little problem here, lots of water spots

[maxima2k2]

this was my process of detail...
- wash
- dry
- color x
- mothers sealant and glaze
- final wax using meguiars gold glass wax

i have a problem...last night it rained a little and there was beads of water all over the car, when i went home this morning, the beads of water on the car dried and now there are TONS of water spots all over the car...im not exactly sure what caused this, could it be the meguiars gold glass wax? i've been using zymol up until now and never had the problem of dried water spots all over the car...help please

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

Did you try washing the spots off? Or are they etched into the paint? This time of year, there is a high level of dirt/dust content in the air which has landed on your paint. When mixed with water(rain), you are going to get water spots that usually wash off as their formation was held together by the dirt and have not etched the paint.

In your first post here:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11459

You said that you were trying to remove "water etchings and all the spiderweb swirls". So apparently you have already had water spot issues before using the Meguiar's products.

Etching type of water spots are created by the composition of your water. Ie. Acid Rain. It is not created nor prevented from a car detailing product of any brand. Acid rain is created from a high compositon of SO2 when mixed with H2O water vapor, you get H2SO4, Sulpheric Acid. Now, as this rain drop sits on the paint, the concentration of the acid in it is not that strong. But as the water begins to evapourate, the concentration of the acid increases causing the etching. You may live in an area where there is a high level of industrial pollution or pollution that is arriving in your area due to wind currents or the Jet Stream.

Here is some more info on water spots from Mike:

There are two basic kinds of water spots,

1) Above Surface Mineral Deposits
2) Below Surface Water Spot Etchings


Type I Water Spots

Type I Water Spots are what Meguiar's refers to as Above Surface Bonded Contaminants. A Type I water spot is some type of deposit, often times a mineral deposit that was in the water source, sitting on top of the surface.

If you have Type I water spots, you can use either a clay bar or a paint cleaner like ScratchX by hand. Clay bars are for removing above surface defects and will typically do a good job of remove Type I water spots/deposits from off the surface. Sometimes you may have to follow the claying process with a paint cleaner like ScratchX to completely remove all traces of where the mineral deposits attached to the finish.

Type I Water Spots






Type II Water Spots - Etchings below the surface
Type II Water Spots are what Meguiar's refers to as Below Surface Defects. A Type II Water Spot is actually an etching in the surface where whatever was in the water was strong enough in it's chemical composition to actually eat or dissolve the paint and thus etch into the paint.

If you Type II Water Spots, you can use a paint cleaner by hand such as ScratchX, or a machine applied product such as a compound, paint cleaner, or cleaner/polish to machine clean the finish, removing a small amount of paint in an effort to level, or smooth out the finish. The goal is to remove just enough paint to level the surface with the lowest depths of the defect.

Just to be clear, removing Type II Water Spots means removing paint. As such, you are limited as to how much paint you can remove. In some cases you may want to check with a seasoned professional for their advise before attempting to remove below surface defects like Type II Water Spots.


Type II Water Spots - Etchings below the surface


Close-up of same photo above


Click here to add your comments or ask questions about this article...

I hope that this helps!

Tim

[maxima2k2]

here are some pictures of the bird and water etchings on the hood: these are type 2, do you think scratch x will remove these, i already have the product bird and water etching 1 water etchings bird and water etchings

[Murr1525]

ScratchX is the only product by hand that will remove them. But you are going to kill your arms doing it.

Is there any hope of getting a G-100? Even that might take some work with that much etching, but still would be easier.

[Magic]

last night it rained a little and there was beads of water all over the car,
im not exactly sure what caused this, could it be the meguiars gold glass wax?
i've been using zymol up until now and never had the problem of dried water spots all over the car

That much damage didn't happen overnight, and GC Wax had nothing to do with it. That's looks like it's been on there a while, and maybe you just didn't notice it till now.

You can try it by hand, but like Murr stated your arms will hate you for it. When I 1st started detailing I actually did a SUV by hand, and water spots were on every panel. I took me 10 hours, plus I had 2 helpers wiping product off so that I could keep moving along. I couldn't lift my arms for a week after that. I got the G100, and will never go back to hand applied. I use #80 and what ever the #80 doesn't get out, I know I have to spot Scratch-X by hand. If it's a larger area I also use #83. By then the #80 or #83 and the G100 has done 80-90% of the work.

[maxima2k2]

Originally posted by Magic
That much damage didn't happen overnight, and GC Wax had nothing to do with it. That's looks like it's been on there a while, and maybe you just didn't notice it till now.

You can try it by hand, but like Murr stated your arms will hate you for it. When I 1st started detailing I actually did a SUV by hand, and water spots were on every panel. I took me 10 hours, plus I had 2 helpers wiping product off so that I could keep moving along. I couldn't lift my arms for a week after that. I got the G100, and will never go back to hand applied. I use #80 and what ever the #80 doesn't get out, I know I have to spot Scratch-X by hand. If it's a larger area I also use #83. By then the #80 or #83 and the G100 has done 80-90% of the work.

so your saying that the gc liquid wax didn't create all those water spots? not really sure about that because ever sinced i used zymol, there was NO dried water spot buildup after the rain dried on the hood. or could it be that the color x and mothers sealer and glaze brought out the true condition of my paint, thus showing all those dried water spots after a night rain shower? im going to try color x as my lsp because i want good protection as well from the rain and NOT creating the dried water spots. if all those water spots form again, then im just going to go back and use zymol. its alright to apply more than 2 coats of color x right? this will be my process this time...
-wash
-dry
-scratch x
-color x

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by maxima2k2
so your saying that the gc liquid wax didn't create all those water spots?

Gold Class wax doesn't contain any ingredients that would eat into or etch paint, it's a wax that creates gloss while adding protection.

Those water spots or etchings would have been caused by something corrosive with enough strength to eat past any wax and into the clear coat. If the rain in your area is strong enough to do this, then it's strong enough to eat past any protective wax coating.

Same goes for the bird dropping etching, the etching was caused by the bird dropping, not any wax.

[RamAirV1]

If that were my car, I would go straight to #83 with the G-100. The time the G-100 would save you is well worth the cost. A rotary would probably work better, but as of now I have no rotary skills.

In my experience #83 works best with severe water spot etching and you can use it with the G-100.

You could use ScratchX but it will take you forever to do it.

Bird droppings need to be removed as soon as possible to prevent etching. This is especially important in warm weather.

If a contaminant is strong enough to etch paint, there is no way that any wax will be able to withstand it!

RamAirV1

[maxima2k2]

tried scratch x on my hood today, did about four applications and massage it throughly until there was none left on the surface, but all the water and bird etchings are still there. looked like there was a small bit of improvement though. on some spots when i glide my fingers over it a couple of times, i can feel them, before, i couldn't at all.. anyways how many applications of scratch x need to be applied to fully damage the clear coat? since i still saw the bird and water etchings after the four applications i applied, i just gave up and added a final wax of color x, waiting about an hour to add a second layer. its ok to let color x dried to a haze completely before wiping it off right? because thats what i did