Dark Blue 2018 Audi ... Sprinkler at lunch today ... water spots! ugh... help

[Scott in Houston]

So, my car has/had Bead Maker re-applied maybe 3 days ago.

Today at lunch, in the hot Texas sun, the freakin' sprinkler covered it and left behind hard water spots.
It baked for a few hours before I could do my only option before getting home and that was a brushless drive-through wash. That didn't seem to help at all, but it was my only option until coming home.

Got home and did a fast wash with ONR (again pressed for time).
It seemed to help, but when it's back out in the sun, I can still see the spots. Granted, they're hard to see if you're not actually looking for them, but they're there.

Do I need to polish?
Will it matter if I wait a week to polish? (No time until then)

I'm a bit ticked off that Bead Maker didn't seem to help AT ALL. I've been waiting for the weather to cool before re-applying Power Lock and potentially BM again or maybe another sealant like Turtle Wax ICE S&S or something else in my garage. (I don't want to buy anything more until I use up all the $$ I've sunk into products)
What kind of "Protection" was I actually getting from Bead Maker? Just applied, one shot of hard water and only a few hours before treated with ONR, and spots still there... how is that "protection"? Makes me wonder if we're fooling ourselves.


TIA for advice.

 

[rlmccarty2000]

I would go ahead and hit it with a light polish and see if that removes the HW spots. It’s been my experience that nothing else really works. Waiting a week won’t do any harm.

I’m not surprised BM didn’t provide much protection. I’ve seen waterspots on much hardier sealants. The spot is probably not down to the clear coat, it is probably etched into or on top of the Bead Maker. It’s hard to feel the difference. The water as it dries leaves behind minerals that bind to whatever is on top of your paint. The taller the bead, the more minerals left behind from the evaporation process, even on a coated vehicle. This is where the sheeting vs beading discussion can get heated.

 

[Scott in Houston]

Thank you.

My neighbor has some 3D Eraser Water Spot Remover that I'd like to try as well. We'll see if that works first then I'll try polishing.
In watching a video online, it is showing acid based wheel cleaner working well, but doesn't say what brand.
Any recommendations?

Should I try a MDR type product first then polish? Or is the wheel acid something worth trying?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Rsurfer]

We can send a man to the moon, but we can't stop water spots from a sprinkler.

 

[PM5C]

Thank you.

My neighbor has some 3D Eraser Water Spot Remover that I'd like to try as well. We'll see if that works first then I'll try polishing.
In watching a video online, it is showing acid based wheel cleaner working well, but doesn't say what brand.
Any recommendations?

Should I try a MDR type product first then polish? Or is the wheel acid something worth trying?

Thanks again for your help.

Was that video from The Rag Company? They just did a comparison on 4 approaches to water spot removal.

 

[TTQ B4U]

So, my car has/had Bead Maker re-applied maybe 3 days ago.

Today at lunch, in the hot Texas sun, the freakin' sprinkler covered it and left behind hard water spots.
It baked for a few hours before I could do my only option before getting home and that was a brushless drive-through wash. That didn't seem to help at all, but it was my only option until coming home.

Got home and did a fast wash with ONR (again pressed for time).
It seemed to help, but when it's back out in the sun, I can still see the spots. Granted, they're hard to see if you're not actually looking for them, but they're there.

Do I need to polish?
Will it matter if I wait a week to polish? (No time until then)

I'm a bit ticked off that Bead Maker didn't seem to help AT ALL. I've been waiting for the weather to cool before re-applying Power Lock and potentially BM again or maybe another sealant like Turtle Wax ICE S&S or something else in my garage. (I don't want to buy anything more until I use up all the $$ I've sunk into products)
What kind of "Protection" was I actually getting from Bead Maker? Just applied, one shot of hard water and only a few hours before treated with ONR, and spots still there... how is that "protection"? Makes me wonder if we're fooling ourselves.


TIA for advice.

if it was a sprinkler you may have to polish or even compound them out. BM won't protect a car from it. Coatings won't either. I just go through doing the hood of my car as my daughter, who meant well, rinsed my car off in the driveway after a rain storm thinking she was helping daddy. Sun came out and BAM! 3 layers of ceramic were no match. Polish didn't work. Had to break out ClearCut and a wool pad to get them out. The roof and decklid aren't as bad but I'm going to do them this weekend when the temps hit the 60's down from the 90's.

 

[Scott in Houston]

Was that video from The Rag Company? They just did a comparison on 4 approaches to water spot removal.

It was.
At least their result showed a small improvement only from MDR (Optimum's Mineral Deposit Remover), good results for an acid based wheel cleaner (guessing Meg's Wheel Brightener) and then polish worked as well.

if it was a sprinkler you may have to polish or even compound them out. BM won't protect a car from it. Coatings won't either. I just go through doing the hood of my car as my daughter, who meant well, rinsed my car off in the driveway after a rain storm thinking she was helping daddy. Sun came out and BAM! 3 layers of ceramic were no match. Polish didn't work. Had to break out ClearCut and a wool pad to get them out. The roof and decklid aren't as bad but I'm going to do them this weekend when the temps hit the 60's down from the 90's.

Ugh... cute little thing, but ouch. Impossible to be mad at her though right?

Yeah, I wouldn't expect Bead Maker or even a coating to protect from spots after a day or two of sitting out, but just a couple of hours??
Yes, it was blazing hot, but I'm still a bit surprised (and irritated).

Last night, I was able to do another wash and the spots are barely visible, but I can still see them in the right light. Mostly when the angle is very shallow. My wife thinks I'm crazy because she can't see them.

In my current arsenal of products, I have Griots Fast Correcting Cream, Correcting Cream, and Meg's Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish.
(Also HD Speed, but don't expect that to really have enough cut)

I'm going to try the Griot's products first with foam pads then MF pads if needed. Audi paint is hard, so kind of expecting to need the MF pads, also by Griots.

 

[Rsurfer]

It was.
At least their result showed a small improvement only from MDR (Optimum's Mineral Deposit Remover), good results for an acid based wheel cleaner (guessing Meg's Wheel Brightener) and then polish worked as well.






Ugh... cute little thing, but ouch. Impossible to be mad at her though right?

Yeah, I wouldn't expect Bead Maker or even a coating to protect from spots after a day or two of sitting out, but just a couple of hours??
Yes, it was blazing hot, but I'm still a bit surprised (and irritated).

Last night, I was able to do another wash and the spots are barely visible, but I can still see them in the right light. Mostly when the angle is very shallow. My wife thinks I'm crazy because she can't see them.

In my current arsenal of products, I have Griots Fast Correcting Cream, Correcting Cream, and Meg's Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish.
(Also HD Speed, but don't expect that to really have enough cut)

I'm going to try the Griot's products first with foam pads then MF pads if needed. Audi paint is hard, so kind of expecting to need the MF pads, also by Griots.

Why remove clear coat (polish) when a water spot remover might work without removing any clear coat?

 

[Scott in Houston]

Why remove clear coat (polish) when a water spot remover might work without removing any clear coat?

That's a fair question.
You'll see above that I'm actually going to try the 3D Eraser Water Spot Remover first.

It's an acid-based water spot remover so I'm hoping it has good results like that Rag Company video showed with an acid based cleaner.

If that works, I won't polish. That being said, parts of my hood could benefit from a polish regardless of the spots, so I may end up there anyway.

 

[Bruno Soares]

In my experience, MDR and CarPro Spotless both work but very little. Meaning don't expect miracles, for the most past only abrading the surround areas (polish/compound) will actually work. The rest is either for the shallowest of etchings or deposits that are still so fresh they can be broken down.

 

[Scott in Houston]

In my experience, MDR and CarPro Spotless both work but very little. Meaning don't expect miracles, for the most past only abrading the surround areas (polish/compound) will actually work. The rest is either for the shallowest of etchings or deposits that are still so fresh they can be broken down.

Well, I made improvements when I get home, but not perfect. And I should be able to use the 3D Eraser (acid) on them tomorrow night. In the mean-time, only limited time in the sun to bake. Fingers crossed.

 

[TTQ B4U]

Ugh... cute little thing, but ouch. Impossible to be mad at her though right?

not mad. life happens and she's my baby even at age 13 and I know she meant well. hard part is polishing it while she is not around.


[/quote]I'm going to try the Griot's products first with foam pads then MF pads if needed. Audi paint is hard, so kind of expecting to need the MF pads, also by Griots.[/QUOTE]

I've owned Audi's and just did one....paint is hard but not that hard. I did a 1 step on the last one and it turned out very nicely. CarPro ClearCut and a wood pad on a Flex will cut through it pretty easily. MF on a non forced rotation unit will work. Just make sure you keep it spinning.

 

[Scott in Houston]

not mad. life happens and she's my baby even at age 13 and I know she meant well. hard part is polishing it while she is not around.

I'm going to try the Griot's products first with foam pads then MF pads if needed. Audi paint is hard, so kind of expecting to need the MF pads, also by Griots.[/QUOTE]

I've owned Audi's and just did one....paint is hard but not that hard. I did a 1 step on the last one and it turned out very nicely. CarPro ClearCut and a wood pad on a Flex will cut through it pretty easily. MF on a non forced rotation unit will work. Just make sure you keep it spinning.[/QUOTE]

Ah. My daughter is 16. Sweet spirit yours must have. Love it.

As for using ClearCut with a wood pad!? lol
I know you meant wool.

I don't have any wool pads, but only MF. I'll start with the foam pads I have first, then go from there.

Nice posts on the Audis. Great stuff!

 

[jkrig]

Interesting, I have gotten pretty good results with CarPro Spotless, recently worked on a 2014 Pathfinder left near sprinklers, drivers side covered.....used Spotless on the glass and it worked like a champ the key was to saturate area then let it dwell for as long as you could when it started to dry I would saturate again, took about 3 applications, wiped with a MF towel then thoroughly rinsed.....owners were so pleased they brought the car back to me few weeks later for full detail/coating.

 

[PM5C]

Thank you.

In watching a video online, it is showing acid based wheel cleaner working well, but doesn't say what brand.
Any recommendations?

I went back and looked at the details of that video and the wheel cleaner is this: Wheel Acid | Car Brite

 

[SWETM]

I went back and looked at the details of that video and the wheel cleaner is this: Wheel Acid | Car Brite

That's about as strong of an acidic cleaner you can get. I looked it up when I saw this video when released. So anyone who gets to use this acid based wheel cleaner be carefull and use proper protection when you use it or you will get chemical burns if you are not carefull. This has a ph level up to 1 and for comparison Wheel Brightener has up to ph 5. So handle it with respect and it can damage paint if it dries on it and other parts like headlights and bare metall.

A water spot remover desolves the mineral deposits pretty good. But if it's already have etched the paint it's not much to do than polishing it to abrade off the etching. Not even the strongest acid will remove etching as it's a damage in the paint that has happened. An acid is very effective to desolve the damaged paint and oxidized paint which is the same in a way. But the damaged is still there but less noticeble. Like when you lightly abrade a scratch and the rough edges gets off but it's still a defect in the paint in most cases when they are deeper. So a water spot remover can be usefull to use even if it's etched paint from the water spot. As the polisher don't need to be handling the mineral deposits.

Hope you have some luck and the water spots did not etch your paint.

 

[Scott in Houston]

That's about as strong of an acidic cleaner you can get. I looked it up when I saw this video when released. So anyone who gets to use this acid based wheel cleaner be carefull and use proper protection when you use it or you will get chemical burns if you are not carefull. This has a ph level up to 1 and for comparison Wheel Brightener has up to ph 5. So handle it with respect and it can damage paint if it dries on it and other parts like headlights and bare metall.

A water spot remover desolves the mineral deposits pretty good. But if it's already have etched the paint it's not much to do than polishing it to abrade off the etching. Not even the strongest acid will remove etching as it's a damage in the paint that has happened. An acid is very effective to desolve the damaged paint and oxidized paint which is the same in a way. But the damaged is still there but less noticeble. Like when you lightly abrade a scratch and the rough edges gets off but it's still a defect in the paint in most cases when they are deeper. So a water spot remover can be usefull to use even if it's etched paint from the water spot. As the polisher don't need to be handling the mineral deposits.

Hope you have some luck and the water spots did not etch your paint.

Thank you.

Update: I don't have to polish.
I tried to show in pictures, but I was unable to get the spots to show up on "film" (lol film).

Essentially, getting home and washing with ONR did most of the work. It was still fresh enough I guess. What was left was very difficult to see unless you got a direct light or sun and then looked at the perfect angles. Even then, very hard to see. So, I determined that doing anything further is not necessary for most of the car as it's a daily driver and not a show car.

There was one spot that was more visible, but not extremely visible. I had already ordered 3D Eraser Water Spot Remover, so tried it on that spot and it worked well. The 3D product is acid based. Probably not as strong as what was used in the video referenced above, but it works well enough. It says on glass to not let sit longer than a minute, so it's fairly powerful stuff. I'm glad I have it in my garage now.

Thanks for all the input on this thread. Great stuff.

 

[xilex]

That's about as strong of an acidic cleaner you can get. I looked it up when I saw this video when released. So anyone who gets to use this acid based wheel cleaner be carefull and use proper protection when you use it or you will get chemical burns if you are not carefull. This has a ph level up to 1 and for comparison Wheel Brightener has up to ph 5. So handle it with respect and it can damage paint if it dries on it and other parts like headlights and bare metall.

A water spot remover desolves the mineral deposits pretty good. But if it's already have etched the paint it's not much to do than polishing it to abrade off the etching. Not even the strongest acid will remove etching as it's a damage in the paint that has happened. An acid is very effective to desolve the damaged paint and oxidized paint which is the same in a way. But the damaged is still there but less noticeble. Like when you lightly abrade a scratch and the rough edges gets off but it's still a defect in the paint in most cases when they are deeper. So a water spot remover can be usefull to use even if it's etched paint from the water spot. As the polisher don't need to be handling the mineral deposits.

Hope you have some luck and the water spots did not etch your paint.

Hi SWETM, I have a similar situation but didn't want to start another thread on exact problem since OP mostly had problems resolved. I have been self-washing the car at local wash, usually spray it down then hand-washing down with my soap. I guess I took too long to go over the whole car with soap and the initial water ends up drying. After a few months of this, as a result, I now see a bunch of water spotting when under appropriate lighting conditions. I've gone over with a clay bar but they are still there. I did try some vinegar:water 1:1 spraying on a small area and then agitating a bit with MF towel, but I couldn't tell if it helped or not. How long should it sit for? It sat for maybe 10 seconds. What do you think is a good next step? Try something like CarPro Spotless, then proceed to Wheel Acid, and finally go to auto detailer for paint correction? It's a year old car, I'm not too OCD about perfect paint, so I wanted to postpone paint correction. Thanks.

 

[SWETM]

Hi SWETM, I have a similar situation but didn't want to start another thread on exact problem since OP mostly had problems resolved. I have been self-washing the car at local wash, usually spray it down then hand-washing down with my soap. I guess I took too long to go over the whole car with soap and the initial water ends up drying. After a few months of this, as a result, I now see a bunch of water spotting when under appropriate lighting conditions. I've gone over with a clay bar but they are still there. I did try some vinegar:water 1:1 spraying on a small area and then agitating a bit with MF towel, but I couldn't tell if it helped or not. How long should it sit for? It sat for maybe 10 seconds. What do you think is a good next step? Try something like CarPro Spotless, then proceed to Wheel Acid, and finally go to auto detailer for paint correction? It's a year old car, I'm not too OCD about perfect paint, so I wanted to postpone paint correction. Thanks.

I would test with Carpro Spotless. Wash the car and dry it. Use nitrile gloves and even some safety glasses as it is an acid based product. Work in the shade and on cool panels. Spray Spotless on a panel evenly and half of the hood and the roof. Use a mf applicator sponge that primed with a couple of sprays of Spotless so it don't soak up the solution on the panel. Work the Spotless in thoroughly with the mf applicator sponge. And wipe it off and rinse the panel thoroughly and dry it. Inspect if you where able to get all of the water spots off. If not repeat and have a bucket of clean water or rinse with the hose the mf applicator sponge and wring it out.

Don't know what LSP you are useing. But it's prefered when it's on it's last legs or that you do use something that could break it down. McKees 37 Coating Prep Wash or a stronger dilution than the recommended with Carpro Reset or doing a wipe down with working it in and rinse it off with Optimum Power Clean full strength. Rinse these off panel by panel so it don't dry on you. The same with Spotless have a look on it so it's not drying on the paint and if you have to do that rinse it off before it does. And work in smaller sections. You can use another car soap that leaves nothing behind and ad some APC that you have that is strong and diluteble to get an extra dent on the LSP. The water spots can be sealed in so you get as much of LSP off before you apply the Spotless.

After you are done wash it with a car soap that leaves nothing behind or use a panel prep wipe product. And reapply your LSP.

You may need to be useing 2×500ml bottles of Carpro Spotless depending on how many times you need to be repeat the applications. It's hard to tell if it's a etching or not. You may get it this way but if you notice that a couple of application don't remove them. They have probebly etched the paint. The benefit with Spotless you can use on most surfaces on the car as paint and glass and plastic trim and rubber trim and chrome and stainless steel. If you have a method where you start and finish when you are washing. Look either in where you beginning or where you end. Where you have the most water spots and mineral deposits build up and start with Spotless where you have the most of it. Try on a panel and repeat on that one until you get them off or you notice that you have some etching. If you need to be doing up to 3-5 applications it not be worth it and you do as many you can as the polishing gets them faster if you have done 2 at least. That if you notice that they are to bonded to get off or it has etched and needs to be abraded off.

The same thing if you decide to use a strong acid based wheel cleaner with the applications. But stay away from the glass and plastic trim and such as you can etch those parts with it. That's why I would not recommend you to do this with the acid based wheel cleaner. It's just too riskfull to do as you can damage more than you desolve the water spots. And probebly you have water spot etching if the Carpro Spotless don't work for you. And the acid based wheel cleaner won't fix etching either than remove the damaged paint. So evaluate how you move on from doing the Spotless. I would polish it and have it out in the sun afterwards and see if they comes back. Or if the detailer has an IR lambs that he cures ceramic coatings with. And he can bake the paint after the polishing. To see if you had the mineral deposits deep in the clearcoat. That's also why it could be a benefit to use a water spot remover from any brand. So you desolve the minerals in the water spots and you have the etching to polishing down them. And it's also how bad of etching you have gotten in a generally speaking. If not too bad it's easy to correct with polishing the paint after the water spot removal.

/ Tony

 

[xilex]

Don't know what LSP you are useing. But it's prefered when it's on it's last legs or that you do use something that could break it down. McKees 37 Coating Prep Wash or a stronger dilution than the recommended with Carpro Reset or doing a wipe down with working it in and rinse it off with Optimum Power Clean full strength. Rinse these off panel by panel so it don't dry on you. The same with Spotless have a look on it so it's not drying on the paint and if you have to do that rinse it off before it does. And work in smaller sections. You can use another car soap that leaves nothing behind and ad some APC that you have that is strong and diluteble to get an extra dent on the LSP. The water spots can be sealed in so you get as much of LSP off before you apply the Spotless.
/ Tony

Thanks, Tony, for the advice. I used Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. Damn, I should have dealt with these water spots first, now it's stuck under the sealant. Can I wipe a panel down with ONR, and then use some sort of paint cleaner like P21S Paintwork Cleanser to remove everything? That would be easiest. I'm not in a place where I can wash down the car with a hose.