Carpro Spotless - Review on uncoated paint

Eldorado2k

Eldorado2k

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Hey everyone, this will be a short review on Carpro Spotless water spot remover.
I’ve tried it about 3 different times now, I went ahead and took some pics of the process a couple of days ago and I’d like to share my results.

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So the other day I did a bucket wash on my brothers brand new black truck. Somehow Ford [and my bro] thought it would be a great idea to sell/buy this truck with a bare truckbed..

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And as you can probably imagine, that black unprotected virgin paint was just begging for some water spots on its very first bucket wash.

So this is what it looked like up close, 2-3 days after the wash.

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Ok so we’re going to follow the directions and start with a clean dry panel in the shade. Spray liberally.

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And thoroughly wipedown with a microfiber mitt.

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After that, spray a microfiber with Megs D114 in order to wipe clean and rinse away the chemical.

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And then do a final dry wipe with a waffle weave.

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The results.

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As you can see, even on water spots only a couple of days old it made a minimal difference...

This next pic is after me going at it 3 separate times with plenty of product and aggressive agitation. [notice I even instilled some swirls] And it still couldn’t remove the water spots.

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So there’s my quik review. I’ve seen the same results all 3 vehicles I’ve used on. IME this product gives me no other choice but to label it a dud.
Thanks for reading.
 
I've used Spotless a few times and it works very well. I've been trying to perfect my technique as I've found that some paints/coatings are very sensitive to marring when removing the water spots. My intent was to remove the spots while preserving the paint (i.e. not need polishing after). On the R8 we just did I tried a different technique, spraying Spotless, then using wash-media (2bw), gentle agitation w/ wash mitts... That seemed to work good.
 
LSNAutoDetailing said:
On the R8 we just did I tried a different technique, spraying Spotless, then using wash-media (2bw), gentle agitation w/ wash mitts... That seemed to work good.
Click to expand...

I used a Meguiars Microfiber Washmitt. The water spots were only 2 maybe 3 days old.

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How long did you let it dwell before spreading?
 
this is part reason why i use a finishing pad/wax pad that i can toss away and let it do the aggitation for me.
 
Better but no cigar.

I can imagine repeat applications would get pretty pricey.
 
Agree on your bed liner comment, Eldo.

I just started working at a Ford dealer last week. Probably 25 new trucks on the lot. Only 2-3 have liners.

It was only a $350 option when I bought my truck. Kind of a no-brainer IMO........
 
I have not used it on paint, but it works really good for me on glass. I'm pleased with it.
 
I need to try that, I've had similar results as Eldo. I like your idea.

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The residue you have where the water spots is the wipe marks you see there? Could it be car soap residue or from anything else? Cause is it some residue from something else than evaporated water. Those spots could be something else. Just a thought tho. How long did you let the Spotless dwell before aggitate it?
 
I tried spotless last week for the first time.
Over and over and over again!
Even tried it with a clay bar as was suggested to me.
Same results as Eldo, none.
 
SWETM said:
The residue you have where the water spots is the wipe marks you see there?
Click to expand...

I’m not sure what you mean here.^

As far as the spots being from just water or possibly from soapy water... Well there is a possibility that they’re from soapy water but I hadn’t really thought about it that way. I mean yea that’s a possibility, but my gut feels like they’re more from just water than soapy rinse water. But I can’t say I’m 100% sure.

How long did I let it dwell? Well the 1st application I let it dwell way longer than I intended, because after I sprayed it I thought of using a mitt instead of a towel, but I had to run to the backyard to grab the mitt, so it was over 1 min. at least. Then on the next applications I only let it dwell about 15sec. before agitating.
 
PaulMys said:
Agree on your bed liner comment, Eldo.

I just started working at a Ford dealer last week. Probably 25 new trucks on the lot. Only 2-3 have liners.

It was only a $350 option when I bought my truck. Kind of a no-brainer IMO........
Click to expand...

My brother is actually leasing this truck. The 1st thing I thought when he brought it home was “nice, it’s black. Great choice on the color” my next thought was “hmm, so this is lease, so I’m guessing they’re expecting this bare unprotected black truckbed to be returned in the same condition as it was when it left the lot? That’s a tall order”

I don’t know how strict they are when it comes to the condition of the paint inside the bed upon return, but it looks like a straight setup to me. There’s no way on earth average Joe will return that truck without that bed being either riddled with scratches and or water spots. No way average Joe survives.

I find it a bit comical. Either ways it doesn’t really matter, because you know I’m going to make sure that truckbed looks nearly perfect when the time comes to return the lease.
 
I think it would be cheaper to buy the cheapest possible bed liner or bed mat and save the long on going battle of trying to keep that nice then just leave it in the truck on lease turn in

Your time isn’t free even for family that’s a lot of work


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MattPersman said:
I think it would be cheaper to buy the cheapest possible bed liner or bed mat and save the long on going battle of trying to keep that nice then just leave it in the truck on lease turn in

Your time isn’t free even for family that’s a lot of work


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Click to expand...

My question is, can you even make such a modification to the truck? I’m no expert but that seems like it would be questionable. I mean what happens if you bring it back and they hate the way it looks? I dunno.

Worst case scenario I can glaze it up the day he returns it. Lol.
 
Eldorado2k said:
I’m not sure what you mean here.^

As far as the spots being from just water or possibly from soapy water... Well there is a possibility that they’re from soapy water but I hadn’t really thought about it that way. I mean yea that’s a possibility, but my gut feels like they’re more from just water than soapy rinse water. But I can’t say I’m 100% sure.

How long did I let it dwell? Well the 1st application I let it dwell way longer than I intended, because after I sprayed it I thought of using a mitt instead of a towel, but I had to run to the backyard to grab the mitt, so it was over 1 min. at least. Then on the next applications I only let it dwell about 15sec. before agitating.
Click to expand...

Sorry that question does not make sense that I first wrote LOL.

But yeah the thing that I where thinking of was if it's where something else that made the water spots. There looked like it where some wipe marks from something like car soap or anything else. In combo with what the evaporated water left behind. So you only got the water spot off and the other residue the Spotless did not desolve. Just a thought tho. It has been many experiences that has not been any good with Spotless.

I don't think that Spotless does much on anything else than lime scale and minerals. And it could be something else in some waters that leave something behind that Spotless don't desolves. I would test to spray some APC on the area I was going to do. And then rinse it off and wash it with car soap and rinse thoroughly and dry it. If there is any water spots left after this I would test Spotless again and see what happens. Or test it somewhere else where I have water spots and it's cleaned before so it just have to handle the those.
 
Eldorado2k said:
My question is, can you even make such a modification to the truck? I’m no expert but that seems like it would be questionable. I mean what happens if you bring it back and they hate the way it looks? I dunno.

Worst case scenario I can glaze it up the day he returns it. Lol.
Click to expand...

They are just drop in plastic liners some are more of a “rug” material they call it and some are a giant rubber mat that is the shape of the lower bed surface. Can be removed at turn in or leave it doesn’t matter.

Would post pics but easy enough to search and would be external non autogeek related

A truck bed unprotected by something will need way more than glaze to cover all the damage a truck gets. Unless it’s just someone that wants a truck for some reason and literally never uses the bed, but at that point why did they buy it ?

You can tint the windows too. It’s just a lease. Different way for them to move cars


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