was covered in Xpel film … so I applied film protectant (… similar to liquid car wax), allowed it to haze and then buffed it off. The rust residue disappeared once the hood was buffed. I expect the solvent in the film protectant dissolved it. So, you might try applying a light coat of wax to the affected areas, and buffing the stain out.
The only other thing that I can think of is to apply a bit of CLR (calcium lime rust) remover to the affected areas … but dilute it with water so it's not full strength … allow it to work for a few minutes, and then wash the area with soap and water. That said, I'd try the "wax option" first since it worked for me. If you decide on the CLR option, be aware that it is an aggressive cleaner … so you'll need to dilute it (perhaps in stages) before applying.

try scratch-x and a foam pad and polish it out.

if that doesnt work, it stained the clear. in this case try parking the car under the sun (UV) for a week.

That happened to me once on my pearl white. It was dried on pretty good, so I clayed it and it came off. There was a faint yellowish color left (could barely see) but as Kenchan said, the sun faded it out in less than 2 days to nothing.

Bug and tar remover ?

Clay bar it or there is a product that takes rail dust off of cars shipped by train. I can't remember the name of it though.