Is it possible to remove sun lotion hand prints from my car's paintwork?

Hand-shaped marks have appeared on my Seat Ibiza. My garage tells me it is sun lotion. How do I get rid of them?

RP, Shrewsbury

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Modern car paints are water-based and protected by a coat of lacquer. This is better for the environment but not so tough, and the oils in sun lotion can penetrate the lacquer. Try a wax polish, such as Autoglym’s Super Resin Polish (£10.99 for 325ml) or Meguiar’s Deep Crystal Car Polish Step 2 (£9.99 for 473ml).

If this has no effect, try Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound (£11.99 for 450ml) or Autoglym’s Paint Renovator (£7.49 for 325ml). These are harsher, so restrict their use to the affected area. If the marks remain, machine-polishing is the next step.

INSPECTOR GADGET
Dave Pollard has written several Haynes manuals and has tested just about every car-related accessory — read more from Dave here.

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