Water spot etching

**Troy@Protekt** · 05-11-2009, 08:39 PM

Jared did you watch him do it?

If he could do it so can you. I hate to see you spend all that money on a FLEX and chemicals to go get it done by someone else. It`s good that you now know that they can come out with some wet sanding. If I were you I would do it myself.

Wet sanding isn`t hard. The main thing is to make sure you have a clean surface throughout and go very light on edges. The FLEX with 105 will get 1000 grit sanding marks out easy.

I looked back and I could have sworn that I suggested wet sanding but I guess I didn`t. I`m glad you won`t be stuck with them either way.

**Mr. Clean** · 05-11-2009, 08:40 PM

Good news! Curious as to his steps? What grades of paper did he use? Did he think he had to go beyond the clearcoat?

**blk45** · 05-12-2009, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by JaredPointer

Got some good news on this front - the guy I know who has a shop looked at the hood and said he thought he could get them out without a problem. I let him test a small area on the hood. He sanded the spot and polished the area a couple of times and voila. That area looks like glass. I am taking the truck back tomorrow and he is going to get the entire hood.

Excellent news JP! Glad you are getting it sorted out. How aggressive did he have to go with the sanding?

**black bart** · 05-12-2009, 04:50 AM

Sanding may be OK if you plan on trading in a few years.
Factory paint is thin to start with yours will be even thinner.

I have some very slight etching on my Ranger hood but while I think it looks bad everyone else tells me how nice my truck looks.
We are a little too critical.

Since I plan on keeping the truck for several more years and don`t want to repaint it I`m going to live with the slight imperfections.
The UV protection in the clear coat floats to the top when it is sprayed on.

Sanding will remove it and if the truck spends a lot of time in the sun it may suffer clear coat failure.
The thing that will probably save you is it will have so much wax on it that will not allow the sun to do damage.

**JaredPointer** · 05-12-2009, 07:23 AM

Since I was considering repainting the hood anyway, I am not real worried. If I have to paint the hood in a few years, so be it.

He`s using 2000 grit on a couple of passes and then hitting it with 105 (I believe) on the rotary followed by a finer polish that I don`t think I can discern by looking at the polish. He said he would only go so far in regards to cutting the clear, and if that didn`t get them all out I`d have to live with it or repaint the panel.

I have taught myself how to wetsand in small areas, but doing a whole body panel is something that I would for sure screw up. And the Flex will have a home for some time - I already have my brother lined up to get both his cars polished with the Flex.

**malibu9in** · 05-16-2009, 11:19 PM

Color sanding will damn near fix everything. there are some draw backs like going through the clear, and removing millage. (sp). This is what i use on water spots. We use automagic`s red hot degreaser and their "spoke" for the acid. After we wash the car completely we spray "spoke" on the wet vehicle. Use a old microfiber and work it in by hand. 90% of the time their are ZERO water spots on the glass or the paint. It moves so much containaments (sp) from the car. Especially on white cars...in the jambs, creases where you would normally need a small brush to reach the hard to reach spots. We did a white camry monday that had spent it`s life under a tree. The paint totally looked new and needed very little correction. This was a 99 camry. We also use the acid on the engines as well. When we are done we do not "dress" the engine because it looks as good as new. I kinda strayed off topic but this might help a few. Here is a link to the photos of the car. Click one of the photos if you care to see more pics of the cars we have done.

1999 TOYOTA CAMRY GAS SAVER-JaysKars