Help Needed. Horrible Water Spots. Pics Inside

M

mtxbass1

New member
Hello all. The guys over at acurazine told me to come over here and ask this. Long first post, but here goes...

I try to keep my TL in pretty good shape. I clean the paint, polish, and wax it roughly 2-3 times a year. Recently I washed my car and started to noice really bad water spots on it. Since there is a good bit of wax on the car, water usually slides right off, but not this time. I dried the car about 5-10 minutes after I washed it, and these spots occurred. This was done about 6pm with around 70-75 degre temps.



Fast forward about two weeks, and I wash the car again. This time, it looks absolutely horrible. The entire car is covered in water spots. Every piece of chrome, the paint, the windows...everything. It almost looks like the car is covered in spotty dirt.



I live in an apartment complex and I believe either they or the city started adding a chemical to the water (possilby chlorine). The water here is really hard and I have a major problem keeping glassware/coffee pots etc from not having hard water stains.




I've tried nearly everything I can do to remove the water spots. I used stoners glass cleaner, along with some el cheapo foaming cleaner, and even distilled vinegar and nothing has worked so far on the windows. The same holds true on the paint of the car. I've tried meguiars paint cleaner (step 1) and I get the same results. Even with the polish (step 2) I can still see the spots.

I just washed the car again yesterday, hoping that they would wash out, but still nothing.



What can be done to fix this mess? I've got a few pictures here. Maybe you guys can tell what I need to do or what may be causing this? It's kinda hard to take pics of this, so bear that in mind.



The chrome...

Picture%20036.jpg




Window (without flash)

Picture%20022.jpg




Window (with flash)

Picture%20021.jpg




Paint (above the headlight, look very close and you'll see brownish spots

Picture%20039.jpg




Paint (above the drivers fender, looks like streaks)

Picture%20001.jpg




HELP!



Today I sprayed the front end with a distilled water/70% alcohol/distilled vinegar mix. After wiping the car, it was removing a browish/orange oxidation. You could litterally see the change in the paint (and the dirt coming off). After this, I applied Meguiars paint cleaner, then Meguairs Crystal Polish, then clayed the entire front end. After all of this, I waxed with NXT. Every streak is gone and the paint looks a lot better.



The paint afterwards (taken in the dark)

Picture%20068.jpg




Above the light

Picture%20064.jpg




The chrome

Picture%20056.jpg




I also used Meguiars PlasticX on the headlights (and the chrome/plastic grille) and got fantastic results. If you look close, you can still see some of the original chemical residue, but overall it is a 99% improvement.



My only problem now is the rest of the car...and the windows. Nothing is getting the spots off the glass. Suggestions?
 
Your city water is obviously very hard. This means it contains high levels of calcium and magnesium and it is leaving insoluble mineral desposits (calcium/magnesium carbonates) on your glass and paint. Chlorinated water will not cause hard water spotting.



Depending on how long these deposits have been on your vehicle, they could have possibly already etched the paint and would require abrasive polishes to level the clear coat to try to remove them. I would also recommend to try clay, but since your pictures look like a pretty severe case of water spotting, you may want to try the acidic step of a paint decontamination kit (FK1 or Autoint). You may then need to follow up with some abrasive polishes stronger than the Megs to more completely remove any residual spotting that may be left.



If you are satisfied after that, you need to look into getting some kind of portable water softener (like a Boji or Spotfree ) or find a better source of water for washing your car.
 
I haven't tried claying yet. Would a professional carwash type place be of any help here? These water spots have been on the vehicle for around 3 weeks. Are there any negatives or warnings to using a paint decontamination kit?



Thanks for the responses so far.



Oh. and I'm never washing my car here again after I get this fixed. I'll have it done by someone else.
 
Get some Sonus SFX Fine clay and then follow up with Klasse AIO - and yeah don't put that water on it again... Maybe try some "bought" water and some QEW (Quick Easy Wash) - then you only need about 5 litres - if you have problems finding good water.
 
oh yeah - and a "professional" car wash isn't going to do anything to fix the spots... you will need something more aggressive like clay.
 
What is the difference between the Sonus SFX Ultra-Fine clay and the clay that comes in the Klasse Car Wax & Clay Bundle? Would I be better off buying Klasse AIO and the Sonus SFX UF Sampler? Could the Sampler do the whole car?



I've never clayed before, nor do I know much about it (if you couldn't tell)...
 
mtxbass1 said:
I haven't tried claying yet.



Oh. and I'm never washing my car here again after I get this fixed. I'll have it done by someone else.
Click to expand...



Let's slow down a little bit. I don't really think claying is the most effective approach for what I see. Secondly, how often do you wash your car? Apartment complexes are notorious for having sprinkler systems...and it's about the time of year when the sprinklers would start being used. Frequently sprinkler systems are scheduled to run shortly before sunup, perhaps 3-4 AM...in which case, you might not even realize that there are sprinklers, if you come out at 8 AM. That sprinkler water might be really hard, or rusty, depending on the type of piping/sprinkler heads.



As suggested, AIO is really good on this kind of thing, but any abrasive polish is worth a try, probably starting with the mildest that gets you results. What I'm trying to say here is, it may not be your washing that is the problem, it may just be that you notice it after washing because you are removing a layer of dust that was hiding the spots. Polish out the spots, find the source, eliminate the source if possible, if not, you will have to adjust your regimen to account for it.



I had a situation last year where my car was getting sprinkler spritzed every morning, and I would wipe the water off with WAUD every morning to prevent spotting...not the ideal solution, but it worked.
 
I wash the car about every 2 weeks. I don't drive it much anymore (maybe 60 miles a week). I am sure it has been exposed to sprinkler water, but not in the past month or so (when these spots started to occur).



So given that there is a bit of wax/polish on the car now, do I have to take this wax off before I use the Klasse AIO?



Also, does the AIO work on windows? I'm looking at the autiopia site right now and it seems like there are about 10 products that I need to get this job done right...



I've owned this car for about a year, it's a 2000 model and I'm sure it's never been clayed.
 
Well, it certainly won't hurt anything to clay it. Are you sure you have been clear of the sprinklers? Something is not making complete sense to me. The water spots came from your washing? If so, you need to wash in the shade, dry faster, or use some sheeting aid like WAUD. And no, you don't have to take anything off before using the AIO. I also don't think you need 10 products from ACC to fix this. You need some AIO or other polish, maybe two grits of polish if you're going to do it that way, some pads, a PC would help, and that's about it.
 
I get water spots every so often on my car, the best fix I have used is a 50/50 vinegar/distilled water. Spray it on wipe with a clean MF let it sit for 3-5 mins don’t let it dry, then wipe down with a clean MF. This usually removes the spots (and wax). If we have some bad rainy days, my windows get awful and I have to do this.
 
Setec,



The water spots appeared around a month ago when washing. They were almost instantaneous. Up until then, the paint was in fantastic shape (and I'm hoping still may be).



I've tried vinegar (white distilled) and it didn't do a single thing to the windows. I applied it with a microfiber cloth and waited around 3-5 minutes.



I've always used meguiars products and the car always looked very good. I washed it two to three times a month. I think I am going to order some things (Sonus clay, Klasse AIO, and one or two other sonus products (glass and leather) and try to detail it again myself. Hopefully this can remove the spots.
 
Mike, Im with you, I dont think clay is going to do much at all, especially an ultra light type.

The acid in the vinegar really is the first step in a decon.....You cant spray, wipe, and buff, it has to remain wet, on the surface for about 15 minutes. Give the acids a chance to dissolve the minerals.....Then cleanse the paint, polish, and seal......
 
Jeremiah said:
I get water spots every so often on my car, the best fix I have used is a 50/50 vinegar/distilled water. Spray it on wipe with a clean MF let it sit for 3-5 mins don’t let it dry, then wipe down with a clean MF. This usually removes the spots (and wax). If we have some bad rainy days, my windows get awful and I have to do this.
Click to expand...



Any certain type of vinegar? Can this work on glass as well?
 
The Finish Kare acid decon step contains a mixture of at least two acids--phosphoric and sulfuric. Vinegar (acetic acid) and phosphoric acid are considered "weak" acids in the classical chemical sense in that they don't readily ionize in water.



The strength of an acid has to do with the percentage of the initial number of acid molecules that are ionized. If a higher percentage of the original acid molecules are ionized, then the acid will be stronger. Sulfuric acid is considered a "strong" acid.



The FK acid mixture, IMO, would be more aggressive in effectively removing water spots due to their sulfuric/phosphoric mixture than vinegar alone. The FK acid decon step was designed to use this stronger acid mixture and probably also includes some buffering agents so that it can be safely used around plastic/chromed automotive trim and rubber.
 
mtxbass1 said:
Any certain type of vinegar? Can this work on glass as well?
Click to expand...



I use white vinegar, if the 5 mins didn't work let it sit longer 10-15 min. I actually have a mix of 1/3 distilled water, 1/3 alcohol and 1/3 vinegar to wash windows with. The mix works pretty good on light water spots.
 
I tried just straight vinegar (distilled) today on the sun roof as was able to remove a lot of the surface spots. There are obvious spots etched into the glass from the previous years, but the spots that developed recently were almost completely gone. The rag I was using was almost completely black afterwards in places.



Someone mentioned alcohol as well? What kind? Isoprophyl? I have 70 and 91%.
 
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