With only 450 miles on it I would try a clearcoat polishing compound and a buffer first rather than taking a chance on f....ng up the paint. Personally, if you bought it from a dealer with only 450 miles on it, I'd tell them to fix it.

 

The car was shipped from arizona. All and all its in great shape, at least all my car buddies say i got a good deal. It just could have been detailed better.

My next day off is this Thursday. I think im gonna take the used clay to the lower waterspotted extremities(rocker panel/door sill area, curves and contours of the rear bumper, etc).

If this doesnt work i may need to buy more aggressive clay as was mentioned above.

 

I have yet to see a dealer that can actually detail a car properly; you usually end up with what's know as DISO (dealer installed swirl option) brought about by a very hasty rotary buff job. On the rare occassion that I take a car to a dealer I always tell them to please NOT wash my car. The last time I did this the service manager looked at me, puzzled, and said "why not?" I replied "because I've seen your wash station and it scares me."

 

Well things are worse than i thought. Some of the watermarks ARE etched into the clearcoat. The bodyshop guy said it should be wet sanded with 3000 grit and then buffed, and that its hard to tell how deeply its etched until he starts on it.

 

If you trust him I'd let him try an area and see how it comes up. 3000 grit is pretty darn mild really and, in skilled hands, shouldn't give you any concern at all. The Alpine Electronics project I was involved in during the holidays involved us wetsanding with grits as course as 800 but nothing finer than 2500. Even the 2500 was very rare with the vast majority of the sanding being done with 1000 or 1500 grit. Yes, it was custom paint with more clean than a factory paint job, but your guy is talking about 3000 grit - I've seen it done plenty of times with no ill effects whatsover. Ask if he'll do a small area and let you have a look at the results. Even if he can only minimize the appearance by 80~90% you may be more than happy with that.

By the way, if you're at all interested in pictures of this Alpine project take a look HERE