Has anyone found an effective way, (short of taking your rig to a body shop) to get water spots off the finish? Unfortunetly, the truck was left in sprinkler by some )^)((*&**#%@%%, and then baked in the sun on a day when temp's went way over 105. I have rubbed, buffed, scoured and have come close to breaking out a blow torch.

 

Moved to Appearance Forum from G&W.

 

Mothers clay bar then rewax.

 

Our complex has really hard water and both the car wash area and the sprinklers will leave the worst water spots. I found using Maguire's gel wash(the red stuff) and a softer water source will get the spots off-eventually. Usually takes more than one washing to get rid of them all though.

Tim

 

THOSE WATER SPOTS ARE MINERALS LEFT WHEN THE H20 EVAPERATED, I USE VINEGAR AND IT WORKS PRETTY GOOD, IT WORKS WELL IN CLEANING COFFEE POTS TO.

 

Clay bar can take out very minor water spotting. For the really bad spots try a vinegar/water mixture or a good polish and really work it in. If the spots are left on there too long it will etch too deep in the paint. From there its wet sanding and if that cant do it ... then its repainting

Cujo

 

Acetone aka fingernail polish remover. Used very lightly it won't hurt the paint. Just buff and wax afterward. Anytime you have a cleaning issue use acetone. It will clean anything.

 

Hello to all!

I am new to this forum. Just thought I would add my experience on this matter if you don't mind?

I have been dealing with this issue for alot of years living in an area known for it's rain fall.

Alkaline spots from sprinklers, and acid rain affects on vehicle surfaces are a tough issue for a lot of folks.

Before you even consider wet-sanding, compounding, or polishing your vehicle, it is important to understand that most new car finishes have a clearcoat thickness of only about 1.5 to 2.0 mils. This is less than a cigarette cellophane wrapper. When body shops paint a car with a basecoat/clearcoat finish, they apply approximately 2.75 mils to allow for wet-sanding, compounding, and swirl elimination procedures to eliminate dirt nibs, fisheyes, and other airborne contaminates that can end up on the finish during the painting process. The thinner the clearcoat is, the less protection the color (pigment) underneath will have from harmful UV's .

Clay-bars are an excellent tool for removing overspray, raildust, smoothing out the surface, removing oxidation, and other surface contaminates, but for the type of water-spotting you are speaking of a clay-bar will not work. I would strongly suggest that before you attempt to correct the water-spotting issue that you wash and clay-bar the vehicle to remove any contaminates that are present, this will save you some steps. Good toweling is essential also. 100% cotton and quality microfiber towels are best (no scratches).

Since these are minerals you are dealing with, the "solution is chemical". There is no magic here only chemistry. There are several products that are available from Auto Detailing chemical and equipment company's that have chemicals specifically designed to solve this dilemma; CarBrite, Production Car Care products, Auto Magic, Ardex, Mark V, Malco, etc.

I just recently eliminated an EXTREME case of alkaline spotting from sprinklers on a black 2003 Ford Focus. The spotting had been eating away at the finish for over a month that I know of. The surface had some deep scratches and maring where it looks like someone had tryed rubbing the spots off (very noticable). :-staun

What I used to solve the problem was a product called "Surface Clarifier" from "CarBrite". The solution is to re-liquify!

Steps I took:
1. Rinsed car thoroughly to loosen dust and dirt particles, then rinsed again.
2. Washed vehicle with a clean mitt and good mild car shampoo. Rinsed off.
3. Clay-barred the vehicle to remove surface contaminants and smooth out the paint, also used a tar remover for lower panels.
4. Rinsed the car then dried it.
5. Protect your eyes and skin with this chemical. It is mildly acid-based. Using a 32oz bottle and chemical resistant head I sprayed the entire vehicle with the chemical and let it dwell for a few minutes making sure it stayed wet.
6. Using a clean mitt, car wash shampoo, and medium pressure I scrubbed the vehicle thouroughly on all affected area's; panels, windows, plastic, trim pieces, headlight/tailight lenses, etc. (this also helps to neutralize the acid-base in the clarifier)
7. Rinsed the vehicle thoroughly and dried. Checking my work I noticed that all spots had been removed except for a few that were left on the hood and front fenders where there was heat coming from the engine. They too were removed with three repeat applications.
8. Polished entire painted surface with a rotary machine, foam finishing pad, micro-finishing polish, and wiped off residue.
9. Final step was a good paint seal, wipe on/off. The car was very reflective, had depth of color, high shine, a lot of compliments.

Total Time: 3-4 hours

Hope that helps you

 

S.A.B.

Great post man I have used Poorboys with great success on water spots. His Pro Polish and SSR2 &3 worked very well. You can check out his stuff at www.poorboysworld.com. Actually, I was just there and now is a killer time to take a look as he is having a sale.

Do you have a pic of that car? Would love to see it all done up. Gotta love a freshly detailed black vehicle.

Cujo

 

Hey trk&trlr from a super hard water area west texas i mean super hard my wife left my baby [96 lincoln continental] at work &
sprinklers soaked the whole car on a 106* day well even though
i have protected the paint with many coats of liquid glass the problem was still a real task tried the vinegar & gel washes you
know the common sense stuff but the paint still had a slight haze
to it [being silver metallic] started remenicing my chemistry. Well
the chemical content of just good old limeaway was all that was
that was necessary.As is said that necessity is the mother of all
inventions well this even speeds up the drying time. Then went
back and reapplied the liquid glass. Total time invested is 1.5 hrs
as you are washing use a 5 gallon bucket for di water or drinking
water with two cups of limeaway and a washmit had previously
modified an in home under sink filter for garden hose use and only rinse with this. Clay bar was also used with water and limeaway mix all over exterior surfaces. This was the only time i
ever questioned the liquid glass.
give it a shot turbo ted

 

Cujo31:

Didn't think about taking before and after shots until later. I will do that next time and post them.