Water spots...

Stopsign002

Stopsign002

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Ok, so I did what I normally do for a quick wash...

Wash
Dry
Wheels
Spray Wax

It is a VERY bright day so a lot of the water ended up drying on the car and it was covered in water spots. Normally I if this happens (though its never happened this bad to me before) I can just use the spray wax and they came right off during the waxing process. This time though, not so much. They are much less visible once I go over them with wax, but they really seem to be on there now. I have high amount of iron in the water where I live, but like I said, this has never been a problem before. For now I'm going to take it to the touchless car wash in town and clean it there to get the spots off asap, but wtf is going on/how should I go about getting them off?

Edit: I've read some places that if you use too much soap that can be a problem? Thoughts on that? I think I might have put a little more than normal in the wash bucket
 
Are you on a water softner ?

if so it my have been in by pass mode when you ran the water over the LS.

I'm in the country and I'm on a deep well, we run a water softner, anytime,
I feel like washing a car, I make sure I do it in the evenings after the heat
from the sun gets off the car.

Then I rinse it top down as a last step, followed with a quick Sham-Wow towel pass over the whole car.

... pull it into the garage and then buff with spray wax.

no spots !!!
 
just dont wash your car under sunlight, or wait until the sun comes down. When i have to wash my car on very bright days i wash it by parts, then i just wax it all to even it up. I've never had problems with too much soap, actually when it dries the marks and residues will come out with just a wet sponge and no water spots
 
Never wash your car in direct sunlight. If it cannot be avoided, use a rinseless wash like optimum no rinse. Great stuff. Check out YouTube for some reviews/how-to's.

I pretty much follow the same process as bigrig, though I use a waffle weave microfiber drying towel from showroomfx.

If the water spots won't come out, try chemical guys' water spot remover.
 
Wash in the shade. Just did mine at the quarter car wash, grabbed my buckets, wash mit. Water spots suck, I've been there, like many, all too often. The only reason I washed mine this week was because of water spots. You probably have one of the worst colors for them too. Mine gets pretty bad but of course black shows all.
 
LOL, yeah the joys of owning a black car ...

<sings>"Black cars look better in the shade!!"</sings>

I'm yellow pullen on Silver ... couple of days and I need to rinse it off.
 
PS:

Always, always, always, always, always ... wash a car top-down procedure.

start with a heavy rinse, work your way from the top to the bottom all around.

Never, never, never, NEVER, EVER wash a car with a mitten or brush on any lower
panels and then proceed to get all that sand and crap on some top panels.

Always work your way down ... get the dirt to rinse from the top down.

If your working out of a pale, rinse it plenty along with the mitten/brush.


<ponders> ... OK, fine f*ck it, I'm gonna wash my LS now (see what you went 'n did now ?)
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Yeah the sun was definitely the issue. I went to the touch less then waxed after that and all is good now. I'll have to figure out some way to find shade for washing or something. And yeah, top down every time. Unfortunately I noticed a few new scratches today. Damn unfortunate. My buddys Dad gave me a orbital polisher the other day so a good polish should come soon I'm thinking
 
Before you start polishing away, read up some tutorials and get a good compound.
 
StopSign, you washed you LS last on May 30th, 2012, around 4PM
remember the dude at DQ that you were turning on ? <ahem!>

please reconsider the orbital polisher ... real men use "elbow"

I'd stay away from anything orbital related, do not like them.
Swirl marks so easily when not done right.

~ just my 2c
 
Yeah, the orbital is only for the polishing since thats more of an 'industrial' type of thing. I dont think you can polish without a orbital. Not that I've read.
 
1.) Wash in the morning. No direct sunlight and its still cool out.

2.) Wash top to bottom. I prefer to wash in this order: roof, windows, rear decklid, hood, front, driverside/passengerside, rearend, wheels.

3.) Wheels and tires always last.

4.) Rinse.

5.) Shammy. Do the windows & Quick Detail with a microfiber cloth.

Yesterday morning, I washed all the cars. Did the LS last. Had water spots all over the reardeck. Re-washed the rearend to get rid of them.
 
Mine gets water spots cause of the f'ing sprinklers from the complex which are fed from the storm-water run-off pond. (!&%(#*$^(*%^&*&$

My detail guys make fun of me, they tell me that I shouldn't use sprinklers to wash the car.

Been thinking about going out there at 4am and capping them off below ground. Only 3 that are a problem.
 
LS4me said:
Too bad "elbow grease" won't remove light scratches and swirl marks.
Click to expand...


I said "real men" ... LOL

no, you'd be wetsanding 2000, compounding out at that point.

Mind ya, I've cleaned up some marks and light scratched with a good scratch
remover compound and polish using nothing but clean rags and "real" elbow.

actually no, now that I think of it, I used some Mothers compund and got light scratches out.

orbitals are only going to leave swirl marks all over a black car,
just mark my words here ... when not done right, it's going to hurt.


ps: ever heard of non-abrasive toothpast on windshield ?
 
Kumba said:
Mine gets water spots cause of the f'ing sprinklers from the complex which are fed from the storm-water run-off pond. (!&%(#*$^(*%^&*&$

My detail guys make fun of me, they tell me that I shouldn't use sprinklers to wash the car.

Been thinking about going out there at 4am and capping them off below ground. Only 3 that are a problem.
Click to expand...


I hear ya on this man. I have no control over the sprinklers in my neighborhood, and they hose my car every night.
 
Lol well now you got me all confused big rig. Thats exactly what I want to use the orbital for. Not for waxing or anything. That I always do by hand
 
Andrizzle said:
I hear ya on this man. I have no control over the sprinklers in my neighborhood, and they hose my car every night.
Click to expand...

I figured out a way to park so that only the rear drivers-side quarter gets hit instead of the whole car, but still a PITA!
 
Stopsign002 said:
Lol well now you got me all confused big rig. Thats exactly what I want to use the orbital for. Not for waxing or anything. That I always do by hand
Click to expand...

oh sorry, I'm not saying don't do it, just be sure to do it right or it's going to damage your paint and leave swirls all over your LS.

it's what the pros use, but have a look at all the correct steps before you begin.

like I said, if you don't know what you are doing and you just go at it half fast it's going to cause damage.

Buddy of mine was all upset when he borrowed an orbital polisher from someone and went to town on his black car. it looked like sh*t in the sun afterwards.

there are steps to doing it correctly.
in a nutshel you are basicly compounding the paint to a fine shine.


Orbital polishers are not for me,
I can see the warning lables on the boxes already.


this is what I use and I'm good with it.

- Meguiar's Scratch X
130-112-large.jpg


- Nu Finish "The once a year car polish"
7816100006.jpg


- Lucas Slickmist Speedwax
Lucas_Slick_Mist_Speed_Wax.jpg


... and I try as much as possible to get the girl next door to do my dirty work

saupload_car_polish.jpg

but she doesn't like the top down procedure much !

130-112-large.jpg


7816100006.jpg


Lucas_Slick_Mist_Speed_Wax.jpg


saupload_car_polish.jpg
 
the proper machine used right will usually do better than hand, but every machine can do major damage if not used right. if this will be your first time, practice a lot on some sh!tty cars (everybody knows a couple of people with just abused paint) or buy a cheap hood from a junk yard to learn the hang of it.
 
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