i decided to clean car and didnt realise how bad it was, really thick dust with lil gritty black bits in!

We've got loads of it on our cars, being cleaned everyday and by the following morning they are covered again!

Always hard to tell if it's tree pollen or volcanic ash. In any case the pressure washer is getting used every day

:sneez: stoopid tree pollen!

haha its not tree pollen because its never been like it before

cant said I've noticed any extra rubbish on the car! Living in the heathrow area the car gets fairly dirty with a film of dust and other crap from the air. If anything its slightly better without the planes flying :S

Our cars were pretty caked at the weekend, but not much more seems to have settled in the Hebrides since then.

Nothing here in West Yorkshire ..... Yet....

Plenty on my car the other evening after being left outside at work, its kept in the garage overnight.

Yeah, I've had it on my car every day since Friday ... thin brown sandy layer. Didn't even notice it on my windows until I wiped the dew off of them with a cloth and it came off brown! Definitely not tree pollen (I'd be sneezing), and comes back every day ... (I'm in Hampshire)

Edited 20 April, 201016 yr by martinch

Be careful when cleaning, SO much easier for it to leave swirl marks now due to what the dust contains...

Is it mildly abrasive then? That'd be why when I washed the car on Sunday it came up gleaming with nothing but a quick splash round of Zymol.

Glad it got a couple of coats of wax last month now.

Edited 20 April, 201016 yr by Rob.

Mines covered in a very dusty layer of, well dust!

my has a layer of brown dust over it, it`s never stayed clean for long at work anyway, parked in a yard with buses isnt great lol, but its defo alot worse than normal

Matt

More worried about this crap getting into my engine tbh...

Isn't it strange that years ago cars were left over night and were covered in sand all over the country (blown from the Sahara desert). This did not course any disruption to aircraft, however a similar thing is happening with Ash and Europe stops everything. :wonder:

As mentioned the dust contains silica which will damage the paint work if you are not careful when washing. If possible use snow foam to remove it or if not give the car a good rinse with the hose before washing. This has been mentioned in other sections of this forum.

More worried about this crap getting into my engine tbh...

Car engines have filters, Jet engines on aircraft don't.

Car engines have filters, Jet engines on aircraft don't.

Spose so..

gonna need to clean my K&N after this whole malarkey.

How come jet engines dont have filters then?

Guess there is no need for them 99.9% of the time at those altitudes...

Isn't it strange that years ago cars were left over night and were covered in sand all over the country (blown from the Sahara desert). This did not course any disruption to aircraft, however a similar thing is happening with Ash and Europe stops everything. :wonder: As mentioned the dust contains silica...

Unfortunately, that sand (silica) has had aeons to erode the sharp edges(microscopically speaking!) unlike the volcanic "ash"...also, the size of the ash particles is far smaller than the dust sand, and therefore gets into worse areas

How come jet engines dont have filters then? Guess there is no need for them 99.9% of the time at those altitudes...

It's more to do with the required airflow for a jet-engine - far huger than for any traditional internal combustion engine. any filter arrangement, whilst solving the problem, would result in aircraft flying roughly 2/3 as fast as current (well, not exactly current but you know what I mean!).

whilst aircraft in the dust may not suffer a catastrophic failure of parts, lifetime will be greatly reduced, and there are simply not enough replacement turbine blades etc to do the required maintenance for all the aircraft.

I too have a ash-y car! worst was thurs night and fri night, has been fewer deposits since then (Hampshire)

(and yes, I work in aviation!)

hth

PL

Edited 20 April, 201016 yr by phantomlurker

I wish my car was covered in bloody ash then i'd see why I had two flights cancelled and why im not supping tropicana drinks by the pool in Portugal right now. First two week holiday in years and a volcano goes up.

Better to be stuck over here tho and not abroad and yes I know there are people much worse off than me blah blah but im still miffed!

Can't think of a better place to be stuck than the Caribbean actually. I wish....

For anybody interested....

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/off-topic-discussions/432775-volcanic-ash-landed-my-car-anylised-under-microscope.html#post4276275

For anybody interested....

http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/off-topic-discussions/432775-volcanic-ash-landed-my-car-anylised-under-microscope.html#post4276275

Cheers for the link - nice find

PL

yup - today in Harlow - gave our old car a decent detail at the weekend (being sold) not used it since then, but this morning there was loads of dust!

blimey - migweb takes me back!