Water spots come back after wet-sanding! Argh!

**JayBee** · 11-11-2009, 03:23 PM

Hi there. Just my first post and already I'm asking for help! I have a 2010 Camry with beautiful Spruce Mica paint. Love the paint job and get compliments on it all the time. Only problem, I've got some heavy-duty water spots on my hood. Happened after I took it to the dealer to get detailed, had a day afterwards where the car was out in the sun, and BOOM! Permanent water spots on the hood. Washing didn't take them out.

So I take it to the dealer, and this great guy in the detail shop wet-sanded and buffed my hood for free, and it took out the spots. (I don't remember the grit he used, I think it was 3000).

The next wash I gave it (I wash and dry properly), I put on a coat of 3M showroom paste wax that the guy kindly gave me. It was what he had previously used on my car, I believe. This is the type of wax that causes water to bead, which I later find out contributes to water spots. I notice regular water spots forming very easily on my hood now, and I remove them as soon as I get a chance.

Only problem is, the old ones, the ones the guy removed for me? They're baaaack. They're not super-ugly, and I can live with it for a little, but when the sun gleams off of the hood you can really see 'em, and it kinda takes away from the "like new" look when I wash it.

I really wanna get rid of these damn things, and I'm ready to put some polishing compound or something on it. But if it's already been wet sanded, I doubt this will do the trick. Plus, I don't want to weaken the clearcoat on my hood too much (am I even close to doing that?) What's my next step?

Mike Phillips · 11-11-2009, 03:37 PM

Hi JayBee,

Since this is your first post,

Welcome to Autogeek Online!

What it means to remove swirls, scratches and water spots out of automotive clear coats

One of the most common problems people want to solve when it comes to improving the appearance of their car's finish is to remove swirls, scratches and water spot etchings out of their car's clear coat finish.

Below Photographs Courtesy of MeguiarsOnline.com

Swirls

Scratches

Water Spots

In order to remove any type of below surface defect out of a clear coat finish you need to carefully remove small amounts of paint surrounding the defect, (or defects), until the surface is uniformly level or flat. Of course some defects may be too deep to remove safely and in these situations you can often time improve the defect but not completely remove the defect.

In other words, in order to remove a scratch out of an automotive clear coat you must remove enough paint surrounding the scratch until the upper most portions of the surface are level with or equal to the lowest depths of the scratch or defect you're trying to remove.

Does that make sense?

The idea being, you don't really remove a scratch, you remove the paint surrounding a scratch.

The problem with removing below surface defects like swirls and scratches is whether or not you have enough film-build or paint thickness to safely remove the defect completely without going through the clear coat and exposing the basecoat also called color coat. Generally speaking, factory clear coats are thin so you need to be careful and take the cautious approach of using the least aggressive product to get the job done.

If you remove too much paint and expose the underlying color coat the only way to fix the problem is to have the affected area repainted. The color coat is usually dull as it gets its gloss from the clear layer of paint.

Mike Phillips · 11-11-2009, 03:47 PM

You nailed the bead of water on the head.

Water beading leads to water spotting but the problem is society loves water beading as it looks cool and that's the most popular way for people to judge protection even though water beading actually only proves surface tension, not protection ability.

It could be a product creates surface tension and will stop corrosive elements from penetrating the micron thin sacrificial barrier coating but it doesn't mean that conclusively.

Meguiar's used to put some of their focus on waxes/paint protectants that sheet water but after all these decades of trying to educate the public and the detailing industry that water beading is a bad thing, they finally gave up because if your wax doesn't bead water well or small tall and tight water beads then it gets bad reviews.

One thing to consider, if water getting on your car over and over again is going to be a problem, and especially if no one is going to be around to wipe the car dry, then removing water spots may be a mute point as the spots or more accurately, the etchings are just going to be re-instilled over and over again.

**JayBee** · 11-11-2009, 03:58 PM

Thanks for responding! Having someone around to wipe it won't be a problem: It's been raining a lot here, but I park in the shade at work and I'm always up before the sun. On the weekends, however, if I sleep in, it gets baked in the sun.

I did buy a car cover (AutoXpress), but found it more trouble than it was worth; When I take it off wet, I have nowhere to put it to dry except in my trunk, where it stays wet and smelly. Best way to wash it is to wipe it while applied and let it dry in the sun, or machine wash and hang dry (got no clothesline). Plus, it somehow got wet on the inside, which pretty much eliminated me wanting to use it, as it began to contribute to water spots! Frustrating! I went ahead and returned that thing.

I definitely plan on finding a good wax that sheets water and applying that next time I wax.

Mike Phillips · 11-11-2009, 04:47 PM

I haven't kept track of waxes that sheet for a while but maybe someone else will chime in.

I'm going to do a back-flip and a whole bunch of this

if I see the industry now reverse course and the enthusiasts market demands sheeting waxes after all these forum years of fussing about water beading...

Truth is any knowledgeable detailer or painter for that matter, will tell you that water beading isn't a good thing for paint.

Seriously, most waxes and paint sealants are going to create surface tension and you're going to get water beading.

If you didn't mind polishing often with a non-wax or non sealing product that could be an option for you.

**teamerickson** · 11-11-2009, 06:22 PM

Holly sheet! Any recomendations on a sealent or wax that is the sheet.

**Surfer** · 11-12-2009, 03:03 PM

I've never seen a product that just sheets water, all the sealants I've tried bead pretty much exactly like wax does, even the sealants that said they "sheet" water.

**mcpp66** · 11-12-2009, 03:18 PM

Ya know, when it comes to swirls and scratches it's too bad they don't make some sort of "clear-coat" filler that just fills in and hides the scratch so that you won't have to remove paint. Don't they make stuff like that for CDs and lenses?

**JayBee** · 11-12-2009, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by Surfer

I've never seen a product that just sheets water, all the sealants I've tried bead pretty much exactly like wax does, even the sealants that said they "sheet" water.

Guess I'll continue to use the 3M paste wax until it runs out, then. In the meantime I'll just run out and slick the beads off with my California Blade. Tomorrow's my sleep-in day, pfft.

How long, by the way, does it take for water spots to etch into paint? I wanna wash my car before I go see a friend but I'm thinking about holding off 'till tomorrow morning. I know the sun will get it a little bit before I get up.