water marks

[ErickTreetops]

My new car is about 8 weeks old.

When it was 1 week old I had it professionally opticoated.

The effect was brilliant.

Two weeks ago I took it on its first major drive. An interstate trip of about 1600km (1000 miles)

On the return trip I travelled through some wet weather condions. The rain and spray from other cars meant that the car was quite dirty for the first time.

When I cleaned it the next day I notice water spots remained on the bonnet (hood) and left fender.

A second third and forth was had no effect.

 

I contacted the supplier who suggested vinegar but it made little difference. He then suggested macguiars bug and tar remover. And said if I didn't remove them soon they would be impossible to shift.

I got up and cleaned it from 5am tilll 6:30am. About 5 times before to my untrained eye the spots had faded.

 

So how does this work ? I can't do this every time I drive in the rain. Its impractical.

 

The wonder product isn't quite as wonderful as I once though. There are birds and bats and insects where I live. If water can do that how will these damage my paint?

 

Is there nothing I can do that is effective and practical ?

 

Erick

[EricHaley]

About a month after coating my car, I inadvertently left it parked on the street overnight where it ended up getting watered along with the grass. The sprinklers are fed with well water that has a very high calcium concentration. Needless to say, I had a ton of water spots all over the car, many of which were type 2 water spots (they left an outer ring etched into the finish). While vinegar did take care of most of them, I ended up having to lightly polish out the type 2 spots using Menzerna FF3000 on a green CCS pad (Optimum Finish Polish and Menzerna SF4000 were only mildly effective after a couple passes). Though, I will say that when I was done, the coating looked better than ever! Afterwards, I applied CarPro Reload, and I was absolutely blown away by the gloss!

 

The water spots had nothing to do with the Opti-Coat. Parts of my car that had not yet been coated were worse than the areas that had been coated. I don't think any coating is going to completely eliminate water spots. What I would suggest is to apply something like Reload to add more slickness to the surface and to act as a sacrificial barrier.

[ErickTreetops]

Thank you for the reply. I'm not sure if those products are available in Australia but will search for them. In regard to Carpro Reload i was told that the opti-coat would reject any polish and wouldn't stick. I also don't have a polisher and would hesitant about usng anything but my hands on the paint finish.

 

The Bug and Tar from Macguiars worked eventually but i believe opti has a similar product which maybe more affective. I am wondering what the lead time is after the water marks go in before they need to be fixed. Usually i would not have time or daylight until the weekend to do it. I hope that this delay wouldn't be too late to remove them.

[Ron@Optimum]

water spots will not etch Opti-Coat, but rather are mineral residue left when the water evaporated. Light residue may come off with vinegar but heavier remains can be removed by hand with a light polish (Poli-Seal, GPS) and you will have a great shine.