Water spots

[morgan996]

I have recently purchased a black 1999 Carrera. The paint is in great shape except on the bumpers, front and rear, which have water spots. Any suggestions on removing the water stains?

[Brian D. Barrett]

Are you sure they are just "water" spots, cause they should disappear with a good coat of wax. I know everyone has their peferences but I have used a hundred different cleaning products and everything from Mcguiars to Xymol. I have found that the "Mothers" three part system with a pre-wax cleaner followed by their sealer and carnuba wax gives a great shine. My car is midnight blue mettalic and it doesn't show any spots -same year as yours.

[Costa]

A good trick used by the Pros to remove water spots on paint is the use of some normal household Vinegar...

I'd probably try some slightly diluted first and see how it goes.

Water spots will not necessarily disappear with a wax coating. The spots normally occur due to water deposits actually etching (if left untreated for a while) into your paint finish.

Keeping your car waxed etc minimises water drying in pools on your paint surface which in turn minimises the spots.

Edited February 15, 2006 by ZX7R

[rattles]

Have a look at www,autopia-carcare.com then go to the section

Detailing How-To > Paint Polishing Clinic

They too suggest polishing and vinegar and give a step by step guide

[911turboz]

I have recently purchased a black 1999 Carrera. The paint is in great shape except on the bumpers, front and rear, which have water spots. Any suggestions on removing the water stains?

Try using white vinegar and a clean soft towel. This works great for both acid rain and/or water spots. Often black paint will "burn" in the calcium in water spots. This works great and virtually effortless and will not hurt the paint.

Regards

sb

[chance2001]

Sounds real fundamental, but make sure the waterspots are on the outside of the paint. I know, sounds strange, but my last 996 had water spots UNDER the clearcoat. Can you believe someone would reclearcoat without colorsanding. Potato heads. They weren't easy to see, but they were there. If they are on the outside, there is a great site that provides three different polishes, 1, 2 and 3. Each provides a different amount of abrassiveness to remove varying degrees of paint imperfections. Griotsgarage.com has this micro polish formula that as it is used, the molecules actually shrink into almost nothing. So when you start, it starts out abrassive and gradually becomes very fine. I've had tremendous success using this formula. As it turns out, my neighbor created the product and sold the formula to him. Too bad he didn't keep any. Give it a try you'll be very pleased. My neighbor uses it on his Ferarris and I've always used it on my cars (997, 745li, 996, E55's).

Edited February 17, 2006 by happy911

[contact781]

I have recently purchased a black 1999 Carrera. The paint is in great shape except on the bumpers, front and rear, which have water spots. Any suggestions on removing the water stains?

I'm told an old detail trick for that is vinigar which will remove the wather spots, however you will need to wax where the water spots were.

[contadino]

One thing you might want to try is 3M Clay-bar. It works great for removing water spots from paint and windows. The detailer at the local Mercedes dealer turned me onto this. He prefers 3M over the other brand (McGuires I think). GT Parts had it in my area.

You use a little piece of it with water or water/soap. If the surface is clean you can reuse it again. But if it picks up any grit or sand (or if you drop it on the ground) you have to throw it away.

Good luck

[Malms Founder]

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.