Orinda Auto Detail - etched water spot removal

Jsmooth

New member
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
181
Reaction score
0
This was one of those cars that right when I looked at it I knew I would be in for a challenge. For any of you out there that have got your hands on a new hyundai you know the paint is hard as nails. This car is 2012 and it had seen better days. The entire car had water spots on it the worst of it on the passanger side hood, fender, and door. On these places the spots had actually etched into the paint so it was far more than just removing the mineral build up. I was sure sanding was going to be in order to get this right. Lets get on with it.
ED85C055-86E7-4761-9708-0179FE2A15C8-3229-000002D07F0F6F66.jpg

new car and well it clearly isn't happy
5B8AF46E-E555-4690-8127-7F66625081C1-3229-000002D07A8B6458.jpg

As you can see there is almost no clairity on the hood....
1B83BAA9-E30E-4E8C-94FF-B6539F1D4C0A-3229-000002D0701B4574.jpg

Here is an up close. Usually when you see those white lines like that and you can feel them...... Well get ready to do some work
8AE184F4-9D33-4575-86B7-3C65246071E4-3229-000002D06C318A44.jpg

D66D5BB1-E9F1-4C8E-B494-F7BE397F896E-3229-000002D0631C4D2E.jpg

And as expected swirl city, how ever I was far less concerned with swirls then spots
982DFBBF-F01D-407C-8BD6-947E567A8FFF-3229-000002D05D927B0F.jpg

D85B2B1E-047D-487B-8C55-B4269D3D4753-3229-000002D058953A75.jpg

Rest of the car was pretty hammered with swirls and rids along with water spots. Around the rest of the car the spots weren't nearly as bad but still added a lot of time for defect removal.
98C1264F-18DB-414B-9BA4-BA2AC8F18DAA-3229-000002D04AC17B01.jpg

After washing and decon.... The paint still felt really ruff because of the etchings. I tryed my test spot with 3perfect it and rotary and an orange CCS pad.. Made it better but didn't touch the etchings. After this I tryed with heavy cut wool.... Again same thing. So notice in my lap what appears to be a flex with a trizac 3k disc on it. So normally I would sand with a DA but being that both my DA's were on the other side of town I put a 3k disc on a Flex at speed 1. It worked amazingly well.
01D9E401-96AB-4867-BB62-3F4B624E6C24-3229-000002D04F4EC208.jpg

Here's a 50/50 door to fender after 3 wet sand followed by orange pad 3m perfect it rotary.
31E70FE9-0D58-4831-BD6A-DEAD6D64CD11-3229-000002D03F76BE48.jpg

50/50 of door after same steps above the body line. I went back later by hand and hit the line its self
1A2C2C48-D925-4446-88DE-7AE17B5BA006-3229-000002D03BDAA1A6.jpg

Sanding with my flex and a trizac disc to cut into the etching was kinda scary so this took a long time being forced rotation the thought a burn seemed all to much like it could be reality in a blink. Keep in mind I would of never done this if I didn't have a paint gauge and the car didn't have anything but really hard paint. Seriously would advise agiast sanding with anything but a D/A
51F9BB2D-B2E4-4275-9C1C-772D7C5FF5B8-3229-000002D0375B2CE4.jpg

Thats 50/50 after I finished the door the back door. At this point I was able to stop and sanding and I just ended up compounding the rest of the car using my rotary and an orange CCS pad. After this I washed the car to get rid of all the compounding dust and pulled it out side to take a look at it.
A6CD4F61-D823-42FC-A06A-D10A40D99FAE-3229-000002D02C73584A.jpg

EDEE6D80-E19B-461B-BEA1-717F8A5B5F3F-3229-000002D028199CD8.jpg

Even after just compounding you can see a huge improvement! The hood relection is good again and optically speaking is clear.
E25A6F31-8267-436D-9B68-009FF20F3777-3229-000002D024EC8233.jpg

I pulled the car back in at this point to do some finishing it on. I chose to go with a white CCS pad and SRC Finishing polish(Love SRC FINISHING BTW)
61B44DAE-163D-47CA-9524-6BAD72AEDAE9-3229-000002D053DFBED4.jpg

remember this?
E84F4C70-09D6-48F2-B1EB-470E473428F8-3229-000002D01DAA7768.jpg

And thats why I get paid the big bucks, Just kidding but it is pretty much perfect('brushes shoulders off')
5B8AF46E-E555-4690-8127-7F66625081C1-3229-000002D07A8B6458.jpg

This was horrible
571090E8-B814-46C9-B3B3-C07B89836FF7-3229-000002D018EA21CB.jpg

C367F177-5EB7-4943-AB95-C58DA7B1C069-3229-000002D0149CD361.jpg

Handled! At this point I sealed the car up BFWD let it sit on the paint for 30 min while nit picking wheels tires windows ect.... Amazingly I got lucky as the customer kept the spots off the windows and they were only on the paint
72EB0011-135F-4DF8-BA49-5A49434C6CCE-3229-000002D00D4B998F.jpg

After removing BFWD sorry no more sun shots as it was late in the day at this point
D616A344-6C6C-4B8D-AE33-C4BF328473FD-3229-000002D008CD19E6.jpg

8BD5A3D3-BC1C-4532-9785-D30EC981C3DC-3229-000002D004BC13F8.jpg

C51C3572-4B53-4D7D-9506-D680224947D7-3229-000002D0004E168E.jpg


Thanks for looking!
Joe Torbati
Orinda Auto Detail
 
Nice save jsmooth. You were very lucky the windows weren't jacked up
 
Ouch!!
Great results from a severe looking damaged finish. (well water from a sprinkler system?)
Nice job indeed!
 
Wow fantastic work Joe! Sanding sure seems like a nice skill to have.
 
I'm ready to try damp sanding, I have 3000 unigrit and Meg's DA. Do I need to soak the discs first?

I have the foam backing.

Great job!
 
I'm ready to try damp sanding, I have 3000 unigrit and Meg's DA. Do I need to soak the discs first?

I have the foam backing.

Great job!
Thanks! What are going to sand? Are you looking to level peel? Or just going after a nasty scratch?
 
Back
Top