Water spot removal by hand?

S

shadybreal

New member
Yesterday I took on the challenge of cleaning a black Ford F350 4 door diesel. It had terrible water spots, and I'm just getting started in full detailing and haven't purchased a Porter Cable yet. Is there any tricks I could use to remove them by hand? I washed, clayed, cleanered, and then protective waxed. It looks better, but not perfect like I wanted. Thanks!

Bradley
 
If they are etched water spots then you'll either have to try and polish them out or leave it. If the water spots aren't etched you can try wiping vinegar on a towel or using a chemical wash.
 
They must be etched because from a distance they car looked great, but once you got up close you could still seem them. Will a Porter Cable help get rid of them, and what process would any of you recommend?
 
Soak a towel in distilled vinagar, apply to spots, let sit a few minutes then scrub - repeat if needed.
 
If they are indeed etched, the spots have actually eaten through the clear coat. If you want to remove them completely you're going to have to get the clear coat to an even surface which would probably be removing a dangerous amount of clear coat which could result in CC failure later on down the road.

Try the vinegar if you get the truck again or another vehicle with spots. If that doesn't work then you can try to polish them out with the PC but don't expect them to come out easily if they are etched. Some resort to wetsanding some water spots but I think that's kind of extreme.

If you don't feel safe removing the spots completely then you could cover them up with a heavy glaze/carnauba.
 
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