Water Etching

M

mustanginky

New member
okay, my 2000 mustang has water etching. pretty bad too. here's what i've done to try and fix it: clay bar, no luck. vinegar bath, no luck. Ducky's Water Spot remover, helps a little bit. SSR 2.5 on an orange then SSR 1 on a white pad. i can make them less apparent, but they're still there.

Any way to make them disappear? thanks if anyone has some advice let me know.
 
Are you doing this by hand or machine? In either case you will most likely have to use a Polishing compound, and it may take more than one pass to get them removed but you can certainly remove them with a good polishing compound such as Optimum Compound or Menzerna Power Gloss compound, orange pad probably, try a white pad first. Good luck
 
Water etching needs to be cut down to the level they're at. You got the best results most likely with the SSR 2.5 because it was cutting down the clearcoat. You might want to try a harsher cut pad (yellow or PFW) and the SSR 2.5 a few more passes. Then refine the finish with milder cut combos to remove any marring from the cut and bring back the gloss.
 
IME the type of leveling that etching usually requires takes wetsanding or at least "rocks-in-a-bottle" types of compounds (which are almost always rotary-only). The wetsanding works by *far* the best.



Even stuff like M105 only does so-so on this type of problem. TH0001 has posted some good ideas on why this is (big abrasives vs. very sharp smaller ones).



My DenaliXL has been compounded to death (harsh products, twisted wool pads) in the course of removing all the other marring, and even after all that the etching on the horizontal surfaces is still just *awful*. OTOH I've knocked down other "leveling issues" on other vehicles with a little 2K sanding, no problem (well, no problem except thin clear that is). Sanding is just *different* from compounding/etc. and it really does "level" the paint more effectively.



But I don't remove much etching as I'd rather live with the imperfections than with very thin clear.
 
everyone always recommends an abrasive polish first...I'm different. I detailed my black pathfinder today and initially had some water etching. I used Klasse AIO by hand since I did a 3 stage polish 6 months ago. After claying and then the AIO I was able to remove the etching. This was after an IPA wipedown. Try this first, it will save you many steps/time if you paint is already in good shape. If this doesn't work THEN go to your polishing steps. Try clay 1st, then Klasse if you have it, then polish if needed.



Nuff said
 
mc01ta said:
everyone always recommends an abrasive polish first...I'm different. I detailed my black pathfinder today and initially had some water etching. I used Klasse AIO by hand since I did a 3 stage polish 6 months ago. After claying and then the AIO I was able to remove the etching. This was after an IPA wipedown. Try this first, it will save you many steps/time if you paint is already in good shape. If this doesn't work THEN go to your polishing steps. Try clay 1st, then Klasse if you have it, then polish if needed.



Nuff said
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you had water spots not etching...



and no one recommended polish first the op tried wash, clay, vinegar, water spot remover before he polished
 
mc01ta said:
everyone always recommends an abrasive polish first...I'm different. I detailed my black pathfinder today and initially had some water etching. I used Klasse AIO by hand since I did a 3 stage polish 6 months ago. After claying and then the AIO I was able to remove the etching. This was after an IPA wipedown. Try this first, it will save you many steps/time if you paint is already in good shape. If this doesn't work THEN go to your polishing steps. Try clay 1st, then Klasse if you have it, then polish if needed.



Nuff said
Click to expand...





Look out for BigJim. He will nail you every time. :)



As with many times before I am with Accumulator. You cannot always get caught up with removing the imperfections within a finish. Sometimes you have to weigh in the factor as to whether it is worth it or not. Recently I had water etching with a Mazda 6, which are famous for thin clear coats. After trying some very mild approaches, in the hopes that it was just 'water spots', I then had to deal with the reality that it was deep water etching that could not be removed completely. At that point it was a process of either polishing/wet sanding to bring up the clarity of the paint by removing RIDs and swirls without making the clear any thinner than it already is.



True it was not a flawless finish, but when weighing in the factors together you must always err on the side of giving your customers what best fits their needs.
 
sorry about my post. I got lazy and didn't read every post. Sometimes the processes or fixes people post are sometimes complicated/multi-stepped when sometimes less abrasive is the first step in trying. Nice catch there on me, sorry again. Just offering some advice using a least aggresive approach before making this a multi-stage poish recommendation.
 
i've had luck with green pads instead of orange pads for bad waterspots, etched in. i use menzerna IP then FPII on a white pad. great results like a mirror
 
mc01ta said:
sorry about my post. I got lazy and didn't read every post. Sometimes the processes or fixes people post are sometimes complicated/multi-stepped when sometimes less abrasive is the first step in trying. Nice catch there on me, sorry again. Just offering some advice using a least aggresive approach before making this a multi-stage poish recommendation.
Click to expand...



nothing to be sorry about



and yes least aggressive is always the best way to start
 
would the SSR 2.5 and the 1 not be aggressive enough? i like the way it makes the paint shine, but i sometimes wish it were a little bit more aggressive. I kinda wish i'd bought some Menzerna from what i've hears.
 
mustanginky said:
would the SSR 2.5 and the 1 not be aggressive enough? i like the way it makes the paint shine, but i sometimes wish it were a little bit more aggressive. I kinda wish i'd bought some Menzerna from what i've hears.
Click to expand...



what size pads are you using?





some 3.5" PFW & 4" foam pads are a major upgrade in power for the PC
 
I think polishing will only "round" off the etching on the waterspots. I recommend to wetsand, otherwise it will most like reappear.







John
 
mustanginky said:
they're large, can't remember if it's 6.5 or 7. how do they measure them anyways, the inside where the backing plate goes?
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they are measured by the over all size of the pad





IMO 6.5 is the upper limit of what you can use on the PC to remove defects

7" is just a waste of time



get some pads in the 3.5"- 5.5" range and you remove defects

a much faster and be happier with your results
 
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