imported_detailchick
New member
Thanks for the replies all! Well it's been a long and hard day's work but I removed the spots and the car now looks better than ever.. let's hope I can keep it that way.
Vinegar did nothing and the spots laughed at the clay bar. What did work was 3M rubbing compound with lots of rubbing followed by Megs ScratchX2.0 and more rubbing. The spots were very stubborn and well into the paint but eventually I got rid of them. By eventually I mean 6 hours of rubbing by hand and 2 hours with a rotary buffer that a neighbor kindly loaned me this afternoon. It all went slowly as I didn't want to take off more paint than necessary in the process. I took my time.
I followed with a polish and a thorough wax.
I suspect the old single stage paint is very porous and somehow the rain and what ever is in the rain is penetrating beneath the paint surface. I'm in Los Angeles and the rain isn't exactly pristine here but I believe ultimately this is due to the paint's unusual porosity and not the LA rain.
Interestingly the hood of the car was spotless and in polishing I discovered the hood, and only the hood, is clear coated. Must have been replaced at some point. So at least I don't have to worry about these spots on that part of the car![]()
I think that the wax from my detail 3 months ago had mostly worn away and was no longer offering enough protection. The car's my daily driver and lives outside so it's exposed to a lot. I wash the car by hand weekly and had been using Megs Ultimate Quik wax after each wash. It seems the Quik wax, applied weekly, isn't quite enough protection for the poor paint on this car. Or maybe I need to do a major wax with a heavy duty product more often than 3X a year? Maybe monthly or bi- monthly?
Glad you got the water spots out Jill!:thumbup:
Wax doesnt last more than 3 months ,your right. You should wax at least 4 times a year or even more depending on the climate .