# Driving next to lit road flares - Can it damage paint or materials? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972 "2022-08-22T21:42:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![leanonme\_notmycar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@leanonme\_notmycar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/leanonme_notmycar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/1 "2022-08-22T21:42:05Z")
Lit road flares seem to get pretty hot. I drove by an incident scene where the FD had (improperly, I think, on a city street during the day) laid out a few flares that were on the lane line right next to my passenger side. I got stuck next to one that was six or so feet away. I was able to keep moving past the ones that were closer, four or five total, but I could feel the heat from them and the smoke was blowing toward and into the car. Basically like subjecting the side of the car to 1000 degree F heat for a few seconds plus the smoke. The sides of the car already had a fair amount of road grime. I am concerned about how this plus the heat could react with the paint. Is a few seconds enough to do damage? I have inspected, but it’s not one of those things where you’d expect the damage to be immediately apparent in all lighting conditions. Thanks-in-advance to those in the know! ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/2 "2022-08-22T21:44:50Z")
I think you’re trying to create a problem where there is none. Just my 2 cents worth. ---
**Author:** ![leanonme\_notmycar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@leanonme\_notmycar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/leanonme_notmycar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/3 "2022-08-22T21:52:26Z")
That would be good news for my car and bad news for my neuroses. 😄 Thank you for the input. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/4 "2022-08-22T21:57:01Z")
> [@leanonme\_notmycar](#): > > I got stuck next to [road flair] that was six or so feet away. I doubt that would cause any damage to your car. Maybe if your car ran directly over a ~~flair~~ flare, that might be problematic, but 6 feet away seems a no-worry situation. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/5 "2022-08-22T22:00:30Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > Maybe if your car ran directly over a flair, that might be problematic, Even worse would be driving over a lit road **flare**. A “flaire”… not so much… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/6 "2022-08-22T22:01:50Z")
Rhetorical flair is all … lol … . ---
**Author:** ![Beancounter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/59ef9b/32.png) [@Beancounter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beancounter)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/7 "2022-08-22T22:58:10Z")
A clear case of a huge “Personal Injury” or in the altenative, “Muchousens By Flare”. Frankly I’m amazed that youir entire car didn’t immediatly melt down.from those flares. Obiously > [@leanonme\_notmycar](#): > > 1000 degree F heat for a few seconds plus the smoke would have resulted in the extintion of your car and the premature end of your life. (Sarcasm Intended) ---
**Author:** ![leanonme\_notmycar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@leanonme\_notmycar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/leanonme_notmycar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/9 "2022-08-22T23:06:27Z")
I’m sure I’d appreciate the joke if I understood it… “Flare” is the correct spelling for the incendiary signaling device. That’s the spelling I used. Not sure why you changed it while quoting me. ---
**Author:** ![leanonme\_notmycar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@leanonme\_notmycar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/leanonme_notmycar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/10 "2022-08-22T23:08:54Z")
Heat and smoke can be very damaging to automotive finishes. I just wasn’t sure how quickly those things can happen in certain conditions. No need to be unhelpful. ---
**Author:** ![weekend-warrior](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/weekend-warrior/32/26122_2.png) [@weekend-warrior](https://community.cartalk.com/u/weekend-warrior)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/11 "2022-08-22T23:32:25Z")
If any damage was done, you would see it when the car is cleaned. if you do not see anything then do not worry anymore about it. happy motoring ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/12 "2022-08-23T19:09:32Z")
Driving under a bridge while they’re up there spray painting it without proper containment is worse. ---
**Author:** ![leanonme\_notmycar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@leanonme\_notmycar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/leanonme_notmycar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/13 "2022-08-23T20:58:24Z")
Sounds like that comes from experience. Is there a minimally-invasive way of fixing that? Paint decontamination and polish? ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/14 "2022-08-24T00:15:30Z")
> [@leanonme\_notmycar](#): > > I’m sure I’d appreciate the joke if I understood it… “Flare” is the correct spelling… the spelling I used. Not sure why you changed it Correction not intended as joke. I misspelled the word in my reply to you, then another poster corrected me, so I edited the correction. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/15 "2022-08-24T00:43:54Z")
Well just to answer the paint splatter issue. We were at a hotel in fishkill New York. When I came out in the morning I had some kind if substance sprayed on my new car. Some was dried and some was still a little fresh. Like stucco but might have been clay from one of the those coal guys. At any rate had a heck of a time getting it off. I used clay bar with the lube and a plastic scraper or worse. Normal paint overspray will come off with the clay bar and a little scraping. Then followed up with machine compound and polishing. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 12:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/16 "2022-08-24T00:51:46Z")
> [@bing](#): > > We were at a hotel in fishkill New York. Just finished reading a bizarre novel about Fishkill area of New York state. I never thought I’d hear that name anywhere besides the novel … lol … _The Cartographers_ is about a group of college graduate students who rent a house in that area for the summer, to do a project together. Their interests are the field of map-making. The bizarre part of the plot is that they do a little antique shopping & find an old road map that shows a city which doesn’t exist. If they are holding the map they can somehow go to the non-existent city. City near Fishkill creek. Maybe there are other places in New York state w/that same name though. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/17 "2022-08-24T01:48:48Z")
Yeah it is just south of the FDR presidential library and near the freeway. Folks in New England talk funny. Evidently kill means water so you’ll see the term often. I recommend the library though. It ranks right up there with the Reagan library. The JFK library was a disappointment though. All politicized. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/18 "2022-08-24T01:50:07Z")
> [@leanonme\_notmycar](#): > > ounds like that comes from experience. Is there a minimally-invasive way of fixing that? Paint decontamination and polish? It’s a black car and if you looked up close there were tiny specs of a gray all over. I don’t know the cause, but it was around the time I drove under a bridge where they were doing work and they had plastic sheets partially containing whatever they were doing. It didn’t rub off and I never did anything with it. It just slightly changed the color of the car. I can’t say for sure what happened. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/19 "2022-08-24T01:54:44Z")
Yeah mine was black too but the clay bar and scraper works but then you want to polish afterwards. There are lots of YouTube’s. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/20 "2022-08-24T20:28:42Z")
> [@bing](#): > > . Evidently kill means water so you’ll see the term often [in New England]. Didn’t know that. Checked what dictionary says and you are absolutely right, “kill” means stream or creek. Dutch term, but used in this sense more so in North America than Europe. First published English usage ,1669, Pennylvania. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972/21 "2022-08-24T20:30:00Z")
And they call it New England. Nothing new about it. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-next-to-lit-road-flares-can-it-damage-paint-or-materials/185972.md?page=2)