My SRT has some serious watermarks on the spoiler and hood. I tried everything so far including the ol white vinegar trick. Any other advice to get those out? BTW the car is black.

 

i would opted for 3M imperial hand glaze. this would be the first step.

available at napa.

autogeek_1934_52838371.jpg

 

I'd suggest clay barring the car. Then here's what I'd do, (I had two black PT Cruiser's) wash only in the early hours or after the sun is out of the sky or in the shade, never wash in direct sunlight. Immediately dry the car with a 100% cotton towel. I always used my leaf blower to get the excess water off the car first. This alone will eliminate most of your water spotting and streaking. I also use a detailing spray after drying the car.
The problem is there are a lot of chemicals in tap water. The sunlight dries and hardens them on your finish if you don't dry the car off. I'd also suggest you get a good carwash soap, always use a clean bucket and make sure you regularly polish/wax your car. There are a ton of excellent products out there.
Mothers, Zaino, Meguiars.
Good luck and check out the detailing section, lots of good advise there.

Pat

 

I actually bought the complete Zaino kit claybar and all. I went through the whole process yesterday with no luck on the watermarks.

 

Depending on how large of an area I have a trick that worked for us. I found this out on my dads black SRT-6. His had some bad spotting, almost etching everywhere on his car. On the chrome emblem I used Mothers Chrome polish, worked great. After hand rubbing Finesse It by 3M, it got 90% off the paint. Sooo, I used a very little bit of the Chrome polish on a CLEAN damp micro-fiber towel on the paint, worked great. I would not pour a bunch on your roof and go to it. But on small detail areas it worked great. After that Please use Zymol auto polish. If you follow the directions on the bottle, (Its a pain) I've never ever used anything that works as well.

 

My black SRT took multiple passes to get rid of the swirls and water spots.

Used a Porter Cable 7424 orbital.
Used Griot's Garagce Machine Polish 2 with orange pad.
Sonus Swirl Buster with Sonus Swirlbuster pad.

Then topped it with Maguiar's NXT applied with fine black pad.
Sonus Acrylic Glanz sealer (rebranded Klasse product).

You can get some great tips from www.autopia-carcare.com

 

I'd recommend a fine compound or paint cleaner to cut into the clear a bit to remove the water spots if nothing has worked yet. If you aren't familiar with how to use the products, I'd have a pro take care of the areas that are affected. It is tough to get swirls out of black if you get them in their really bad.

It is likely acid rain or something harsh in the water that sat on the car before you bought it. Bird crap will do the same thing.

When I worked at a local body shop, we had to re-paint a lot of brand new cars due to Bird crap, rail dust (from train transport), or acid rain. Some of it would cut all the way down to the etching primer. These were Ford products that were built less than 2 months prior, and the paint was eaten away that quickly. Pretty amazing. I will give them credit though - Ford did disclose the info and discounted them nicely.

 

Sounds to me like those spots/stains have etched themselves into the clear coat. Buffing sounds like your only fix. If you are not confident doing it yourself have a professional detailing shop do it. Very easy to burn through the clear coat if you don't know what you are doing. Once it gets clean, my suggestions work. Todk64 mentioned the Mother's Chrome Polish...good stuff just might help. I've used it on other things and the stuff is amazing. Don't know how it will work on your water spots.

Pat

 

SRT6 & Patpur are right...Porter Cable 7424 if you do not own one it i ell worth the expense. They only difference in my regiment is that I use Meguiars Final Inspection after I wash. Do not be afraid of the buffer it is easy to use just follow the instructions and use QUALITY products and you will be fine. Also Autopia and Autogeek are great sites with ton of info and advise.

http://www.autopia.org/

http://www.autogeek.net/po.html

4-1.jpg

12-1.jpg

 

I had a similar problem on the hood. I let the sprinklers get the car wet and the sun dried the water and because the water is has a lot of sulfur in it, it created noticeable spots. Even to the point that you could take your finger nail across the paint and feel the where the water had dried.

I would take Andrews advice. I ended up using the buffer. The one thing that probably saved me from sanding or repainting was that I or daughter had consistently waxed the car regularly.

 

Your car looks beautiful CrossfireLTD...

Just one question...what are those UGLY stickers on your window?

 

Can't emphasize this enough, once you get the spots out only wash it in the shade or before or after the sun is out of the sky, that will make a huge difference as well as an afterwash detail spray of your choice. MAKE SURE YOU RINSE YOUR BUCKET TO GET RID OF ANY DIRT FROM THE LAST WASH.

Pat

 

After I wash, I quickly use a Jelly blade to remove any excess water and then I use my leaf vac/blower (in the blower mode) to take care of the rest of the water. It really helps getting the water out of the mirrors, door handles, side fins, headlights, and the rear wing. Just make sure there is no crud up in the blower before you aim it at you crossfire. Any other car...(like the solstice) don't bother checking. In fact what are you even washing a solstice for? Wait a minute...what was I saying? Yeah, I love crossfires!