how to deal with etched in water spots

[Dfeeds]

The entire roof is covered with them. Either I never noticed them before because the lighting needs to be perfect, it happened today when I washed it (it was badly needed due to reason 3), or it was all the storms followed by sunlight combined with every wax "beading" water causing it to just... sit and bake. Either way, I now see them and I'm depressed. I probably shouldn't be because this car has been my daily for four years and, to the average person, it still looks brand new. However, emotions aren't logical.

I tried using a cleaner, wax (which usually works), elbow grease with an mf towel, and then a clay towel. The clay towel helped but the picture is after the fact so you see the result.

I'm new to detailing so I'm at the limit of my experience and I'm afraid I'll make things worse by trying to fix the water spots. So any advice would be fantastic. I don't have a polisher so that may be my next step beyond living with it. Paying for paint correction isn't in the budget, unfortunately (thank you $5k vet bill).

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[BigR4444]

I bought this back in April.

https://sudfactory.com/shop/waterspot-removers/dissolve-x2-epic-waterspot-build-up-killer-for-paint/

Finally had a good day off in mid-late May and I gave my car a nice thorough wash, and when I dried it off I had etched in water spots all over the place. Then remembered I had this stuff.

Took some time and had to go one small area at a time, but it worked really well for me.

 

[Dfeeds]

I bought this back in April.

https://sudfactory.com/shop/waterspot-removers/dissolve-x2-epic-waterspot-build-up-killer-for-paint/

Finally had a good day off in mid-late May and I gave my car a nice thorough wash, and when I dried it off I had etched in water spots all over the place. Then remembered I had this stuff.

Took some time and had to go one small area at a time, but it worked really well for me.

Not gonna lie, that's something I would've assumed would kill my paint without a suggestion. I'll look into it, thanks!!

 

[Biggus Dickus]

This is fixable, but will likely require a few steps: Claybar (if needed); moderately aggressive polish with a cutting pad using your Porter Cable RO polisher, finishing polish with a less aggressive polishing pad on the ol' PC, then sealer or maybe 3 in 1 Menzerna, then finish with a good wax.

Autogeek has everything you need.

 

[DFB5.0]

The entire roof is covered with them. Either I never noticed them before because the lighting needs to be perfect, it happened today when I washed it (it was badly needed due to reason 3), or it was all the storms followed by sunlight combined with every wax "beading" water causing it to just... sit and bake. Either way, I now see them and I'm depressed. I probably shouldn't be because this car has been my daily for four years and, to the average person, it still looks brand new. However, emotions aren't logical.

I tried using a cleaner, wax (which usually works), elbow grease with an mf towel, and then a clay towel. The clay towel helped but the picture is after the fact so you see the result.

I'm new to detailing so I'm at the limit of my experience and I'm afraid I'll make things worse by trying to fix the water spots. So any advice would be fantastic. I don't have a polisher so that may be my next step beyond living with it. Paying for paint correction isn't in the budget, unfortunately (thank you $5k vet bill).

As mentioned, this is fixable. Those are pretty nasty though so be prepared to try a few things.

-Normally, the first thing to try would be a water-spot remover. These are a light acid-based product that work to counter the minerals that caused these etchings. I say normally because these etchings look like something beyond a product like this. But, it's always best to start with the least aggressive method first. I like Carpro Spotless for this job as it's a simple spray and wipe application. Even if this product doesn't help, having something like this is worth having on hand to deal with water spots before they become a problem.

CARPRO Spotless 2.0 Water Spot Remover 500 ml. (autogeek.net)

-From this point you will need to polish them out. Again, start with the least aggression first.

I would start with a light polishing compound on a finishing pad and do a small test section and see what you get. Think Sonax Perfect Finish on a yellow Rupes pad. If you are left with remaining spots, swap to a heavier cutting pad with the same compound.

Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6 (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes yellow (autogeek.net)

If this doesn't sort it, then proceed to a heavier compound and perhaps a heavier pad. Think Sonax Cutmax and a yellow Rupes pad, perhaps a blue Rupes pad.

SONAX CutMax Cutting Compound 250 ml. (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes blue (autogeek.net)

The above assumes you have a polisher machine, if not then this can also be done by hand but will take much longer. In such case, look at Lake Country hand polishing pads.

CCS Euro Foam Hand Applicators Trio - Your Choice! (autogeek.net)

Happy to answer any follow up questions.

 

[ay1820]

So I am having the exact same experience. I got a bit of light rain on the car on Friday morning which beaded up and "baked" on by Friday afternoon. I didn't get a chance to wash the car until Saturday afternoon, and to my dismay, I also found many of water spots that wouldn't "wash" off.

I had already planned to clay bar my car over the long July 4th weekend, so I just picked up the Chemical Guys water spot remover (another light acid product) to try. It seems to get fairly good reviews (at least amongst us armatures).

If you drive it, you will get spots chips, and marks ... you do your best but to keep it looking good, but if you want a show car then you need to keep it in the trailer. I am ore impressed with a regularly driven car that is super clean even though it might still have a few flaws than I am with a "perfect" trailer queen anyway.

 

[Dfeeds]

As mentioned, this is fixable. Those are pretty nasty though so be prepared to try a few things.

-Normally, the first thing to try would be a water-spot remover. These are a light acid-based product that work to counter the minerals that caused these etchings. I say normally because these etchings look like something beyond a product like this. But, it's always best to start with the least aggressive method first. I like Carpro Spotless for this job as it's a simple spray and wipe application. Even if this product doesn't help, having something like this is worth having on hand to deal with water spots before they become a problem.

CARPRO Spotless 2.0 Water Spot Remover 500 ml. (autogeek.net)

-From this point you will need to polish them out. Again, start with the least aggression first.

I would start with a light polishing compound on a finishing pad and do a small test section and see what you get. Think Sonax Perfect Finish on a yellow Rupes pad. If you are left with remaining spots, swap to a heavier cutting pad with the same compound.

Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6 (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes yellow (autogeek.net)

If this doesn't sort it, then proceed to a heavier compound and perhaps a heavier pad. Think Sonax Cutmax and a yellow Rupes pad, perhaps a blue Rupes pad.

SONAX CutMax Cutting Compound 250 ml. (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes blue (autogeek.net)

The above assumes you have a polisher machine, if not then this can also be done by hand but will take much longer. In such case, look at Lake Country hand polishing pads.

CCS Euro Foam Hand Applicators Trio - Your Choice! (autogeek.net)

Happy to answer any follow up questions.

Instructions, pictures, and a link . Thank you! I'll start from the top and see what happens.

I do have one, how would I go about preventing this? My car sits outside, while I'm at work, so I fear there's not much I can do. I wax the car regularly but when it just beads and sits it's not really doing much to protect when it can be sunny and 90° F within minutes of a rain storm.

EDIT: One more. Is this something that can get worse? Excluding new spots, if there's a wax coat over the existing spots will it stay as is or can it still etch in more or cause water to sit in the exact spot, worsening the issue?

 

[Dfeeds]

So I am having the exact same experience. I got a bit of light rain on the car on Friday morning which beaded up and "baked" on by Friday afternoon. I didn't get a chance to wash the car until Saturday afternoon, and to my dismay, I also found many of water spots that wouldn't "wash" off.

I had already planned to clay bar my car over the long July 4th weekend, so I just picked up the Chemical Guys water spot remover (another light acid product) to try. It seems to get fairly good reviews (at least amongst us armatures).

If you drive it, you will get spots chips, and marks ... you do your best but to keep it looking good, but if you want a show car then you need to keep it in the trailer. I am ore impressed with a regularly driven car that is super clean even though it might still have a few flaws than I am with a "perfect" trailer queen anyway.

I even drive it in the winter but I'd still like to learn how to fix what I can. A paint pen is still a perfect match so the wax is at least doing its job at UV protection. Anything that requires actual sanding down and refinishing will just turn into something I need to live with, though, excluding underside frame rust (which hasn't been an issue but I'm fully prepared to do some spot treatment).

Fortunately a few members on here have listed some options so it may not be as dire as I thought.

 

[ay1820]

I even drive it in the winter but I'd still like to learn how to fix what I can. A paint pen is still a perfect match so the wax is at least doing its job at UV protection. Anything that requires actual sanding down and refinishing will just turn into something I need to live with, though, excluding underside frame rust (which hasn't been an issue but I'm fully prepared to do some spot treatment).

Fortunately a few members on here have listed some options so it may not be as dire as I thought.

I do not profess to be a detailing expert. In fact, I am far, far from it. But I have learned the hard way that obsessive "correction" of minor defects can also create its own problems. There is only so much paint/clearcoat to polish off. Just because you "can" correct it doesn't mean you always "should".

A car that gets driven regularly will get rained on and get water spots. Clean them off the best you can, hopefully before they etch. I am curious to see how well the acid based water spot removers work and how harsh they are. I am hoping that they can be a good intermediate solution, because ultimately, you cannot resort to a full polish every time it rains.

 

[Dfeeds]

I do not profess to be a detailing expert. In fact, I am far, far from it. But I have learned the hard way that obsessive "correction" of minor defects can also create its own problems. There is only so much paint/clearcoat to polish off. Just because you "can" correct it doesn't mean you always "should".

A car that gets driven regularly will get rained on and get water spots. Clean them off the best you can, hopefully before they etch. I am curious to see how well the acid based water spot removers work and how harsh they are. I am hoping that they can be a good intermediate solution, because ultimately, you cannot resort to a full polish every time it rains.

I completely agree. That's why I said, in my initial post, that I was afraid of making it worse by trying to fix it. I think we've all been down that rabbit hole where we've made things worse by trying to make it better. However, unless I just never noticed them, this is a relatively new development in my 4 years of ownership. So if fixing it and trying to be a bit more diligent means I avoid this problem in the future then I'm all for it.

I've done some light reading and waxes that don't cause the water to bead but, instead, sheet off would be ideal. The problem is that consumers correlate water beading with the wax working so it's pretty much a mandatory addition to sell a product, these days. Maybe it's time to go hunt down some meguiars gold class.

 

[Corporate_Rebel]

As mentioned above Porter Cable RO buffer, an orange pad lake country 6" (what i use) , and Meguiar's 205 should clean that up. You'll want to clay bar first to clean up any stray heavy metals, lube is your friend. It's not a very aggressive setup and the nice thing of an RO buffer is you physically can't burn your paint.

Then throw on a heavy coat of Collonite 805 wipe off and you're good to go. In my experience they've never gone beyond a good protective coat of wax.

As also echoed don't stress over the small stuff as your clear coat is a finite resource. Source several years detailing professionally and many more maintaining personal cars.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O7PNXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=collinit...fix=collon,automotive,129&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_6

 

[DFB5.0]

Instructions, pictures, and a link . Thank you! I'll start from the top and see what happens.

I do have one, how would I go about preventing this? My car sits outside, while I'm at work, so I fear there's not much I can do. I wax the car regularly but when it just beads and sits it's not really doing much to protect when it can be sunny and 90° F within minutes of a rain storm.

EDIT: One more. Is this something that can get worse? Excluding new spots, if there's a wax coat over the existing spots will it stay as is or can it still etch in more or cause water to sit in the exact spot, worsening the issue?

Preventing water spots is hard, especially if you have nowhere to park the car under cover. Key thing that you can do is avoid parking near irrigation sprinklers, but what falls out of the sky is obviously up to the weather gods. Having a good wax, sealant or coating is also helpful as they provide a sacrificial layer. Having a wax/sealant/coating that "sheets" rather than "beads" could be helpful, although probably not on horizontal surfaces like the roof or hood. Dealing with them as soon as possible is also key, this is where having a water spot remover on hand is a good idea.

From what I know, I don't think this is problem that could get worse if untreated.

 

[kilobravo]

I will bet a fair amount of moolah that Spotless and Final Finish with a DA polisher will completely remove the etching.

 

[Dfeeds]

As mentioned above Porter Cable RO buffer, an orange pad lake country 6" (what i use) , and Meguiar's 205 should clean that up. You'll want to clay bar first to clean up any stray heavy metals, lube is your friend. It's not a very aggressive setup and the nice thing of an RO buffer is you physically can't burn your paint.

Then throw on a heavy coat of Collonite 805 wipe off and you're good to go. In my experience they've never gone beyond a good protective coat of wax.

As also echoed don't stress over the small stuff as your clear coat is a finite resource. Source several years detailing professionally and many more maintaining personal cars.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O7PNXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=collinit...fix=collon,automotive,129&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_6

I try not to, and there's plenty of marks I can ignore, but these marks cover the entire roof, literally. I'm not going to go nuts but I figured now is a good time to ask for advice and learn how to take care of something like this. So thank you, truly, for the advice. Coming here and getting photos, a nice write up, links to products to use, and advice has turned this daunting task into something much more manageable for a complete amateur. I can pull apart an engine and put it back together but dealing with paint scares me haha. If I screw up I can really screw up.

 

[mrgooden]

As mentioned, this is fixable. Those are pretty nasty though so be prepared to try a few things.

-Normally, the first thing to try would be a water-spot remover. These are a light acid-based product that work to counter the minerals that caused these etchings. I say normally because these etchings look like something beyond a product like this. But, it's always best to start with the least aggressive method first. I like Carpro Spotless for this job as it's a simple spray and wipe application. Even if this product doesn't help, having something like this is worth having on hand to deal with water spots before they become a problem.

CARPRO Spotless 2.0 Water Spot Remover 500 ml. (autogeek.net)

-From this point you will need to polish them out. Again, start with the least aggression first.

I would start with a light polishing compound on a finishing pad and do a small test section and see what you get. Think Sonax Perfect Finish on a yellow Rupes pad. If you are left with remaining spots, swap to a heavier cutting pad with the same compound.

Sonax Perfect Finish 4/6 (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes yellow (autogeek.net)

If this doesn't sort it, then proceed to a heavier compound and perhaps a heavier pad. Think Sonax Cutmax and a yellow Rupes pad, perhaps a blue Rupes pad.

SONAX CutMax Cutting Compound 250 ml. (autogeek.net)
Results for rupes blue (autogeek.net)

The above assumes you have a polisher machine, if not then this can also be done by hand but will take much longer. In such case, look at Lake Country hand polishing pads.

CCS Euro Foam Hand Applicators Trio - Your Choice! (autogeek.net)

Happy to answer any follow up questions.

When I was gathering stuff to do my car and buying things like crazy, I bought a huge bottle of Sonax and a couple others. After receiving them, I realized I now had a lifetime supply since I only do my car.

Richard

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