What Are Water Spots?

They are those little irregularly circular shapes that appear after water has dried of the car’s surface. They can range from barely visible to extremely visible as if painted on the car. They occur when water beads evaporate from the surface of the car leaving hard minerals on the paint’s surface.

Water spot removal can be very difficult if not impossible without the right tools. Furthermore the severity of the problem can depend on how hard or soft the water is that caused it. In milder cases a gentle wipe while shampooing a car can remove it. In very bad cases only a car care product with abrasive polishing properties can remove them.

What Water Sports Can Do to a Car’s Paint

Water spots can attach to a car’s paint. A bonding process can happen between the trace elements and the paint of your car if the water spot is allowed to stay on. Exposure to the heat of the sun accelerates this bonding process.

If left for more than a few days time with the sun scorching on the paint, water spots will begin etching the paint. This will make it a fixture on your car’s surface which can be very ugly.

How to Avoid Getting Them

Although it can be hassle the best way to prevent this stains is to make sure your car is always dry. As soon as it gets wet from the rain try to park it somewhere dry and begin washing it. If you are in a hurry a detailing spray and a microfiber cloth to wipe it with can save your car finish. It is much better to spend 5 minutes to get out water beads as soon as they form rather than spend hours later on polishing it off or worse shell out hundreds of dollars to have it removed from a detailing shop.

Water spots are probably one of the worst paint problems you can encounter with your car. If you allow it to set in and bake under the heat of the sun it will be very difficult to remove. Taking time to wipe off any excess water of your car is the best way of preventing them from happening.

By: M. Maxx

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Ever find yourself after you have just washed your car, wondering what happened to the paint job you remember it having when you first bought it? Cars, like faces, become corroded with environmental things and need the extra pampering every now and then. There are many ways to restore the paint on your car. The one I recommend is using clay bar system. It has been used by car care product companies for about a decade but only hit consumer markets approximately 5 years ago. While it does remove contaminants from your car, it does not take the place of scratch removal, polishing or color sanding.

Depending on the age of your car and how contaminated it is will prove to be how long the clay bar system will take. If it is a newer car that you are restoring the paint on, it may take only a few hours. If you are working on restoring an older car, it could take several hours and possibly even a day or so to complete. The older the car paint and oxidation of the paint, the more contaminants it will have on it to be removed.

You must begin, of course, with washing and waxing your car. Make sure to use a cleaner that has been formulated automotive finishes. When these are completed, you will begin the refinishing. With the clay bar system, you receive the bar along with lubricant. Begin by putting some lubricant on about a two or three foot portion of the vehicle. Do not use water in place of the lubricant as it cannot protect against paint damage. Continue by rubbing the clay bar over the section with light pressure.

Go back and forth over the lubricated section making sure to overlap each stroke as you go. It may sound rough at first as it begins to remove the contaminants but as you continue, it will get smoother. If necessary, reapply the lubricant as the area needs to be saturated as you rub with the clay bar.

Your horizontal areas will take more time as they collect the largest amounts of the contaminants. When you have finished using the clay bar on an area, be sure to dry the area with a clean, soft terry cloth. Now that you have finished removing the contaminants and making your paint take on that soft-to-the-touch feel, you must apply a protective coat of sealer of wax. Some kits include their own preferred wax but you can use whatever product you prefer.

Spray texture is a way to help protect your vehicle from the contaminants that attach themselves and create that rough feel. It’s a sealer that is most often used on the high contaminant problem areas such as the hood, fenders and bumper. It protects against bugs, rocks, weather and everyday road debris. It is not something quite as easy as the clay bar system. The sealer has to be prepared and used in such a way that it blends in with your paint. There is a special gun to be used with it and you should practice with the sealer on other surfaces before you take it to your vehicle. It must be done just right in order to adhere properly to the vehicle as well as flow seamlessly with your paint giving you the perfect finish you desire.

By: Mario Goldstein

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It isn’t the tools that are used in a job that make it good or bad, it’s the person using those tools, the technician who makes the difference. In car polishing a good technician can make that finish look better than when you bought the car, and you wouldn’t think twice about how they could do that, but in this short article, I will go over some points that technicians know, or should know.

The main problems when it comes to auto finishing are things like paint runs, sags, dirt nibs and just plain old polishing in general. To start with, make sure that the finish is dry in accordance with the information from the product sheet as failure to do this could damage the finish, making the whole job very costly.

The Proper Way to Polish:
When using a polish, make sure it is specifically or can be used for urethane finishes and not lacquer finishes. When sanding, make sure that you use the finer 1000grit paper, as course grit sandpaper can ruin a finish.

The polisher speed should be set at 1200 – 1700 rpm’s to ensure the best result. It is also very important to make sure that you are using the right type of pad before you start. To know what the best pad types, always check the product data sheets and they’ll steer you in the right direction, remember, if in doubt, check the sheet.

On the blend edges when you are, polishing be sure to work away from the edge
and never directly into it. The most recommended method for a blend edge is to hand glaze rather than machine polish. When you have to hand glaze, always a cloth that is not rough and make sure it is clean for both the application and when taking the glaze off.

Getting Rid Of Imperfections:
As with polishing, always check with the right manufacturers product data sheet before sanding, or polishing, this will give you the recommended dry times before polishing. Always make sure that before you begin any work on the surface that you take off debris and material. If this isn’t done, the results will be costly and catastrophic.

It is so important that the proper prep work be done so that the surface is: Free of imperfections like dirt nibs. You can use 1500 or better grit for wet sanding to get rid of these. To make sure there are no more imperfections on the surface, sand the surface with a block sander, not necessarily the entire surface, spot sanding will do.

The Last Step:
Use the polisher lightly to eliminate sand scratches using the right liquid polish. When using the polisher, set it to 1200 – 1700 rpm and use a wool pad first. Next, you will need to use a foam pad. Finally, you need a non- abrasive glaze.

Always remember that if you are in doubt about what to use or how to do it, consult the manufacturer’s list of instruction and information data sheet .Don’t be in a hurry, if you take your time you won’t make the mistakes that you will only regret.

By: Mario Goldstein

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