The more I read online and work on my car, the more I think I might have something wrong with my water source that I use to wash my car. I know, I'm crazy... but I just spent four hours polishing my car and am VERY disappointed with my results. Here was my process this afternoon. Please take a look.

- Rinse entire car, getting bad areas free of large pieces of dirt and grime.
- Split car into quarters, scrubbing with hot water and Meguires Gold Class soap with microfiber wash mit.
- Rinse each quarter immediately and thoroughly with open hose (sheeding action).
- Immediately put car in garage and towel dry thoroughly with terry cloth.
- With microfiber cloth, polish paint with Meguires Quik Shine.

Now, I just spent about four hours on the car doing this, 75% of which was in that last step polishing. I haven't even gotten to the interior yet!! Regardless, I still have water spots that I simply cannot polish out. Here are my questions:

1- Might there be something in my water? Hard water? (apt complex hose)
2- Am I using the right after-wash polish? (meguires quik shine)
3- Am I just not polishing hard enough?
4- Is it time to get the clay bar out and re-wax?
5- Am I missing a step in my process?

Here are some pics AFTER 4 hours of work today. You may want to sit down for this.









Thanks guys... I gotta stop typing my arm hurts.

 

Not washing in the Sun are you..???

get a test kit from a pool place and test your water.. that will tell you about the hard water problem or not...

let us know

Rex

 

the only thing i can say with confidance is stop
using the apartment complex water....it's pretty
obvious it has a high mineral content (hard water).
my water (at house) is also hard, but the water stains
don't show up as bad with yellow paint. good luck and i
hope someone can steer you to the products that can
disolve those deposits for you....

 

I just got a new Black GT and my first wash was like this too...although not as bad. However I am worried that it will come to this. I'm going clay bar next time.

 

Sorry to see & hear that. Sounds like there's a high calcium content in your local water, if your car is waxed under the staining, perhaps some dawn dish soap might help in stripping all the contaminants away. You should invest in a Mr. Clean wash kit, it has a filter in the head unit that purifies the water so that no spotting occurs and it drys without a need to wipe the vehicle down since spots are caused by impurities in the water source. Yeah, that sucks, black looks really nice, but every imperfection shows through. I traded in my black '05 GT because I couldn't take it anymore. I was constantly washing, wiping, polishing all the time. In fact my neighbor said(after I got my '06 Tungsten GT) that I washed my black car so much it turned grey! Best of luck with your poor car.[&o]

 

Your car is exhibiting the same symptoms I had on other vehicles I used to drive when I was stationed in Germany. The common thing between the water in germany and your's is what 05gt driver said...high calcium content. Unfortuntely, I never figured out how to get rid of the water marks like yours....[&o]

 

Do you wash your car in the hot sun? I found this will contribute to the spotting especially if you don't wipe the car down promptly. You might want to try the Mr. Clean Auto-Dry Washer.

 

I know everytime I wash my car in the carwash it leaves spots. Also you dont get it clean like you would if you did it by hand. The other day I washed it by hand in the driveway, the car looked very clean. I always love to throw a coat of wax on it after I wash it,except for the winter months. This way, I don't have to worry about water spots. I use the New Mothers Reflections Line- wax,tire car,leather care. I also bought Mothers Glass Cleaner, which works great.

The wax is so easy to work with. I out wax on half the car and then wait about 5 - 10 minutes and remove it with a microfiber towel. These things are the best. You can I can do my Stang in less than 30 minutes. It looks like a showroom shine. Mothers also sell a Reflections Top Coat for their Reflections Wax. They were out of it a few months ago when I bought this new stuff. It's suppose to give you a deeper wet look.

I would get the water tested. Maybe you can try testing different places in your area and see whats better to wash your car.


Hot water? I always use cold water.

Didn't hear about using cold water after getting you car painted. It hardens the paint. Well I would think it would be better.
Polishing shouldn't require effort.

Thats one reason why I stayed away from black. I bought a Torch Red 2005

 

You need to go over the car now with a good Cleaner Wax. Something like Meguiars Cleaner Wax, or Zymol Cleaner Wax, or Turtle Wax Scratch and Swirl Remover. I've had the same problem as you on a black GT. I've also used all 3 waxes. They all work well to remove the spots. The Turtle Wax is the easiest to remove, followed by the Meguiars, and then the Zymol. Also, don't wash in the sun or after the car has been sitting in the sun. The black paint attracts a lot of heat, and will bake the water spots quickly. Once you have a good coat of wax on the car, you shouldn't have as many problems.

 

IMO you DO need to use a good cleaner wax....but you will have the same problem again unless:

You towel it all off before anything dries (stay out of the sun!), or

you purify your water.

I started using the Mr. Clean kit a couple of years ago, and my problem is solved. Whenever I start to see spots again, I change the filter. 15-20 washes per $5 filter (though Mr. Clean suggests 10).

If you want a show car shine you still need to towel it off, but spots are not a problem, even on the glass.......

Oh.....and my days of owning black cars are long over. Had two of them, my '68 camaro and my '85 mustang GT; that's plenty. White or silver for me.