Should I be concerned about this?

[Ragtag]

Hi - just bought a 3.0 04 Z4 and absolutely loving it! I'm a newbie so will be posting some pictures very soon. I was wondering if someone could help me out with this though. The bonnet has a few stone chips on it and one or two have started to go slightly orange inside. I'm fearing the dreaded rust but eager for a second opinion (ideally that I'm actually mistaken that it's rust!). When I wash the car, the orange spots remain. I've attached a picture. If it is rust, what do you think I should do with it? Thanks for your help!

 

[Mr Whippy]

Aluminium bonnet, so it won't be rust. Aluminium oxide is white afaik.

Could well be base coat bubbling through under the pressure of ally oxide bubbling up.

I don't think it's something to worry about though, mine has one or two of these where stone chips would be and they seem stable

 

[klarky]

looks like something on the surface, mine had similar dots but they are down to someone using a paint pen to cover stone chips, i think im going to get a few scratches / chips corrected next year, i want to see what a years driving will add to them.

 

[Rick Hunter]

Looks like treesap to me :idunno:

 

[Ragtag]

Excellent - thanks for your responses. I was dreading the rust, but seems like its definitely something else. I'll see if I can polish/wax it out!

 

[ay8306]

I hate to tell you how many 'badges of honor' my car has picked up commuting to work

Just Friday morning I was cruising along in the left lane, going with the traffic and 'plink - thawt'. A stone gets picked up by a delivery truck, hits the hood (bonnet) and then smacks the windshield :x But it's all worth it to me to enjoy driving the car on a regular basis (i.e.; whenever there is no snow).

 

[Ragtag]

Absolutely! The stone chip problem is something I've got used to, but there are one or two chips I plan to get fixed shortly. I just got a quote from New Again in Essex. They seem like a reasonable outfit.