Best protection to prevent acid rain marks???

[brewaboe]

About 4 years ago I had a new Mustang that developed bad acid rain marks in the paint, and want to prevent it from happening to a car I replaced it with. The marks (pits) were round water droplet shaped, and the damage was on the horizontal surfaces of the car. There were a couple of bug splatter, and bird dropping stains in the paint but not as bad as the acid rain marks. I washed it atleast every 2 months and waxed it every 6-8 months or so- I really dont have alot of spare time to wash and wax like I wanted to. My car is never parked in a garage and is exposed 24/7. I did a Meguiarâ€â„¢s RX and it said I live in a bad area for humidity, industrial fallout and dew.



Taking all this into account:

1. Would I be better off not even waxing my car at all so that the acid rain/dew just sheets off and doesnt get a chance to "puddle up" and do droplet shaped damage to my paint?



2. Is there even any wax or paint sealant on the market that can prevent damage to the paint from acid rain/bird droppings/bug splatters?



3. Would a paint sealant, synthetic wax(NXT) or a Carnauba wax type product be better in helping to prevent such damage to the paint?

[acl99]

Yeah acid rain sucks. In jersey i see plenty of 2-3 year old cars with deep etched watermarks from our highly acidic rain. Your best bet would be a sealant such as klasse or zaino. Both will give you pretty good protection even if you can only wax every 4 months. If you dont have time for a handwash bring it to a completely touchless carwash atleast every two weeks. You also may want to get some poorboys spray and wipe to use on at a minimum of your horizontal panels after any rain just to get rid of any mineral deposits and to try and neutralize those surfaces so they wont get etched from the previous rain. It will take you at most 10-15 mintues and will save you from etching headaches down the road.

[Accumulator]

Welcome to Autopia!




Originally posted by brewaboe

.. I washed it atleast every 2 months and waxed it every 6-8 months or so- I really dont have alot of spare time to wash and wax like I wanted to. My car is never parked in a garage and is exposed 24/7.



Not being able to wash/wax frequently makes preventing acid rain damage sorta tough. Even running it through a touchless car wash would be better than not washing more than that. As the acid rain dries and stays on the finish, you`re looking at trouble.



Washing more like "every two weeks" would be more like it.



Even the dreaded "automatic car washes", the ones that scratch the paint, might be better than not washing at all. But then you`d have scratches instead of etching, just a trade-off between two types of marring. But IMO the scratches aren`t as likely to really damage the vehicle (acid rain can do a number on glass, too).






1. Would I be better off not even waxing my car at all so that the acid rain/dew just sheets off and doesnt get a chance to "puddle up" and do droplet shaped damage to my paint?



Nah, it doesn`t work like that. Unprotected vehicles suffer the worst acid rain damage. It won`t "sheet off" the way you`re describing.








2. Is there even any wax or paint sealant on the market that can prevent damage to the paint from acid rain/bird droppings/bug splatters?



Not if you just let the stuff sit on the paint indefinitely. But a well-protected finish is much less likely to suffer serious damage. I`ve had "outside 24/7" vehicles that didn`t have any bad problems like this- they were always well protected and I`d wash then when they needed it. But people I know who don`t keep their vehicles washed and well-protected all have serious acid rain damage, even though their vehicles are garaged every night.






3. Would a paint sealant, synthetic wax(NXT) or a Carnauba wax type product be better in helping to prevent such damage to the paint?



A synthetic will work best. Klasse does it for me, but others have had good results with Meg`s Medallion (don`t get it on black trim!) and, I believe, #20. Don`t know how the NXT is working out protection-wise. I`ve had vehciles stay etching-free with Collinite wax on them too, but again, I wash frequently.

[sgo]

I would put a good sealant on it like Klasse SG or equivalent. Then I would top it with Collinite 476S.

[togwt]

~One manâ€â„¢s opinion / observations~



Water Spots:

Alkaline watermarks (water spots) are calcium and magnesium salts that deposit on the surface after the water has evaporated, the minute crystals bond to the surface and are not re-dissolvable in water. Rainwater also contains alkaline minerals that alight on the paint film surface and as the water evaporates leave white `water spots` on both the paint and glass surfaces.



These fall into one of two categories, a) surface or b) below surface (etched) water spots.



Etched water (below surface) -- are caused by acid rain or industrial fallout causing a chemical reaction, if left for any length of time they will etch the paint film surface leaving a concave circular mark.



Rainwater sometimes contains alkaline minerals that alight on the paint film surface and as the water evaporates leave white `water spots` on glass surfaces. Mineral deposits can be caused by water from a light summer shower, or a lawn sprinkler system that that dries on the glass surface leaving a calcium / sodium deposit.





~Hope this helps~



Knowledge unshared is experience wasted [each one / teach one]

justadumbarchitect / so I question everything/ JonM

[brewaboe]

Originally posted by TOGWT

~One manâ€â„¢s opinion / observations~



...Etched water (below surface) -- are caused by acid rain or industrial fallout causing a chemical reaction, if left for any length of time they will etch the paint film surface leaving a concave circular mark....







Yep thats exactly what happened. I first thought they were water spots on top of the paint but quickly found that the spots were actually etched into the paint. A local reputable paint and body shop said the acid rain is bad in the area and wanted to wet sand the paint and go from there, and maybe re-clear coat the car if the pits were deep enough.....$$$$$$. I opted to get rid of the car. Strange thing is that I counldnt see the spots in the daylight or even at night time but if I was to drive under very bright lights (flourescent?) at a gas station at night the spots would stick out like a sore thumb.