Malms Founder

If you are good with a good orbital polisher, and U have nerves of steel, it is possible to polish scratches out of the plastic with the machine and a very fine polish. Keep moving the machine around. You don't want to get that plastic too hot from friction of the polishing pad. A local new Porsche dealer put loads of scratches in my plastic window and the machine helped. Some were too deep to attempt to remove.

There are mainly two reasons for water spots. 1. Tap water containing calcium or other minerals evaporating on paint and leaving a whitish residue. These are raised spots that can be felt with your fingers. They can usually be removed with white vinegar (actually clear). Just put the vinegar on a spot with a Q-Tip and lightly rub to dissolve the minerals creating the spot. 2. Acid rain spots.... these look like water spots but they are not raised on the paint surface. They are areas where the paint has been etched and they usually are very slight depressions. Most people cannot feel them when with their finger tips. The paint has been "thinned" where these spots occur. Polishing can reduce the edges of the spots and their harsh appearance. However, use caution. You would probably have to use a fairly coarse abrasive polish to remove these spots while also removing surrounding good paint. You may sacrifice 30-50% of the clear coat thickness in removing these spots. After all that work, another rain storm containing acid rain can cause the same damage again. It takes only a few hours of acidic rain to etch the paint. You may have to live with acid rain damage or take a chance at polishing right through the clear coat! Preventing Acid Rain Damage When driving by new car dealer's lots, have you noticed the white plastic film on the roof, trunk and hood of the new cars? That plastic film is put there to prevent paint damage such as acid rain. Unfortunately the film is removed before they sell the car. One light rain can be loaded with acid. It can etch little irregularly shaped marks in the paint. The marks may not be noticeable unless you are looking for them. Even when looking, you may not see them if the light is not just right. Try looking at the hood at a shallow angle. All paint colors can be damaged by acid rain. The damage is easier to spot on darker colors like, reds, blacks, blues, greens etc. How do you prevent acid rain damage? Don't let your car get rained on is the best bet. That is a little unreasonable. You can do something. Light rainfalls that last only a few minutes usually contain more acid rain than long, heavy rains. So be alert. If you find your car has be rained on you can test for Acid. This may sound a little crazy but it does work. Taste one of the rain drops resting on the car hood. You can do this by simply touching the tip of your tongue to it. Make sure nobody is around. They may think you are nuts! Or, if your finger is clean, touch the water droplet and then touch your finger to your tongue. If the rain drop contains acid, you will taste it. I can't accurately describe how it will taste but you will taste something if acid is present. Pure rain water should have no taste. If you do detect acid, either dry the horizontal surfaces of the car as quickly as possible or, if you have access to tap water, hose the car off. If you get the acid off soon after the rain stopped, you should have minimal or no damage at all.