Unforunately before I got my new Z it had been sitting in the dealer lot for about 5 months. (Salesman claimed black Z's don't sell well ) Anyway it had some bad waterspots which I assume are from rain. After 6 hours of detailing work with clay polish and wax there still are some etched water spots on the hood and roof as well as the windows. Does anyone have any tips for getting these off . I'm usually good with detailing but these persitent spots have me stumped.

 

check out www.autopia.org

check detailing site....it sounds like you might need to get more aggressive with the water spots....

 

Thanks.

I got most of them off there just a little bit left when you look at it in a certain light/angle.

 

First I would try white vinegar diluted 50% with water. You may have to keep it on for a while to give it time to eat the mineral deposits from the water spots away.

Second, try the clay bar again.

 

Yep dampen a rag with the vinegar/water and let it sit for a while.

 

Hmmm maybe Ill give the vinegar a try this weekend.


Thanks.


Its weird because I only see it when its in my garage. In the sun light or anywherelse I don't see them.

 

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but if those water spots were sitting on the car and the car was on a lot in the sun, then it's gonna be damn near impossible to remove the spots with over-the-counter methods.

Unless you're super skilled with clearcoat and paint treatments (how to use fine-cut polishes, etc), then you may be better off taking your baby in to a body shop and get an estimate.

I am being a naysayer because I purchased an 01 Formula with 20 miles on the odometer... but it had been sitting in the lot for a few months in the off-and-on rain and sun during a North Bay winter (I used to live in San Jose).

Those spots never came out. It didn't matter what I tried. Vinegar didn't do it (worth a shot tho). Zaino didn't do it. Butter didn't do it... Buying a bad-*** stereo didn't even help. So, keep your expectations low about home remedies so you aren't too disappointed. It isn't you...it's just something that is physically in the clearcoat now. Short of buffing off the clearcoat there may not be much more you can do.

Good luck man! If anything works for you let us know. The water is 1000x more metallic and dirty here in Dallas than in CA. Spots are a bad thing!

Cheers,
-Smoky

 

When did you purchase the Z? Why dont you take it to them and tell them it had water spots when you bought it?

 

Well its not really a huge deal its far from disasterous, like I said its not always visible. I've asked a few people and no one notices but me. The car still looks very shiny, infact I tried to take a picture of the spots but all I could get with the camera was a mirror reflection of my garages ceiling. I knew it had been sitting for a while before I bought it, but it was the only black Z availabe. I'll keep working on it I've seen worse and I was able to get it off over time. I just thought perhaps there might be some easy "cure all" method that I didn't know about. If I can't get rid of the psots I'll talk to the dealer, though I doubt they'll do much about it.

 

Its kind of visible here.
(click on thumbnail for a bigger picture)

 

If claybar and vinegar can't get the spots out, you will probably be able to get them out with a swirl mark remover (3M Swirl Mark Remover). You'll need a Random Orbital Polisher like the Porter Cable 7336 and some foam pads, etc. Unless you already have it, it's probably cheaper to take it to a shop and let them do it as SmokyTyrz suggested.

 

You can "cheat" and just do claybar and then use a good cleaner wax such as meguiars ColorX.

I did clay and the colorX 1-step wax (You have to work it in to the paint) and all the water spots on my girlfriend's civic (dark blue color) seemed to have disappeared.

She had ZERO wax on the paint. LOTS of water spots. Deep, ugly, horrid water spots. The clay picks up the above-surface contaminants, and the wax takex care of the below-surface contaminants. Unless you have severe pitting/etching, you won't see the water spots after you wax with this stuff.

A couple of bird crap spots were still visible, but only barely.



This is probably the fastest fix you can try. If it doesn't work for you, look into some dual action cleaner/polishes.

ColorX is a really good wax. If your car's paint is perfect, use Zaino or NXT. If it's less than perfect, use colorX.

 

Ok so heres an update I worked on it again this morning. The Vinegar didn't do anything, most likely because it was etching rather than mineral deposits at this point. So I started of with griots fine hand polish, followed by scratch X (which seemed to remove most of it) then NXT wax then griots carnuba wax the results were pretty good. The Spots are 100% gone on the roof and about 95% gone on the hood. So at this point I think its pretty good no ones ever going to notice the spots. Thanks for all the help guys.