Hard Water Spots...good God!

[OhThreeMach1]

Okay guys, I've got hard water spots FROM HELL! I swear and kid you not. In Southern California, about 3-4 years ago, they screwed up the water supply around here, where I live, and now there are chemicals, that used to only belong in pools in such quantities, floating around in our water!

Anyhow, the sprinklers have managed to tackle this car (yea, I HAVE to park it outside, no car cover!) and the spots, from the very FIRST day after they hit and dried, have never come off!

I've used regular meguiar's car wash to get it off, of course nothing happened. Then I used all of the following methods: Scratch X, Turtle Wax scratch remover, Meguiars Shine Polish, Meguiar's Gold Class Wax and a buffer/polisher to go along with it (machine, not by hand). NONE of this worked...

Then I used a 50/50 Vinegar+Water mix, re-washed and then waxed the car again. NOTHING worked. The only thing the Vinegar does is make me wish I had no sense of smell! haha

Anyways, guys I'm down to the last straw. Am I looking for a wet-sand to take this off, or something even more drastic? Please help! The spots make it look like the car is OP'ed all over, but it's the water spots! I hope to God it didn't damage the paint itself!

Thanks, in advance!

[OhThreeMach1]

Here's the shots of the spots:

[GRB60]

Ouch. If that doesn't get any better it's a real mess. I'd go to a professional detailer and see what they can do. I'm sure that something short of a wet sand will be able to do it.

[jbrad88]

Professional detailer should be able to get rid of that without too much trouble.

proper material and pads should work wonders...

I am thinking a waffle pad with 3m finesse-it II...

[AzureMach1auto]

They are hard to get out. I had it that bad yesterday. I work in Washington DC working midnights. Where I park on Constitution they turn on the sprinklers at night around 2:30am. I usually move my car after other parking becomes available but I thought it would not be a big deal since my car was dirty.

While I was on break a sprinkler head blew off and so this huge stream of water pounded my cars roof for 45 minutes. Fellow officers said it resembled a whales blow hole.

Anyway after it dried there were the worste white spots I have ever seen. I washed it as soon as I got home. After I dried it the spots were still there just as much. So I then used a chamoise to rub all the spots out. It was tough. But since I had recently waxed it I was able to get them out that way.

I would think you could get an ULTRA FINE compound and get that out with an orbital buffer.

[Marks04DSG]

Unless you have access to a shop or garage I would wait for weather to cooloff or you could make it worse. Have you claybarred it yet? I had some spots that weren't quite as bad but my pc didn't get them out completely but mothers claybar did. I used mothers spray detailer as the lub and I mean i soaked it until the clay was liquifying a small 2X2 area and just rubbed with microfiber after claying until it was smooth, went through 2 complete microfiber towels on just the decklid but it worked. try it on a small area and see.

[JDraper]

Polishing compound with a good orbital buffer should do the trick. My Mach (black) had a lot of crap in the finish that the claybar wouldn't take out, so I hit it with the compound and the buffer and it looks mucho better now.:ORANGE:

[Mach1Nut]

I agree with everyone. You should not have to wet-sand that.

I would start with a clay bar first, you probably will get most of it out with that, if not, then at least any contaminants will be removed before going to the next step. If they are still there, then get a dual action rotary buffer with some gentle swirl remover and see if that handles it.

[OhThreeMach1]

Okay, took into consideration a few things (like not being able to leave today, for one) and just tried another step with some Meguiar's wax. The WORSTE part of the car is the hood. Very much garbage (as you can see in the pix)...

I took a BUNCH of Meguiar's and parked the car in the back (where there's no sunlight and TONS of cool shade) and then began the work. Took about 1 hour to do the whole hood, with a few coats and the bare sponge, and, well, EVERYTHING came off of the passenger's side. I mean, EVERYTHING. Beautiful, red shine, like FIRE! Then you go to the driver's side, garbage, but with a shine...

NOW, here's the thing: Before, when I pulled my hands across, the spots made no feel or indication they were even there, like they were sunk into the coat/paint. Now, when I pull my hand across, you can feel them, each one of them. Like VERY BAD. It feels like if you drug your hands across a bunch of grainy sand spots, that bad. Since I can feel them, that must mean something can pull them up...I'm aiming towards a clay bar...sound good?

Thanks for all the help thus far and to come!

[mikeofwarr]

Don't laugh, but if you can find an Avon lady, try some Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil. It actually works great to remove tar and bugs, might work on water spots too!

[spinincube]

maybe clay bar...

[OhThreeMach1]

Whelp, here goes:

1.) Washed entire car with Meguiar's Gold Class car wash, top to bottom, in the shade, drying immediately.

2.) Bought 4 Meguiar's Clay Bar kits and applied one with the liquid kwik clean, whiping off immediately with the provided terry cloth, over the entire car...used 2 bars, ie: whole kit and the kit's kwik clean.

3.) Polished entire car using Meguiar's Car Polish Ultra Sheen Pre-Wax Conditioner, whiping excess with polishing cloth.

4.) Used Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax and buffed over the entire car using an applicator cloth, allowing it to dry (as indicated per the instructions).

5.) Applied small portions of more Gold Class liquid wax, this time using the polisher pad (as indicated per instructions), whiping excess with a clean polishing cloth.


Now, all of this hard work results in: hard water spots remain, but shine very well.

I can't believe even a clay bar would not remove these hard water spots! I'm sooooooo in trouble here...Will take pics tomorrow...

FYI: A lot of the car looks GREAT, but if you get up close, you can easily make out the spots. There are TONS of them, makes it look orange peeled very bad.

[Mark04Mach1]

Originally Posted by Mach1Marauder

Too bad you did all that work for nothing!
Take it to a pro or get a DA, pads and compounds!!!!

Yea most pros n body shops have the stuff to take care of that n more!

[OhThreeMach1]

Son of a gun...oh well, alright thanks for all the help, guys!

[G]

Originally Posted by OhThreeMach1

Whelp, here goes:

1.) Washed entire car with Meguiar's Gold Class car wash, top to bottom, in the shade, drying immediately.

2.) Bought 4 Meguiar's Clay Bar kits and applied one with the liquid kwik clean, whiping off immediately with the provided terry cloth, over the entire car...used 2 bars, ie: whole kit and the kit's kwik clean.

3.) Polished entire car using Meguiar's Car Polish Ultra Sheen Pre-Wax Conditioner, whiping excess with polishing cloth.

4.) Used Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax and buffed over the entire car using an applicator cloth, allowing it to dry (as indicated per the instructions).

5.) Applied small portions of more Gold Class liquid wax, this time using the polisher pad (as indicated per instructions), whiping excess with a clean polishing cloth.


Now, all of this hard work results in: hard water spots remain, but shine very well.

I can't believe even a clay bar would not remove these hard water spots! I'm sooooooo in trouble here...Will take pics tomorrow...

FYI: A lot of the car looks GREAT, but if you get up close, you can easily make out the spots. There are TONS of them, makes it look orange peeled very bad.

1 clay bar is plenty for a clean car and did you ever use any real polish????

Unless you've done it before I would stay away from polishers; have a pro show you how to use one. It's not hard to screw up a paint job if you don't know how to use one. You should be able to fix this by hand but it sounds like you need to use polish not wax. Use the wax only when you're happy with what the polish did.

[OhThreeMach1]

haha, I'm not quite sure what I HAVENT used, so I'm just gonna post the promised pix...I didn't really get too close with this, camera's sorta dull I guess...











Don't let it fool you, those spots are there...especially on the driver's side of the hood...ack!

[LNCHBOX]

My car has the same problems... I need tof ind a good detailer around here to fix it up.

[Marks04DSG]

They don't showup in those pictures, I know the sunlight has to be just right or use a blacklight. I've got some on my spoiler and decklid. Most cars that stay outside have them, you have to wipe dry with microfiber towel after every rain to avoid getting more.

[Stainboy]

A good clear coat safe paint cleaner (like 3M Finish Restorer, Zaino Fusion or Poorboys World) and a Porter Cable buffer will take 'em out. You can also do it by hand and get excellent results if you're not comfortable with a high-speed buffer, but be prepared for some serious exercise! I did my car by hand when I first bought it and followed up with Zaino. It took me two solid days of work, but my paint looked like a mirror when it was done.

1. Wash car with Dawn to remove all wax or polish.
2. Clay bar
3. Polish clear coat with paint cleaner
4. Apply several coats of Zaino or other polish of your choice. I use Zaino because it's easy and fast with good protection.

[birdman941]

I had some hard water marks on my Mach last week from the sprinkler.
I was going to clay bar the car to get rid of them, but God helped me out.
A severe thunderstorm washed the spots away.
Just washed the car and will clay bar this afternoon.
It's been a while..............

[OhThreeMach1]

Okay, read that this morning, went and bought the stuff, came home and did each step to the T...

Still got them and that's no joke...lol! Crazy *** hard water...

Anyways, my cousin took a look at it and he's a body shop guy; he said what I have is etched into the paint so bad that it won't come up without a sand and a buff...He looked at it and felt it and said that they were too baked in...

Originally Posted by Stainboy

A good clear coat safe paint cleaner (like 3M Finish Restorer, Zaino Fusion or Poorboys World) and a Porter Cable buffer will take 'em out. You can also do it by hand and get excellent results if you're not comfortable with a high-speed buffer, but be prepared for some serious exercise! I did my car by hand when I first bought it and followed up with Zaino. It took me two solid days of work, but my paint looked like a mirror when it was done.

1. Wash car with Dawn to remove all wax or polish.
2. Clay bar
3. Polish clear coat with paint cleaner
4. Apply several coats of Zaino or other polish of your choice. I use Zaino because it's easy and fast with good protection.

[mai-tai]

I think your car was a victim of acid rain. take any soft cloth soake in a mixture of baking soda and water on a hidden spot of your car(and away of the sun). leave it there for about one minute. Now, rub with your hands. Wash with water immediately.

[Stainboy]

Originally Posted by OhThreeMach1

Okay, read that this morning, went and bought the stuff, came home and did each step to the T...

Still got them and that's no joke...lol! Crazy *** hard water...

Sorry to hear that man. When you do find out the cause and get it taken care of, continue with those steps and you shouldn't have that problem anymore. A product like Zaino polish is layerable. I have six coats on my car and rain doesn't leave spots anymore.