Etched water spot removal

[maxniman]

I have some etched water spots on the horizontal surfaces of my car. I have used the Megs DA MF system which removed the swirls but not the spots. I then tried 105/205 with a Ht cyan/orange using a PCXP which removed some (~50%) but not all. My question – other than finding someone with a rotary or wet sanding - is there anything else I can try? The car is a C6 which has very hard CC. Thanks

[dsottum]

If the MF discs with 105 don't work, your next step up would be surbuf pads or wool. If that fails then I'd say going 1500 or 2000 grit wet sanding should remove the etching. However, I've never came across water spots that couldn't be removed via regular compounding.

[Mike Phillips]

It's a horrible problem.

So many times I see Vinegar recommended and if the water spots are actually mineral deposits on the surface then "sometimes" this will work.

If the spots are actually crater etchings in the paint, that is "whatever" was in the water was corrosive enough to EAT into and ETCH the paint then vinegar isn't going to do a thing.

If you have actual etchings, then the only way to remove the spots or crater etchings is to abrade the surface until the surfaces is level with the lowest depths of the crater etchings. This means removing some paint.

The deeper the crater etchings.. the more paint you have to remove.

The most important thing a person can do is to find out what caused the problem and then try to avoid it into the future because you cannot continue to compound a thin, hard factory finish as you'll go through the clear and expose the basecoat.

I point this out because I helped a guy once that got crater etchings from a sprinkler that went off at 4:00am every morning where he parks his car at a Condo and after he removed the spots he continued to park there.


Like dsottum suggested, you can try the Surbuf pads with the M105 and work a smaller area at one time so you remove more material.

IF that doesn't work then an aggressive wool pad on a rotary buffer with an aggressive compound will eventually remove enough material to level the surface.

I would try to avoid sanding unless you're going to do it or you know someone that knows how and is good at "dampsanding" using a very high quality sanding disc like the Meguiar's Unigrit sanding and finishing discs.

Keep in mind that it's easy to sand paint, that's putting scratches into the paint... the tricky part is getting them 100% out of the paint.


I feel for you...


:)

[maxniman]

It's a horrible problem.


Like dsottum suggested, you can try the Surbuf pads with the M105 and work a smaller area at one time so you remove more material.


:)


The cause = vette is black and my daily driver in Houston, sits on our parking lot all day while I'm at work. Gulf thunderstorms wash the contaminants out of the air and onto my car and minutes later the sun is back out and the temperature is headed back to 90's 100's, which heats and evaporates the beaded water drops. I have always had some type sealent on the car (nxt/ps21/zanio z5/cs) but I still have some damage after 3 years.

I will order some of the surbuf pads and try again:buffing:

Thanks Mike and dsottum

[Twister]

I had some bad etchings on the hood of my TA. I was able to get 99% out with SIP and an orange pad. I can still see a few but the light has to be at the perfect angle to see them.

With your car being black I can see how they would be more noticeable. Once you get the finish where you are happy with it maybe you should consider something like opti-coat to give you a little extra bearier to work with since it's your daily driver and water spots can't always be avoided

[A-train]

When i bought my truck It had etchings all over the hood, after several combinations i was finallly able to achieve a 95 percent etch free surface with surbuf pads and 3M rubbing compound.