Favorite Detailing Products

[Sheriff41]

I recently washed my car and discovered after I have water spots on the matte black hood. I have never had water spots as I rinse quickly but this is the first time I washed at my house and evidently the water from the outside faucet is very hard. When washing at the car wash, I bucket/hand wash and use a sponge (no car wash brush). I have used McKee's 37 Matte Black Cleaner & Protector which does a good job of cleaning/dust removal, etc., but it did not remove these water spots. I appreciate any feedback, remedies, products you have used to remove these spots. Thanks!

Try a 1:1 mixture of white vinegar and water. Moisten a cloth and lay it on the surface for a minute or two. The vinegar should soften the water spots and allow you to gently wipe them off. Since you're working on a matte finish try a discrete spot first, though. Afterwards, use your McKee's.

 

[Austin Vert]

I recently washed my car and discovered after I have water spots on the matte black hood. I have never had water spots as I rinse quickly but this is the first time I washed at my house and evidently the water from the outside faucet is very hard. When washing at the car wash, I bucket/hand wash and use a sponge (no car wash brush). I have used McKee's 37 Matte Black Cleaner & Protector which does a good job of cleaning/dust removal, etc., but it did not remove these water spots. I appreciate any feedback, remedies, products you have used to remove these spots. Thanks!

Howdy dees,

Hope i can help you out here.

You could be in for some trouble here with this problem. Let me explain. Around the world, many cities with town water supply produce water that is hard. This hardness varies in levels of strength from city to city. The simple definition of water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard town water can also contain various salts, minerals and fluoride.

The problem is that when you wash a car with town water, and let any residual water dry off of it's own accord on the paint surface, (especially when let dry in the direct sun on horizontal surfaces) the chemicals in the water remain and the deposits attack the paint film by chemically etching into that paint film. This etching process can be very aggressive. Water spotting is an obvious sign of chemical etching taking place.

You eliminate this problem by quickly moving in and chamois off the car before the residual water has a chance to dry on the car of it's own accord.
Always best to never wash a car out in the direct sunlight.

In regards your matte black paint being water spotted, the problem is that matte and semi gloss finishes are very sensitive paint films by their very nature.They don't like being handled in any way. They are sensitive to any form of abrasion and glossing up issues with polishing etc. Trying to remove your water spotting issue could prove to be very tricky, as the town water chemicals have etched into the paint film to some degree.

The approach i would take to try and remedy this problem would be to use soft micro fiber clothes, and first gently wipe the surface with demineralized water. Next, using the microfiber cloth again, i would gently wipe down the surface with a quality wax and grease remover. This process could help remove any salt/ mineral deposits from the paint film. I would then try to find a quality natural wax product that doesn't gloss up the matte finish. In Australia we have a brand product called Bowdens Lazy Wax. https://www.bowdensown.com.au/lazy-wax

This is a brilliant product that features a Carnuba wax formula that does not gloss up matte and semi gloss paint finishes. Maybe you could import a bottle in from Australia, or find a similar product in the US. If that whole treatment doesn't remove or settle down the etching, then refinishing the effected panels would be the only way to remedy this problem.

Also, as mentioned above, using vinegar with a microfiber cloth could work as well to help neutalize the hard water chemicals. I have never tried that remedy myself.

Most water etching removal can be successfully carried out on most glossy paint films as you can cut and polish the etching out. As a pro auto spraypainter, i have run into trouble over the years with water etching that was not removed properly of a hood say, and painted over the etched areas. The newly painted panel played up, as the water etch marks showed through, and the panel had to be stripped down to bare metal and refinished again.

In your case, the severity of how much the chemicals have etched into your matte finish, will determine how successful you will be at removing the water spotting problem. Best of luck with that,

Greg.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I've tried scrubbing with every product under the sun. I've used all kinds of brushes including wire grill brushes. They clean up a bit, and you can get the road grime off them, but getting them to look as good a new was impossible.

In the old days I had good luck with Bleche-Wite, but the formula was changed some years ago to make it more environmentally friendly (thus less effective) and it just doesn't give the same result.

What I have found that works well it to soak a rag in Lacquer thinner and scrub each letter. Yeah, a little tedious but it does work.

I tried everything... and I mean everything... and could not get the letters on the fronts to clean up. I finally hit 'em lightly with a 2.5" orbital pad sander using 400 grit - didn't take much, either. Cleaned 'em right up and had kept the brown away for about a year as it slowly started creeping back in. As much of a PITA as it was keeping the hand-held pad sander under control (to not make any stray marks in the sidewalls), I'm strongly considering getting a smaller, battery-powered detail sander to just keep in the detailing bucket.

 

[Spike Morelli]

I own boats, and I know most boat or marine shops carry waterspot remover products, one that I've used is called "Ducky". If there's a marine shop or supplier in your area, check them out. You could also try to Google "Water Spot Remover", and have some shipped to you.

 

[dees71mach1]

Howdy dees,

Hope i can help you out here.

You could be in for some trouble here with this problem. Let me explain. Around the world, many cities with town water supply produce water that is hard. This hardness varies in levels of strength from city to city. The simple definition of water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard town water can also contain various salts, minerals and fluoride.

The problem is that when you wash a car with town water, and let any residual water dry off of it's own accord on the paint surface, (especially when let dry in the direct sun on horizontal surfaces) the chemicals in the water remain and the deposits attack the paint film by chemically etching into that paint film. This etching process can be very aggressive. Water spotting is an obvious sign of chemical etching taking place.

You eliminate this problem by quickly moving in and chamois off the car before the residual water has a chance to dry on the car of it's own accord.
Always best to never wash a car out in the direct sunlight.

In regards your matte black paint being water spotted, the problem is that matte and semi gloss finishes are very sensitive paint films by their very nature.They don't like being handled in any way. They are sensitive to any form of abrasion and glossing up issues with polishing etc. Trying to remove your water spotting issue could prove to be very tricky, as the town water chemicals have etched into the paint film to some degree.

The approach i would take to try and remedy this problem would be to use soft micro fiber clothes, and first gently wipe the surface with demineralized water. Next, using the microfiber cloth again, i would gently wipe down the surface with a quality wax and grease remover. This process could help remove any salt/ mineral deposits from the paint film. I would then try to find a quality natural wax product that doesn't gloss up the matte finish. In Australia we have a brand product called Bowdens Lazy Wax. https://www.bowdensown.com.au/lazy-wax

This is a brilliant product that features a Carnuba wax formula that does not gloss up matte and semi gloss paint finishes. Maybe you could import a bottle in from Australia, or find a similar product in the US. If that whole treatment doesn't remove or settle down the etching, then refinishing the effected panels would be the only way to remedy this problem.

Also, as mentioned above, using vinegar with a microfiber cloth could work as well to help neutalize the hard water chemicals. I have never tried that remedy myself.

Most water etching removal can be successfully carried out on most glossy paint films as you can cut and polish the etching out. As a pro auto spraypainter, i have run into trouble over the years with water etching that was not removed properly of a hood say, and painted over the etched areas. The newly painted panel played up, as the water etch marks showed through, and the panel had to be stripped down to bare metal and refinished again.

In your case, the severity of how much the chemicals have etched into your matte finish, will determine how successful you will be at removing the water spotting problem. Best of luck with that,

Greg.

Howdy Austin!

Thank you for your detailed reply. When I washed the car, it was dusk so the sun was setting so that aspect did not affect the water spots drying. I will look at the demineralized water recommendation and let you know how it works when I perform.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[machattack]

Would there be any more suggestions on what to wax or protect the black out on the nasa hood? My hood was recently painted (30 days) but I feel I need some protection on it.
Thanks
Rod

 

[Austin Vert]

Would there be any more suggestions on what to wax or protect the black out on the nasa hood? My hood was recently painted (30 days) but I feel I need some protection on it.
Thanks
Rod

Hi Rod,

The real trick is to find a natural (carnuba) or synthetic wax product that does not gloss up the surface at all. I found one here in Australia that works 100% as i mentioned above. However, someone might know a product for sale in America that works the same, eg. no or zero gloss up effect on matts and semi gloss finishes.

This product could be possibly found with some research on line.

Footnote. I was going to also mention that if a suitable product can't be found in America, you can always try and import the Bowden's Lazy Wax product in from Australia. https://www.bowdensown.com.au/lazy-wax

This Lazy Wax product is just fantastic, as it creates a zero gloss up effect on matts, and i spray it all over my car as a quick easy to use detailer and wax job product. Great for chrome,and plastics as well.

I import a Meguiars product in from England which is an engine bay dressing (really a fantastic product), which can't be purchased at all here in Australia.To me, it's worth the extra import and shipping costs just to use this great product and the fantastic outstanding results it brings. It costs me around $60.00 Au for one bottle, but it's worth it.

Greg