Ceramic Coating water spots

[The Guz]

Mike,
Thanks for all of your helpful info on water stains. I recently purchsed a used 2011 BMW with Space Grey paint. The previous owner kept the car outside for most of it's life. The car has a lot of mirco etching water stains, definitely type II. My initial first attempt at paint correction was with a Flex XC 3401 using Lake Country Hydro Blue cutting pad and Meguiars 101 followed by Meg's 205 with Lake Country Hydro Tangerine pad. This took a good deal of the sting out of the etchings but, did not take all of the micro pitting out of the finish.
Would you recommend continued multiple passes with the combo I listed or would you recommend a slightly more aggressive pad/compound combo? I also have a rotary with a few whool pad options but, really want to use that as a last resort.
I'd greatly appreciate some direction/recommendation. I will try to snap some pictures and get them uploaded for reference this evening. THANKS!

I had the same thing on this Blazer I polished out recently. After a couple of test spots, I knew the water spots were not going to come out and rather than making things worse, I made the decision that preservation of the clear coat was more important than a few water spots that were only visible in the right light and angle.

2019 Blazer RS AWD

 

[NSM]

Mike,

Thanks for all of the info.

The car is really going to be a mix of uses. It is a slick top m3 sedan that I spent some time tracking down. I do drive it during the week but, have a truck for true daily use. It is always garaged now and typically does not see heavy rain and definitely not snow.

I live in New Hampshire so, it does get warm in the summer but, not like the states you listed.

I did my best at capturing the etchings.

View attachment 68592

The car is slightly dusty at the moment but, relatively clean and has had three washings since the paint correction attempt.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks again!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

I downloaded your picture, rotated it 90 degrees to the right and then cropped out the pertinent portion.

It sounds like these water spot imprint rings really bug you so hit the affect areas again with the wool pad, compound and rotary and then re-polish with the BEAST using a foam polishing pad and the polish.

Seal the paint after the above and then take super good care of it moving forward.

I accept no responsibility for the above recommendation as I've already shared how thin modern clearcoat paints are and my take on trying to perfect paint on daily drivers in post #20


Good luck and let us know how it turns out....





You could also go to the YouTube Channel of a YouTube Influencer and share your car's situation with them in the comments section of a YouTube video or any other option they provide to ask them questions and get their recommendation.

:laughing:

 

[NSM]

I downloaded your picture, rotated it 90 degrees to the right and then cropped out the pertinent portion.

It sounds like these water spot imprint rings really bug you so hit the affect areas again with the wool pad, compound and rotary and then re-polish with the BEAST using a foam polishing pad and the polish.

Seal the paint after the above and then take super good care of it moving forward.

I accept no responsibility for the above recommendation as I've already shared how thin modern clearcoat paints are and my take on trying to perfect paint on daily drivers in post #20


Good luck and let us know how it turns out....





You could also go to the YouTube Channel of a YouTube Influencer and share your car's situation with them in the comments section of a YouTube video or any other option they provide to ask them questions and get their recommendation.

:laughing:

Thanks Mike! They do bother me quite a bit. I'll head your suggestion on the rotary and subsequent steps and I promise that I will not deam you responsible.:laughing:

Doesn't look like AG has any wool pads in stock I'll keep looking and see if I can find them.

I will keep you posted and post results once I finish. The positive thing is that it's only on the horizontal panels as you noted.

Can't thank you enough for the help and the time!

 

[SWETM]

Thanks Mike! They do bother me quite a bit. I'll head your suggestion on the rotary and subsequent steps and I promise that I will not deam you responsible.:laughing:

Doesn't look like AG has any wool pads in stock I'll keep looking and see if I can find them.

I will keep you posted and post results once I finish. The positive thing is that it's only on the horizontal panels as you noted.

Can't thank you enough for the help and the time!

The new Carpro Wool Cutting Pads seems great. The cleaning up from the rotary polisher and wool cutting pad. I think will be easier and you can get away with a less aggressive combo to squeze out a little extra gloss on the finishing polish. Carpro Essence Extreme Gloss Enhancer is an awesome finishing polish that filling in some extra to get as smooth as possible paint. So not filling the swirls or holograms but after the abrasives has done it's thing. The durable filling resins activates with a little more heat with slower armspeed and a little higher speed on the polisher. This fills the minor valleys that you have on the paint from the factory. So a little as you would have been sanding the little orange peel you have on the oem paints. But you filling it to a more flat paint.

CARPRO Wool Pads

Then seal it up with a ceramic coating or a coating lite product or a SiO2 sealant. To ad the protection on your paint. You get a base layer of protection from the Essence too. The protection don't need to be from Carpro. But the Carpro Lite coating on Essence and you will get it to last a year. With 2 layers of the CQ Lite coating on Essence.

/ Tony

 

[Dano shine]

I had a Car come in today with really bad water spotting all over. So I washed and clayed the car which is black in color.
After that I measured the paint to see what I have to work with and I was getting 3.5 - 4.5 mils so I started a test spot with polish and yellow pad nothing went to compound and a microfiber cutting pad nothing now I’m say do I dare wet sand I did try a six by six test with 3000 Traisac used a wool pad and Flex PE 14 water spots are still there. At this point
I let the customer know to great of risk and possible burn through. So we got what I could. I told him to either park in a garage or just wash the car and dry it don’t let water beating stay on your car. Also said buy a good Quality car cover

 

[fightnews]

Hey all, bit of a detailing newbie here. I was about ready to begin polishing/prepping my month old Tesla Model 3 and DIY ceramic coating before I read that water spotting on ceramic coating being an issue and the only way to remove it being polishing again. Is this truly an issue? I live in a townhouse where the sprinklers sometimes hit my car in the middle of the night and I am afraid of water spotting.

im thinking I may just try a sealant instead of something that isn’t so permanent. Thoughts?

Yes it is an issue. Ive personally gotten water spotting on multiple ceramic products when I never saw 1 spot when I was using wax/sealant. Some products are worse then others. The newer products are getting better about it.

I recommend going the hybrid route. Best of both worlds. Especially if you like to detail your car frequently. Good luck!