Advice needed!!!

[335iTurbo'd]

I have a Jet Black BMW that I have performed a total paint correction on. Done a three stage process M105--M205--SF4500 topped with blackfir wet diamonds sealant (2 coats 12 hours cure time between coats) then topped with a blackfire midnight sun paste wax. Car looked great!!! Drove to work and while at work it rained and then the sun came out and baked on the water spots. I also had a bird dropping on the roof that had etched into the clearcoat before I could get home to get it cleaned up. I had to polish it out with M205. I have tried everything I have outside of polishing the water spots out, do you have any advise? I am really surprised that the rain water left such bad water spots on the finish being it had three coats of protection on it. Please advise if there is something else I should use. I do not want to have to polish the car out every time it gets rained on.

Thanks for your help!!!

[rider9195]

Welcome to Autogeek Online! I am surprised that those water spots would not be removed. You can try vinegar or Duragloss makes a water spot remover.

Never have had this problem with midnight sun.

[335iTurbo'd]

I tried vinegar alcohol and CG water spot remover with no success.

[Mike Phillips]

I tried vinegar alcohol and CG water spot remover with no success.


I explain why Vinegar doesn't always work in this article,

Using Vinegar to remove water spots (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/52347-using-vinegar-remove-water-spots.html)



Most water spots are worse than just a deposit "on" the surface.

Most are either,


An imprint ring
A crater etching


Imprint rings are just a circle impression where the paint has been eaten away by whatever was in the water, when new they tend to be shallow and easily polished out. If not removed, every time water lands on the car, the water will continue to "pool" in the previous places it pooled causing the imprint rings to become deeper and deeper.

Crater etchings are where the entire area the water drop pooled is eaten or etched away. These tend to be deeper from the first time but if the paint is exposed to the same problem over and over again, (sprinkler going off), then these etchings will become deeper and deeper.


For either type of water spot, you will need to machine polish the paint and remove a little paint to level the surface and thus remove the spots.

No one ever likes hearing this and most people fall back on the "hope" that somehow some magical potion will remove the spots, like Vinegar. The problem is the spots are not "on" the paint but "in" the paint. The spots are voids where paint use to be but is now no longer there. You can't remove something that's not there.

Make sense?

Just goes to show there must be something corrosive in the water.


I have a few articles on this topic in my article list,



Water Spots

3 - Types of Water Spots - Type I, Type II and Type III (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/33499-3-types-water-spots-type-i-type-ii-type-iii.html)

How To Remove Sprinkler Water Spots (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/31000-how-remove-sprinkler-water-spots.html)

How to remove water spots by hand (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/29134-how-remove-water-spots-hand.html)

Tips for removing Type I Water Spots (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/36306-tips-removing-type-i-water-spots.html)



:xyxthumbs:

[Mike Phillips]

If the problem is coming from your well or city water supply, the cure is the CR Spotless Water Deionization Systems.

CR Spotless Water Deionization Systems (http://www.autogeek.net/cr-spotless-water-systems.html)


These really work well for filtering water to leave a spot free finish.


If the problem is something like rain? Then there must be a lot of air-borne pollution where you live being deposited onto your car's finish.


:)

[Mike Phillips]

Drove to work and while at work it rained and then the sun came out and baked on the water spots.


Ouch! I just wrote an article about the temperature black paint can reach in full sun,

Black Car Paint Temperature in Full Sun (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/51131-black-car-paint-temperature-full-sun.html)
(And a few other colors too)


Here's a black Corvette that's been parked here since 8:00am this morning...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1473/BlackPaintinFullSun003.jpg






I also had a bird dropping on the roof that had etched into the clearcoat before I could get home to get it cleaned up.


I have an article on that too...

How long does it take for a bird dropping to etch paint? (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/30535-how-long-does-take-bird-dropping-etch-paint.html)


Here's an excerpt...




A little story...
Here's a real-world example on how quickly a bird dropping can cause damage to a clear coat finish from my own first-hand experience. For the 2002 Bimmerfest (http://www.bimmerfest.com/), I did a side-by-side, before & after on this black 1991 e34 BMW M5 with the original basecoat/clearcoat paint.

Here's what the paint looked like at the Bimmerfest

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwbeforeandafter.jpg


Here it is on display at the Meguiar's booth at the 2002 Bimmerfest

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2BimmerFestBooth1a-med.jpg


At some point during the day the hood was down and I just wiped off the entire hood to remove any light, accumulated dust to make sure it looked clean as people kept coming over and inspecting the before and after results.

After wiping the hood down, someone asked me a question, I was standing by the drivers front tire with my back to the car facing the person and answering their questions.

We talked for less than 10 minutes, probably less than 5 minutes.

After talking to the person I turned around to look at the hood that I had just wiped down previously and lo and behold there was a fresh bird dropping on the polished and waxed side of the hood.

I quickly used a spray detailer and an microfiber polishing towel to remove the bird dropping. After removing the bird dropping I inspected the area where it had landed for any signs of etching. To my surprise, the bird dropping had started to etch the paint, there was a spot where the paint had a definite stain and imprint from the Uric Acid in the bird dropping.


Less than 10 minutes and probably less than 5 minutes!
Don't know what the bird had been eating but this opened my eyes as to how fast the acid in a bird dropping can cause damage to a car's finish. The time I spent answering a question for an attendee of the show wasn't very long... but it didn't take very long for the acid to go to work corroding the clear layer of paint.







I am really surprised that the rain water left such bad water spots on the finish being it had three coats of protection on it.



I answer this question in the above article also...




What's the best wax or paint sealant to protect against bird droppings?
This incident really drives home the point that on the topic of protection and that's ANYTHING corrosive enough to harm or etch a modern clear coat paint is strong enough and/or corrosive enough to eat through and obliterate any micron thin layer of wax or paint sealant from any company.

Think about it... the clear layer of paint is harder and thicker than the thin layer of whatever wax or paint sealant you apply, let dry and then wipe off your car's paint to protect it.




No easy answers. Compared to other countries, America is very pro-active in preventing pollution from entering our environment. Were not perfect but there are some countries that just dump pollution into any body of water or emit pollution directly into the air. We haven't exporter our EPA Bureaucracy enough oversees yet.

You could try a coating like Opti-Coat II, it's an actual coating that bonds to your paint.




Optimum Polymer Technologies


Optimum Polymer..."..." target="_blank">Optimum Polymer..."...





:)