BlueBellThunder

Yesterday I gave my car a full detailing and when I was done I noticed some etched in water spots. I used to park it in the driveway and every morning it would get hit with the sprinklers. I've since been putting it in garage. When you look at it from about 5 feet away it looks fine but when you look up close at an angle you can see them. I've heard that either a clay bar or Bar Keepers Friend would remove them. I was wondering if the liquid version of Bar Keepers Friend would be safe on a cars paint. I've used it in the past for water spots on glass and it worked fine.

Thanks for all replys.

BigDinTexas

Bar Keepers is an abrasive (however mild) and is really great for getting stuff off your windshield, but I would NOT recommend using it on your paint. You could try the clay bar, but your success might be limited.

Do you have a variable speed random orbital polisher like the Portercable 7424XP? I have the Griot's Garage 6" RO. I think you may need one of these and some polishing compound to get those water spots out.

Don

09daytona

Sounds like you are gonna need to claybar. You could start with the mild and see how that goes. Meguiars makes an aggressive clay that you can use but then you are going to have to follow up with a swirl remover. Problem with sprinkler water is it usually contains high deposits and once the sun bakes away the water all those deposits are left to bond to the clearcoat.

moosestang

Try Meguiars cleaner wax. It removes everything.

stealth32

porter cable with meguiars 105 and 205 works wonders

BlueBellThunder

What is porter cable. Thanks

siggyfreud

Griots actually makes glass polish pads and compound for their 6 and 3 inch orbitals.

BigDinTexas

Yeah, I saw that recently... I've been itching to get them, but trying to justify the cost when I still have a whole container of the Bar Keepers Friend in the garage... LOL...

Don

05xrunner

So far this is the only advise that will actually remove them..Clay wont do anything at all if its etched. you need to polish the paint with a machine and compound to remove the etching..clay will only remove dried on water spots where the mineral deposits are ontop of the paint. you still need to caly the car before polish anyway so it would be needed. Clay will not solve the problem though if they are etched water spots.
Cleaner wax again wont remove paint defects. it only removes paint oxidation and maybe some very fine swirls but it wont do anything for etching either.

gothamems

^^^^100% AGREED^^^^