How come the coin-op wash spotted my paint?

M

MnRiverman

New member
I took my BMW saturday evening to the coin-op high pressure wash becuase it had some salt on it, and I wanted to remove it. I did the soap, then did there rinse, the normal stuff. I then drove home, the zymol pretty much beads the water off when I drive home, and then I put it in the garage and haven't driven it since. It wasn't sunny out, there really wasn't any water left on the car, but the few places on the hood and trunk where there was some beads of water, they spotted the paint.



I have no idea why, and I wiped down the whole hood and it looked like they were etched in there, although it's probably not. I went over the hood with Zymol HD-Cleanse twice by hand, and then two more times in the areas where there was some water spotting. Needless to say after I was done with that, 99% of the marks were gone, and any that were left over were nearly invisible (I turned on my flourescent overhead light and then brought my 1500 watt spot light and looked over the whole hood). I then followed up with Zymol Carbon wax.



The car is only 5 months old, and it's topaz blue (medium blue). Seems pretty odd to me that it would spot, and this place doesn't have any "spot free rinse" or whatnot, so there really isn't anything I can do. I washed my VW today there, and I went and looked now and there weren't any water spots on it where the water dried, atleast none that stained.



Any ideas why? I'm puzzled....



Thanks. :)
 
Waterspots are my current focus, but I'm no expert!



The spots are the remnant of 'hard' water as it evaporates. Municipal water contains solids, which are usually mineral in nature. Naturally, those solids do not evaporate, so they are left laying on the surface of the car's finish.



At the other extreme, deionized water contains almost no minerals (and, in fact, will not conduct electricity!). Distilled Water is essentially the same product. It will be a fine rinse agent , and dry spot free. Altho a quick wipe with a MF towel never hurts.



Why does one car have more spots than another? I dunno. I'm stumped...



Jim
 
I'd strongly suggest using a polymer sealant. They are incredibly durable and can withstand water spotting and salt much better than a carnuba wax can.
 
I'm not a polymer fan... just my preference though.



It was weird, but as long as they were removed using HD-Cleanse which isn't an abrasive, I don't really care. :p I was afriad at first that they were etched into the paint, but then I thought how it wasn't in the sun at all and the water was fresh, so it couldn't have etched the clear. Maybe they would have come off if I had washed the car by hand.



I was reading Jason's thread earlier about the spot free rinse - too bad this place doesn't have it. I hope it's not a cold winter!
 
HD-Cleanseâ„¢ removes light oxidization, moderate scratches, accumulated road film, tar and acid rain deposits, renewing your original paint lustre.



Thats straight from their website word for word. It says it removes moderate scratches. How can it do that without any abrasives?
 
Adamah said:
HD-Cleanseâ„¢ removes light oxidization, moderate scratches, accumulated road film, tar and acid rain deposits, renewing your original paint lustre.



Thats straight from their website word for word. It says it removes moderate scratches. How can it do that without any abrasives?
Click to expand...



It just fills them in....
 
adg44 said:
It just fills them in....
Click to expand...

It would be nice to think that but look at the ingredients. Heres what they list for the product on their website.



Contains Montan Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, Lemon Seed Oil, Coconut Oil, Cetyl Esters, Cetyl Cocoamide (derived from coconut oil), Cocoamide, Citric Acid (from rose hips), Kapolite.



That last word there is your abrasive. Kapolite is a trade name for anhydrous aluminum silicate. Its a common ingredient in auto and industrial polishes. Its even in some household products.
 
Well that seems to be a problem....



You say the ingredients contain an abrasive, and the back of the bottle says it's non abrasive.



Who to believe? :cool:
 
adg44 said:
I have no idea why, and I wiped down the whole hood and it looked like they were etched in there, although it's probably not.



The car is only 5 months old, and it's topaz blue (medium blue). Seems pretty odd to me that it would spot, and this place doesn't have any "spot free rinse" or whatnot, so there really isn't anything I can do.
Click to expand...



If you don't do a proper "drying" session after washing, you're always running the risk of getting water-spots (etched or not etched) on your car. I think this is especially true with a car like a BMW because the hood gets really warm...much warmer than say, a VW after driving it. I've experienced this with my own e46 after a rain-storm.. unless I QD it right after parking it in the garage, I always get one or two lightly etched water-marks on the hood/front fenders. I don't have this problem with my other car. If I were you, I'd make sure there weren't any water-spots AT ALL after driving it home by QD-ing the entire car.



BTW, HD Cleanse is a very mild abrasive. You're not hurting your paint at all by using it every now and then. Basically Zymol is doing the same stuff Meguiar's is doing when they say their swirl remover & Medallion Paint Cleaner are not abrasive but instead, "Chemical cleaners". I told my Meguiar's rep that my understanding of today's fully cured, polyurethane clear-coats is that they are extremely resistant to solvents and that I was curious as to what kind of a chemical cleaner would be stronger than say, lacquer thinner. That's when he mentioned micro-abrasives in Medallion Paint Cleaner.
 
I've used S100 Gloss Enahncing Paintwork Cleaner on mild water spots and it cleaned them up quickly. It's the same as the P21S Paintwork Cleansing Lotion, and probably to the Pinnacle variety.



These are very mild and leave a great shine.
 
Dude said:
I'd strongly suggest using a polymer sealant. They are incredibly durable and can withstand water spotting and salt much better than a carnuba wax can.
Click to expand...



I find this interesting. I parked my car outside once (freshly washed and Z'd) and when I went to move it back, I found water marks etched all over the car. The sprinklers outside had gone on and baked onto the paint. I couldn't get them out by Z6, washing, claying or vinegar. I SMR'd the car over and they were gone. I just find it weird that it would etch that far into the paint within a few hours.



Now, I check my car every half an hour when it's outside, and if it's wet, I wipe it down with a MF. I have a REALLY annoying neighbor who especially likes turning the sprinklers on MY car only.
 
After Reading This Thread, I Decicded To Do A Small CD Abrasive Test. I Know CD's Arent The Same As Paint, Blah Blah Blah. I Think It Is A Good Way Of Telling how Abrasive One Product Is Relative To Another.

I Tested:

3m Swirl Mark Remover For Dark Cars

Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion

Zymol HD-Cleanse

P21S Gloss Enhancing Paintwork Cleanser



They Ranked As Follows With 1 Being the Most Abrasive, And 4 Being The Least Abrasive:



4-P21S GEPC

3-PPCL

2-Zymol HD-C

1-3M SMR



The Zymol And Pinnacle Were Actually Very Close.



I Did This Test Using 2 brand New CD's

Used A Marker To Equally Space Them Out, Rubbed A Equal Amount Of Each Product Onto The Area Of the CD Using A High Quality MF Towel Using Even Pressure.

I Then Cleaned The CD's With Dawn And Hot Water To Try And Rid The CD's Of Any Fillers.



Before The Dawn Wash, The Areas All Looked Pretty Good. But After The Fillers Washed Away, The Marring Showed Up.



ymmv
 
Wow, I would never believe from using HD-Cleanse for over three years that it's more abrasive than the 3M SMR - or even abrasive at all.



I'm still waiting to hear back from them....
 
Remember that commercial car washes, even coin ops, recycle their water. Its filtered but will still contain an ungodly amount of fine sediment, thats what you saw on your paint after it dried. Its a far cry from rinsing with clean water.
 
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