Terrible Water Spots - Vinegar didn't stand a chance

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imported_Intermezzo

New member
Hello,



It's been a while since I posted here but I've run into a problem I could use some help on. I recently purchased a 1989 Saab 900 S from a nice old lady who took very good care of the car. However, for the past few months, she left the car outside and it got hit by sprinklers daily. So while the car is in good condition overall, there are several months worth of baked in water spots (black paint).



Here's a photo of what the car looked like initially:



p1045752576-4.jpg




Several vinegar baths later, the water-spots hardly budged. I tried compounding them with a 4" spot-correction cutting pad and Meguiar's Scratch-X as well as Zaino ZPC on my PC. This eliminated the spots on some parts of the car (the bonnet), but they are still there for the most part on the side panels...albeit much less visible.



There are also water spots on the rims which I tried to remove using the Mothers powerball along with Mothers Metal Polish. Hardly put a dent in them.



What's the next step? Should I just step up the level of abrasiveness? The car has SS paint. From far away, the car looks spectacular. But once you get closer, the ugly water spots become visible. What products would you recommend? Also, I would highly prefer using OTC products. Would Meguiar's Medium Cut cleaner be a good next step to try? Or 3M Finesse it-II?



Thanks!



Current photo after polishing. Project is far from finished though....



p969685993-4.jpg






Looks good below...but water spots are still there.



p747411425-4.jpg
 
Water spotting that bad may require repeat applications of an acid decon kit (either FK1usa or Auto Int) and you may still need to do some heavy polishing, too. Good luck...
 
Using a good decon kit (like Finish Kare 1's) would make sure that the actual mineral deposits are gone, but so would a good abrasive polish. More than likely, you're seeing etching caused by the water spots; the minerals themselves are probably gone. Hard water etching can be worse than bird poop. You just might not be able to get it removed without compromising the thickness of the clear coat.



There's more than one way to go about this, but if it were my car, I'd:



Very carefully use FK1's decon kit.



Clay it with some very agressive clay



Evaluate what is left on the car, and polish accordingly.



Access to a paint thickness gauge would really help out for this one.
 
That's a nice looking Saab. I used to have one of those, great cars. The water spots should polish out pretty easily, you'll probably want to start off with a wool cutting pad and some Menzerna Powergloss. Work your way down to SIP and Nanopolish. The only difficult part on that car is getting in all the nooks and crannies, around the emblems and such. You might need to do a little polishing by hand. A random orbital like a Cyclo doesn't cut nearly as well as a traditional rotary polisher, but will do a nice job of getting into tight corners. I also highly recommend you tape off the rubber molding on the side of the car before polishing. Good luck.







John
 
Thanks for all the responses!



The car has single stage paint and I gotta tell you, I've NEVER had swirls get polished out so easily. I used to think owning a black car automatically meant having a few swirls visible here and there, but with SS paint, I dare say that a swirl-free finish might actually be possible!



I've really been getting into Saabs lately. This is the 2nd one I purchased in the last few months. It's unfortunate they're under the leadership of a company that's more interested in developing its other brands, but the cars still have a lot of character left. And the classic 900's...wow, when I test drove one for the first time a little while back, I just knew I had to get my hands on one.



Thanks again for all the help.
 
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