New Black '12 GTI water spots re-appear after detailing

G

GoGTIgo

New member
Hi all, I had the car professionally detailed and upon my first water rinse and QD with Adams Detail spray, spots on basically front half of car (hood most prominent) came back in the form of jagged outlined water spots (etching).



When I took delivery of the car from the detailer, I had pointed out minor spotting on the headlight housings, grill, and part of the bumper, so he was aware. At the time I saw zero spots on the the hood. Car looked great.



Any extra help suggestion or methodology you be greatly appreciated, the car is less than a month old. I'll let the detailer post up, if he is on here, about specific methods he used if he chooses to. Is this even common on Black VW's? He has offered to make it right, so I'm not concerned about him flaking.



Here is the product list and procedure that was used:



Detail list:



- Wheels were prepped with Sonax Wheel Cleaner and cleaned up with various brushes

- Tires were spritzed down with Adam’s All Purpose Cleaner and washed down

- Wheel wells were cleaned up

- Washed with chemical guys Citrus Wash

- Wolf's Decon Gel

- Wash down and rinsed

- Door jambs were cleaned up

- Uber Clay Bar

- Dried

- Masking

- Paint Measurement

- Meguiars D300 - Microfiber DA Cut Pad - Griots Orbital

- Meguiars 205 - Uber Green Pad - Griots Orbital

- Wolfs Bodywrap - Uber Black Pad

- Inspection with Fenix, 3m Sun Gun, Infratech, and natural sunlight

- Wheel wells were cleaned and dressed

- Rubber and Plastics Treated

- Exterior windows and mirrors cleaned and sealed

- Exhaust tips cleaned





Engine

- Cleaned

- Dressed with 303 protectant











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Time 2 Shine said:
So your saying after you washed it for the first time after the detail or has it been several weeks/months?
Click to expand...



Sorry for lack of time line...



The car was detailed just over a week ago. This past weekend, I went to the coin op and did a water rinse, and immediately followed with Adams Quick detail and MF. I almost immediately noticed the spots.



I met with the detailer again tonight, and he sees the original water spots all over the car now. Front, back, sides etc. and is shocked. When we picked up the car neither I, nor the g/f, saw anything on the hood or the door panels. We did see some as stated, and he acknowledged those spots, which were close to areas where panels joined, and offered to order up another unknown gel product to correct those areas; which I was fine with.



I asked if said products (listed above) were "glaze" like in that it would hide issues and he stated, no. Upon reading about Quartz Reload and Wolf's Bodywrap, I would concur.



He has basically offered to redo the car with the same procedure and product, and/or goto a rotary, but only as a last step.



1) The car was bought new off the VW lot less than a month ago. According to the dealer (taken with a large grain of salt) the car was delivered to the lot on the day before, prepped and "polymer sealed" the same day. The next day supposedly was when we bought it, allowing "only" a days worth of sprinklers to hit it, and also the morning rinse-of-the-car crew that dealers have.



2) Everyone acknowledged the glaring white spots when purchased, dealer offered to pay for detail when we got back to California, we accepted. They also offered to quick detail, but knowing enough (from being an autopia member back in '04-ish I said no thanks).



3) The drive from Montana to San Diego was triple digits hot, put feelers out on Autopia and other forums for a detailer and it went in a week later. [Our car broke down/died (mini turbo failure) while we were visiting Yellowstone and had to either pay a $2000 1 way rental, or look for a new car there, we opted to buy VW)



4) If it requires a rotary, is that even a guarantee that the spots will be cut out? How thin of a clear coat will be left, will the clear then fail in 5 years due to being so thin...or do I have to ask the dealership for a new clear coat application, which most likely require some sort of lawyer to be involved-yuk.







I really don't have any ideas. I'm hoping with a combined 100+ years of pro detailing on this site, someone might have a some guidance.





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Recently took delivery of 12 Golf 2.5L in nonmetallic black. Dealer did not wash it as requested so the finish was swirl free, but they had removed the protective plastic and left it out in the hot sun with occasional rain for awhile. Hood and top had about a dozen larger water etchings and numerous smaller ones. I used advice from TOWGT's postings--placed a small piece of surgical gauze soaked with a 1 to 1 mix of white vinegar and distilled water on each large spot for 10-15 minutes then polished with HD Polish, then applied a coat of DG 601/105. That was about 2 weeks ago and none of them have reappeared.
 
I have never seen a product capable of "Filling in" water spot etch, the wash water at the coin wash is the culprit in this case more than likely.
 
Yeah, I agree with Auto about the coin wash being the problem mostly. I bought a Avalon about 2 years ago and use to take it to a touchless was, not drying or tampering with the paint afterwards because it will scratch the paint. However I wasn't happy with the shine and I will always have water spots on mirrors and the car. I was working a lot in those days and had no time to detail it or even wash it weekly, hence the touchless wash. When I finally slowed downed at work I realized the water had etched the clear. Soon after panicking and never visiting the wash again I got to work. Toyota paint is soft but not as soft as other paint. I thought of polishing as a last resort.... here's why. For some reason I thought it would come off with a single wash. Nope, the spots clearly damaged the clear. I had some Surf City Garage wash ans wax laying around and mixed 1 oz. ONR into the solution in the wash bucket. I washed the whole car ans payed attention to the spots that were in the side panels from driving off without drying. In about 4 washes in a 3 week period the spots were GONE. I thought the little wax in the wash was hiding them. So I washed it with hyper wash in a concentrated solution to strip off the protection. Low and behold, gone! I didn't even have to clay or polish... I don't know if it was a fluke or a miracle.
 
Are you sure that it's water etching and not just water spots? If you could post some pic's of these spots that would be great. If these are the same spots you had removed by a detailer and originally he used a DA as mentioned above (Griots) and when you picked up the vehicle it looked great and the spots were gone, I question why he would then tell you that he would use a rotary this time to fix the problem.
 
RaskyR1 said:
I'd also question whether it was from the coin wash.
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Even if the coin wash was that bad and he immediately followed up with a QD wipe down I just don't see him not being able to remove any left over water spots, but then again I haven't run into this delima personally.
 
Time 2 Shine said:
Even if the coin wash was that bad and he immediately followed up with a QD wipe down I just don't see him not being able to remove any left over water spots, but then again I haven't run into this delima personally.
Click to expand...



I've had water spots on a car minutes after washing that would not come off with a quick detailer (areas that continue to drip). A very mild polish removed them with ease though.
 
Time 2 Shine said:
Are you sure that it's water etching and not just water spots? If you could post some pic's of these spots that would be great. If these are the same spots you had removed by a detailer and originally he used a DA as mentioned above (Griots) and when you picked up the vehicle it looked great and the spots were gone, I question why he would then tell you that he would use a rotary this time to fix the problem.
Click to expand...



I'll gather some photos tonight. I'm not sure about the etching vs spotting to be honest.

I told him that I saw the spots after the coin op, wipe down with Adams QD, while he was taking a look at the car with a LED light. It did not seem like he thought the spots came from the rinse down. The spots look like a white outline of moss/fungi irregular shaped circles that we couldn't feel with our fingertips.



With regard to the rotary, he was more or less explaining about how if an aggressive polish with a d/a didn't work, he could try a gel treatment, then redo the process listed above, and as a last resort, maybe a rotary, but that gets into a lot of cutting which would not be good. Neither of us want want that to happen if at all possible.





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Time 2 Shine said:
Even if the coin wash was that bad and he immediately followed up with a QD wipe down I just don't see him not being able to remove any left over water spots, but then again I haven't run into this delima personally.
Click to expand...



I have purchased ONR and also OWW, I could try to wash the car using distilled water at the house, to see if I caused the spotting at the coin op? Or at least a panel. But I know for a fact that there were spots on the headlight housing after the detail, he acknowledged them, and said there was nothing he could do...the spots on the headlight housings are the same size, composition and "style" that are now on the hood again. I would think, correct me though, that a freshly waxed car would have very different spotting..





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Sounds like it's a bigger problem then you thought, and I'm surprised the detailer didn't notice it after stripping the car with CG Citrus Wash... a stage 1 polish will probably fix you right up, just sucks that he did all that work and now he's going to have to strip it all away again lol
 
Lot of work, seems that you are trying your best.

Now for getting some idea of what really may have created the issue, and I don't expect you to understand why I will ask these questions, but, they are important.

Look in the front driver's side door jam area and let me know the answer to these two questions.

1. What was the country of assembly?

2. What is the month and year of assembly?

3. How long after assembly was it before you purchased the vehicle? (month and year would be helpful)

4. What part of the country are you located in-like N.E., S.E, West Coast, etc.

May not mean a thing, but then again, may be a clue or two of what is creating your concerns.

Grumpy
 
Auto Concierge said:
I have never seen a product capable of "Filling in" water spot etch, the wash water at the coin wash is the culprit in this case more than likely.
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I agree, one time I used the wax option on the coin wash, didn't dry off properly/spotless rinse and drove straight into a +30 day in my black Mr2. Needless to say after a couple of minutes I had water spots everywhere where the spray wax beaded.



If I were you i'd wash your car again at a coin wash and use the spotless rinse option, see if that makes a difference.
 
The following are current photos, of which the detailer and I both saw.



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632669f6-9da2-efa1.jpg




I do agree that the car needs to be properly re-washed, that way one variable is taken out of this equation.





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Ron Ketcham said:
Lot of work, seems that you are trying your best.

Now for getting some idea of what really may have created the issue, and I don't expect you to understand why I will ask these questions, but, they are important.

Look in the front driver's side door jam area and let me know the answer to these two questions.

1. What was the country of assembly?

2. What is the month and year of assembly?

3. How long after assembly was it before you purchased the vehicle? (month and year would be helpful)

4. What part of the country are you located in-like N.E., S.E, West Coast, etc.

May not mean a thing, but then again, may be a clue or two of what is creating your concerns.

Grumpy
Click to expand...





1. Germany.

2. April, 2012

3. Purchase was mid July, so less than a month.

4. Purchased from dealership in Montana, car was driven right after purchase to San Diego. Yes, the drive had 3 days worth of 100+ temps.

A. Port of Entry was Houston.





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Astro_ng said:
I agree, one time I used the wax option on the coin wash, didn't dry off properly/spotless rinse and drove straight into a +30 day in my black Mr2. Needless to say after a couple of minutes I had water spots everywhere where the spray wax beaded.



If I were you i'd wash your car again at a coin wash and use the spotless rinse option, see if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...



I can do that, in the am/pm cooler weather, and will bring along the freshly mixed ONR quick detailer, AND the Adams Detail Spray and fresh new plushy MF's.





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Here is what the car looked like after the trip. One note, I did have to pull over on the first day of the trip down because of a massive rainstorm, then the rest of the three days were 100 degrees.



632669f6-a982-1508.jpg




Then the car got tinted, before the detailer got it, but I didn't want to wash it for fear of makings things worse was more original intention



632669f6-a9f0-402f.jpg


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