My neighbor watered my car a few weeks ago, and naturally it left spots. The spots looked nasty, I was pretty sure he watered his yard with a sandblaster. Anyway, I did the obvious thing and washed it later that day. Well, a lot of the spots came off, but it still had the outline of a few on the hood. Similar to swirls, they aren't noticeable unless you look hard, but I see them. Again though, I figured they'd come off soon. Well, yesterday I clayed and waxed the whole thing. Still has spots!!!

Anybody ever had this problem before? If they didn't come off with the clay I don't know what will do it. Does anyone here know a good trick to get them off? I'm sure if I polished it with some ultimate compound it would come off, but that just seems like a lot of work for water spots.

Any ideas?

And no, I don't park close to his yard anymore.

 

Its hard water deposits from minerals. Try white vinegar (cooking kind) wont hurt and should get them off, just wet and then rinse after several minutes. Woody from the land of Luray Caverns c/o hard water.........

 

If Woody's trick doesn't work try some Wolfgangs Swirl and scratch remover. You can buy it online. My daughter's new Audi had watermarks on the hood. Tried clay and they didn't budge. The Wolfgangs got them right off. Great stuff.

 

Water spots run the gamut from super easy to remove (a little quick detailer and a microfiber) to darn near impossible. Mineral deposits left behind are only part of the story as this stuff can actually etch down into the paint. At that point clay no longer does a darn thing because clay only works on above surface, bonded contaminants.

You're spot on about Ultimate Compound taking them out - they are now below surface defects and that is exactly what UC is designed to do. The sooner you address this, the better. I've seen cases where nothing short of a rotary buffer with a wool pad and a very potent compound would do the trick.

 

I was afraid of that. I played with them again today (which under some better lighting was much worse than I thought before) and they wouldn't budge. Fortunately I can't really see any spots anywhere but the hood and roof. But I have a good light and I will make sure they aren't hiding anywhere else.

I normally look for excuses to pull out the polisher, but yesterday the thermometer pegged at 14,000 degrees I think, so it's a bit warm outside. But I'll stick a fan next to me and suck it up.

Such shiny paint and yet it looks so bad. But in a few days it'll look all shiny again.

 

Sounds like they have etched your clear coat.

 

Been there, done that, about to do it again ! The clear must be really soft on these cars. My wife's Benz (although silver, mine is black) has a nice tough clear that does a damn good job at resisting those water spots.

 

To the contrary - from a buffing perspective the clear on every Crossfire I've ever worked on has been insanely hard. There is a big difference between scratch sensitivity, etch sensitivity and the ability to correct these issues. Plus, you never know what's in the water, and that's the biggest issue when it comes to dealing with water spots. We recently had a guy bring a black Subaru STI to our place and it was covered in the worst water spotting I've ever seen. Turns out they use reclaimed water in the sprinkler system at his apartment complex, and that is some nasty shyte right there.

If you've got something as nasty in the water as that Subie owner has, I don't care what kind of paint you've got, it's going to etch. How hard or soft your paint is, from a buffing perspective, will have everything to do with how easily those water spots (or scratches, etc) can be removed.

The C6 Corvette is notorious for having both scratch sensitive AND rock hard paint. It's sort of the worst of both worlds - it's really easy to put a mark in the paint on those cars, but a bugger to remove it.

 

It was definitely bad water in his sprinkler system. It was the first time it had been used in a while, so everything had built up and sat there in the sprinkler system. I've had it hit before by other sprinklers, and plenty of times by rain, but nothing was like this. I've never seen water spots like that.

But, I got them. Broke out the DA polisher and the spots came right out. As an always nice side effect, the hood and roof look AWESOME now. Super clean reflection.

So it's all good now. A nice learning experience. All water is not created equal. Some of that stuff is bad, so stay out of all of it just to be safe.

Thanks everybody!

 

Some sprinkler and outside water systems around here use something called "potted water". Apparently it doesn't go through the same filtration and chemical process as drinking water because any outlet I've seen with it is clearly marked "Do Not Drink". Wonder if that's what you got hit with?
Glad you took care of it.

 

So true.

Glad you got it taken care of, Steve!

 

potted water can be anything...directly from a lake, or an old well...usually used to cool cutting devices you see alone the road, grinding up the pavement...or to water down the dust....
His car may have got blasted from an old well he was watering his yard with...it costs too much to use treated city water to water lawns around here, so many drill a small well for their sprinkler systems....or draw from the lake...don't want your car anywhere near them....

 

I cringe everytime I see that Meguairs commercial with the guy with the nice black street rod that pulls up to his girlfiriends house. he gets out of the car and hits it with some detail spray. By the time he gets back to the car the sprinkler is going full force all over the car. Now I'd make the young lady wait on the porch while I dried my car off..............................

 

Hmm interesting but I still don't agree hence the comparison to my wife's car.

 

msheredy - You and I have basically the same situation. I have a garphite Crossfire and my wife a silver (pewter) 04 Mercedes. When I wash her car almost no water spots can be seen because of the paint color, they are there just hard to see. My car on the other hand spots quickly if I don't get it dried off quickly. The only fix I know of is to wash in the shade or after the sun is out of the sky. Sometimes that's impossible. I always use my blower on both cars followed by a damp towel. With the amount of polish/Detail spray I have on both cars the water spots are minimal but they are there if the water is allowed to just dry on the car. There are water softener devices available that I am told eliminate water spotting but they are expensive. I'll stick with my Meguiars Gold Car Shampoo and my towels and blower.

 

Yes, but you're comparing black, which is notorious for showing everything, every minor little defect, and silver which is the total opposite - it hides everything!!

 

This is why I drink beer and avoid water.