How to avoid water spots? Where to wash car?

**Based** · 12-01-2015, 02:09 PM

Hey where do you guys wash your cars if you don't have a tent or a tree or any shade? I wash my grandmas car and every time it always leaves spots until it rains. I need to one step my miata and I don't want to have spots... I guess just wait until its below 70 outside?

**Evan.J** · 12-01-2015, 02:21 PM

Rineless wash will greatly help you. If you want to do a traditional wash then washing in the morning or in the evening will reduce the water spots

**mwoolfso** · 12-01-2015, 03:01 PM

First off, who says you cannot wash your vehicle in the sun? If these are new spots that appear on the vehicle then I suspect you may not be drying the vehicle well enough.

If the spots were already there you will likely need to do some polishing.

**pheerix** · 12-01-2015, 03:01 PM

Get a water filtering/deionizing system like CR Spotless

**Based** · 12-01-2015, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by mwoolfso

First off, who says you cannot wash your vehicle in the sun? If these are new spots that appear on the vehicle then I suspect you may not be drying the vehicle well enough.

If the spots were already there you will likely need to do some polishing.

They appear because it dries mid wash. And let me be clear... The spots are on the chrome trim and the glass. The car is white so I can't tell if they're there or not

**zmcgovern45** · 12-01-2015, 03:47 PM

Who says you can't wash when the sun is down?

Many people won't consider this, but I wash cars at night all of the time, and in the summer, it takes away a lot of the pressure of rushing to try to avoid water spotting.

Most people have flood lighting outside of their garage, flip them on, set up a work light for added light, and go to town.

I've also got a 2 part article on the Detailed Image Ask-A-Pro Blog about water spots and how to avoid them

**pheerix** · 12-01-2015, 03:49 PM

I do rinseless in the garage at night all the time.

**SYMAWD** · 12-01-2015, 04:09 PM

I just let the shampoo dry on the car then when I'm all done I rinse it off, spray the car down with detail spray, then dry. Never an issue. Obviously don't use a shampoo that you can't let dry on the surface.

**glfnaz** · 12-01-2015, 04:42 PM

I wash with a waterless wash. It comes as a concentrate and it is mixed with distilled water.
16oz makes about 6 gallons. It doesn't spot. Even if I do a conventional wash I still use the same product as a drying aid like a quick detailer product. Even if I wash in the sun, it doesn't waterspot.

Try Ultima waterless wash plus.

Ultima Waterless Wash Plus+ Concentrate, concentrated waterless auto wash, waterless car wash

For $18 you can get 6 gallons of detail spray. And, no spots. I buy a gallon of distilled water at the store, splash out 3 ounces on the driveway, then replace the 3 oz from the Ultima bottle. Shake it up and spray the car, and wipe. It's so easy it's seems like cheating.

**Desertnate** · 12-01-2015, 05:03 PM

I wash my cars in the sun all the time. Our neighborhood isn't old enough to have large trees. I do try and wash early in the morning or later in the after noon when the sun isn't as hot or direct.

For smaller cars, I just move rapidly and try to get done before things dry out completely. When doing our SUV, I'll only rinse/wash the panel right in front of me to keep having water dry on a panel between the first rinse and the actual washing. I'll even do the roof last as it's the most exposed/hottest area. It's probably not the "proper" way to wash a vehicle, but I've been able to cut down on water spotting.

Once I've flooded the surface as a final rinse, I'll use a QD, waterless wash, or spray wax as a drying aid. I've found this eliminates any water spots that may have formed while drying.