I did my first detail on my 528 this weekend since I bought her 11 months ago (great articles, btw). Now I work out in the desert, so I understand that I'm gonna have to wash my car more frequently than others, but a mishap today really irked me, because it was due to the inattentiveness of someone else. So I'm sitting at work, hear a loud bang, and look out the window. A construction crew working on the street dropped the front of a raised backhoe down way too hard - full of dirt. There was zero wind, so I watched as a cloud of dust emanated like a mushroom cloud and expanded toward our parking lot, covering all cars in the immediate vicinity. I hoped for the best, but the cloud hit my car. I went out during lunch and sure enough there is a nice layer of dust, just kind of just sitting on the paint. I blew some of it off, so I was thinking of just taking it by a gas station on the way home for a shot of compressed air. I really don't want to rinse it off the day after I spent cleaning her.

Any recommendations?

You must rinse it to eliminate the possibility of scratching.. If it is as bad as you describe. I have also used Kalifornia Dusters in the past with adequate results, but I rarely do that any more... I am not really sure how safe they are, so I don't use it.

On that question you could use a California duster, as long as the paint is not black. They work great and are fairly safe older the better with California duster the dust in it is like a magnet for new dust weird thing.

that sucks, but you really need to give it a good rinse and wash. DO NOT try and rub it off w a duster or anything else. Hellllllllo scratches if you do.

give it a shot with compressed air, then wash it (with a foam gun if you can for minimal touching)

I was not worrying about scratches with the duster as much as I was thinking Swirls......

As I stated, a good rinse is the best way to prevent damage.

Thanks guys. I was too tired to rinse it after work yesterday and I'm glad, because I forgot Tuesday is the day that landscapers come to our office building. Guess what they finally decided to do for the first time in almost a year? Trim the hedges close to where I park. At least the guy with the leaf blower was courteous enought to give my car a shot with this air gun after getting all kinds of detritus on it.

You need to wash it for sure, expecially after a layer of heavy dust got on it.