The Decontamination Thread

[kilobravo]

D: Two things...

Before too long, I think I'll have examples of almost all of CarPro's products, thanks to you. (That's a compliment despite how it sounded.) <grin> Just ordered Tarx and Bug-Out. <chuckling>

Secondly, Sarah has never had any tar on her but definitely bugs and like you, I hate them. Actually, I hate the way they SMELL...DOUBLE YUCK so I'm excited about the scent of Bug-Out hoping it will mask that awful scent.

As always my Australian friend, thank you very much for your time, your knowledge, and your dedication to this forum. As we say in Uncle Sam's Navy...

BRAVO ZULU

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[skinnyb]

D: Two things...

Before too long, I think I'll have examples of almost all of CarPro's products, thanks to you. (That's a compliment despite how it sounded.) <grin> Just ordered Tarx and Bug-Out. <chuckling>

Secondly, Sarah has never had any tar on her but definitely bugs and like you, I hate them. Actually, I hate the way they SMELL...DOUBLE YUCK so I'm excited about the scent of Bug-Out hoping it will mask that awful scent.

As always my Australian friend, thank you very much for your time, your knowledge, and your dedication to this forum. As we say in Uncle Sam's Navy...

BRAVO ZULU

Sorry to butt in, but I just wanted to say you will love Bug Out. I have used it quite a few times and it does smell pretty good as does most CarPro products, and works great. Haven't gotten Tarx yet though, I opted for KCx Eulex instead. Haven't tried it yet but I've got it on hand for if/when I need it LOL. I shopped TarX and TriX both before opting for Eulex. TriX seems to be a great option on wheels when doing Decon before coating as it covers 2 bases at once. Might still get some but I've already got IronX on hand.

 

[DFB5.0]

Bird Droppings

Due to it’s highly acidic nature, bird droppings have the ability to severely damage automotive paint. Extended exposure will etch the clearcoat and make its way into the colour, so its vitally important to remove this contamination as fast as possible. The sucker punch of bird droppings is the extremely gritty nature of the substance, making safe removal without scratching a challenge. (Birds actually eat grit or stones to aid their digestive system, and that material obviously ends up somewhere.)

Apart from some cheesy, highly marketed products, there is no specific product for dealing with bird droppings. But like bugs, removal as soon as possible will save major headaches in the future.

Ideally, you would blast the dropping off the paint with water in a touchless fashion, although that is not always practical. If this is not on the cards, all I can say is lubrication, lubrication, lubrication!

For spot treatment, quick detailers like P&S Paint Gloss, Meguiar’s Last Touch, or one of the various rinse-less wash concentrates are ideal for this role as they provide supreme lubrication. If using a rinse-less wash, I would be diluting to the quick detailer or water-less wash ratio. For ONR that is 16:1 and 128:1 for N-914.

(Quick Detailer seem to be on the nose these days, but I will note that if there is still a place for quick detailers, this surely has to be it.)

Spray the product generously onto the dropping to soak it down. Take a paper or microfiber towel and gently blot and lift the dropping, flipping to a clean segment as needed. I then follow with a clean towel and more product to wipe off any remaining residue.

Wash the towel and your hands thoroughly afterwards, bird droppings can cause illness in humans.

 

[skinnyb]

Man I hate Bird bombs. I have birds that love to build in the bushs out front of my house and they do fly bys on my Mazda for months in the spring and summer. I gave the bushes a complete buzz cut a few weeks ago and they evacuated premises. I hear them making all kinds of racket not happy with my hair cut on their home now. Oh well, move on little birdies. Next step is to cut them down completely LOL.

 

[DFB5.0]

Water Spot Removal

Surely the most frustrating of all detailing problems, water spots are difficult to prevent and can be a nightmare to remove.







In very basic terms, a water spot is created when a droplet of water is heated and rapidly evaporated from the surface of the paint or glass. This usually most apparent on horizontal surfaces or areas where water cannot fall from the surface. Any minerals or dirt suspended in that droplet and then left behind, leaving the classic water spot. Now take that one droplet of water and multiple it thousands of times, well, your paint is going to look pretty shabby. Where it gets technical is when we start to remove these spots.

Before I go any further, I want to address water spots and ceramic coatings. There seems to be a very common belief that ceramic coatings are more prone to water spots. Because of the extreme hydrophobicity created by the coating, water droplets are always going to be left on the paint surface. But…………….the same is true for a wax or sealant. So, the coating chemistry itself is not more prone to the creation of water spots, but rather the surface it creates on the vehicle……….the same as a wax or sealant. And trust me, I have had water spots on both coated AND waxed vehicles. It’s the conundrum all car guys face, having shiny, protected paint………………..that is oddly unprotected by fast drying water droplets. Go figure.

Back to those water spots. It’s the minerals suspended in each droplet of water that causes the trouble. While not always, typically rainwater is relatively pure, so any water spots caused by rain are usually from dust or dirt already on the paint and are easily removed by a simple wash. Its town or bore water that typically causes water spots. Water with a high level of total dissolved solids (TDS) is commonly called ‘hard’ water. It’s these minerals that ultimately determine how your removal experience is going to pan out. If you feel need, testing your tap water is simple and inexpensive with a TDS meter.

Digital Water Quality Tester, TDS EC Temperature Meter 3 in 1, 0-9999 ppm LCD Display for Drinking Water Test, Swimming Pool, Aquarium Test, RO/DI Water, Hydroponics : Amazon.com.au: Garden

If you're lucky, a simple wash can be all that's required. Failing that, removal is a two-part process. That point is often a forgotten aspect of effective removal of waterspouts. At this point, I’m going to draw attention to this excellent video from DIY Detail into the mix to explain this further……………….




To recap, first you MUST remove the minerals from the surface of the paint or glass BEFORE removing the etchings left behind. If you don’t, as the paint heats up again, the minerals resurface and cause the water spots to RETURN.

To remove mineral deposits, you need an acid. Don’t freak out, that doesn’t mean spraying hydrochloric acid on your car. The various water spot removers are safely acidic to break down and remove mineral deposits on cars and are also designed to be safe on ceramic coatings. You can make your own using a 50/50 mixture of distilled water and white vinegar, but the results from that are mixed. (Check the video linked at the end of this post for the comparison.)

Buy Best Water Spot Removers Online | Waxit – Waxit Car Care

Car Water Stain Removers | Car Water Spot Remover (carpro-us.com)

I use Gyeon Water Spot Remover and Carpro Spotless, both have got me out of trouble many times now. These products can be used to spot treat or as the final step in a holistic decontamination process. In which case, I would do this step after the decon process I outlined in the second post, so after the iron/high pH/low pH/clay process on clean paint. The application method of these products can vary, so follow the directions to the letter and never work in the direct sun. Repeat if necessary. Rinse thoroughly afterwards.

Carpro Descale is also a fantastic product for the removal of mineral deposits. Its use is not as effective as a concentrated water spot remover, but I like to incorporate it into the mix.

CarPro Descale – Waxit Car Care
CARPRO Descale Car Wash 500ml (17oz) (carpro-us.com)

If you’re lucky, the use of one of these products may be all you need to remove BOTH the minerals and visible damage. If the above products don’t remove the visible damage, or the spots have been left for extended periods, then you're dealing with etched clear coat. With the minerals removed from the surface, it's at this point you would polish. Always start with the least aggressive pad/polish compound and work up from there until you are getting sufficient removal.

A couple of scenarios I have encountered –

- On my XR6, coated with a polymer sealant, I managed to pick up some water spots on the rear spoiler after a heavy storm caused some leaks in the garage. In this case, I washed the car as normal using a pH neutral soap, then followed with a treatment of Carpro Spotless. The product removed the water spots with two spray and wipe applications. In my favor here were that this was from rainwater, and the speed in which I dealt with the problem.

- On this Mazda CX-5, the car was parked on the lawn overnight with the sprinklers coming on. Those sprinklers were fed from bore water that is known to be high in iron.

Despite the owner attending to the car in a reasonable time frame using Carpro Descale and the wipe down with Carpro Spotless, these water spots were not budging. I then later went through the full ABC decontamination process, followed by Gyeon Water Spot Remover, all to nil effect. This then progressed to polishing with Carpro Reflect, a fine finishing polish, followed by recoating with Gyeon Can Coat EVO.

What this shows is that sometimes, water spots are simple to deal with, other times, they require multiple actions spread over many, many hours. I know that the above is a wall of words, so to summarize –

1 - Act fast, the longer they are there, the harder they will be to remove.
2 - Start simple with a wash. Carpro Decale would be helpful here as well.
3 - Use a dedicated water spot remover to neutralize the mineral deposits.
4 - Polish if required and replenish the removed protection.

As mentioned above, this video shows several water-spot removal options on the one panel -




Prevention tips –

There is no 100% prevention product or cure to be recommended here, rather some suggestions to limit the chance of getting water spots -

- If possible, don’t park near sprinklers. If not, then use a car cover.
- Park undercover where possible.
- Avoid washing your car in the sun.
- If you have hard water, then consider using a water softener or DI filter.
- Attend to water spots as soon as possible.

 

[kilobravo]

I say again..

There is NO better place than this forum for top-notch detailing information and it's pretty much ALL due to your dedication, experience, and knowledge, D. I simply can't thank you enough for everything I've learned and please, don't desert us.

ALMOST completely off topic but your use of the words "bore water" made me smile. I presume it is "well water," yes? I love little differences in languages. <smile>

I'd never heard "Hydrophobicity" and while I obviously knew where it was going, I looked up the definition anyway..

"Hydrophobicity or lipophilicity is understood to be a measure of the relative tendency of an analyte 'to prefer' a nonaqueous over an aqueous environment. The partition coefficients of the substances may differ if determined in different organic–water solvent systems but their logarithms are often linearly related"

I laughed out loud when I read it. My buddies and I used to say,

"You must keep the dynamically-stabilized reflectors in coordination." <still chuckling>

Moving on...

I LOVE Spotless. Not only has it removed every water spot I've found on Sarah, but our damn pool cleaner's whip tail throws water on to the large kitchen window overlooking the back patio. Talk about water spots, holy chidt! But a few passes with Spotless and they were gone. The wife was MOST happy.

Unfortunately, the damn thing runs every day so this little spot remover routine gets done frequently.

On another subject...wool pads.

I've never had one for the Bigfoot but ordered a couple this morning. Do you agree with the DIY guys on this for removing compound? If so, what product would you use with this pad to remove it after polishing and TIA.

G'Day, Mate.

 

[DFB5.0]

I say again..

There is NO better place than this forum for top-notch detailing information and it's pretty much ALL due to your dedication, experience, and knowledge, D. I simply can't thank you enough for everything I've learned and please, don't desert us.

ALMOST completely off topic but your use of the words "bore water" made me smile. I presume it is "well water," yes? I love little differences in languages. <smile>

I'd never heard "Hydrophobicity" and while I obviously knew where it was going, I looked up the definition anyway..

"Hydrophobicity or lipophilicity is understood to be a measure of the relative tendency of an analyte 'to prefer' a nonaqueous over an aqueous environment. The partition coefficients of the substances may differ if determined in different organic–water solvent systems but their logarithms are often linearly related"

I laughed out loud when I read it. My buddies and I used to say,

"You must keep the dynamically-stabilized reflectors in coordination." <still chuckling>

Moving on...

I LOVE Spotless. Not only has it removed every water spot I've found on Sarah, but our damn pool cleaner's whip tail throws water on to the large kitchen window overlooking the back patio. Talk about water spots, holy chidt! But a few passes with Spotless and they were gone. The wife was MOST happy.

Unfortunately, the damn thing runs every day so this little spot remover routine gets done frequently.

On another subject...wool pads.

I've never had one for the Bigfoot but ordered a couple this morning. Do you agree with the DIY guys on this for removing compound? If so, what product would you use with this pad to remove it after polishing and TIA.

G'Day, Mate.

Bore water = Well water.

I'm assuming you are referring to the towel soaked in rinse-less wash for the initial polish residue wipe?

In DIY's case, their rinse-less wash concentrate is a surfactant-based product, and I would probably stick with that over a polymer based rinse-less wash concentrate. I have used DIY rinse-less, but McKee's N-914 is superior and also surfactant based.

You can also use Carpro Eraser as a polish residue wipe off, which is mostly what I do. You will get a better gauge of your work using Eraser over a rinse-less.

 

[skinnyb]

Man what good info, very helpful. I have gotten a bottle of Descale to keep on hand for when I need to use it, hopefully not but good to have. I did have some spots appear on my daily driver after a wash from mirror drips and was able to spray some KCx FSE onto a microfiber and massage them out relatively easy. I like having FSE in the arsenal, I believe it is comparable to Spotless and Gyeon spot remover.

 

[DFB5.0]

Man what good info, very helpful. I have gotten a bottle of Descale to keep on hand for when I need to use it, hopefully not but good to have. I did have some spots appear on my daily driver after a wash from mirror drips and was able to spray some KCx FSE onto a microfiber and massage them out relatively easy. I like having FSE in the arsenal, I believe it is comparable to Spotless and Gyeon spot remover.

I've been meaning to try FSE, haven't heard a bad word about it.

 

[kilobravo]

Thanks, D, and yep, that's what I meant. I'll go with Eraser next time, still have plenty.

 

[DFB5.0]

Thanks, D, and yep, that's what I meant. I'll go with Eraser next time, still have plenty.

The method (rinse-less as a residue wipe) has merit though. Some compounds can be a bear to remove, the idea of using a supplement for the wipe off cuts through the residue without needing to buff harder than required. That would be ideal for softer paints that easily mar up. Eraser is a good choice too because the IPA content cuts through the residue more effectively, but also has lubricants within its formula.

 

[kilobravo]

You nailed my thought process, D..was wondering about the lubrication quality of Eraser vice rinseless-wash products. Now that the Encyclopedia D Britannica <grinning> has informed me that Eraser will work as well, then I'mma happy camper. ;-)

 

[Järn]

Thanks to this thread I just ordered this: AQUA CREST Inline Water Filter, Dedicated for Car Washing, Reduce Hard Water Spots, Soften Water, Upgraded Formula with 1 Flexible Hose Protector> $23, I will provide feedback after using.

 

[kilobravo]

Tony: I hadn't heard of that company before so I had a looksee. Is the first one on this page the one you picked up?

Any of those will certainly help to soften and filter the water but, it's on the small side. My recommendation would be to only use it for rinsing, not for foaming because that size will get saturated somewhat quickly. You will be immediately rinsing after washing so there's no need to use up the capability of the filter/softener any faster than necessary.

Additionally, if you can reduce the flow of the PW when rinsing, say down to around 600psi, you will extend the life of the Aqua Crest substantially and that is still more than enough pressure to rinse.

Good luck and we will stand by for a full report. <smiling>

 

[skinnyb]

Thanks to this thread I just ordered this: AQUA CREST Inline Water Filter, Dedicated for Car Washing, Reduce Hard Water Spots, Soften Water, Upgraded Formula with 1 Flexible Hose Protector> $23, I will provide feedback after using.

I used one similar to this for a while. Their longevity on my extremely hard water was only one rinse after a wash. As mentioned above, I would definitely only use this for the final rinse to avoid spots, the wash cycle it shouldn't be needed as long as you are washing in a cool shady environment.

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