I am so confused. - failed sealants, water spots, what's going on?

[04lss]

Hi all,

In some of my other threads I've talked about a few things. My Phobic coating failing on my doors / other areas after 5 months and 1500 miles. Water spots digging into my atlas paint, etc. This is a follow up. I am confused as to what's going on here.

First the background
Last weekend did a 2 step correction on my atlas to remove the factory swirls, the phobic remnants, and water spots. I used Koch Chemie rapid rinses to clean the polish residue off the panels, and followed with an older bottle of ADS prep spray.(opened in march). I applied a dry coating of gtechnic ceramic sealant v4 c2 v4. I let it cure overnight, with a little splash from rain. This week I put about 350 miles on the car one day in very heavy rain and traffic. Yesterday I polished the windows and applied rain x to all the non windshield and sunroof glass. the windshield has a 3 week old coating of Glaco

I washed the car today. I was really excited to see the hyrdophobics of the new sealant. I sprayed Adams mega foam on, let it dwell and rinsed. Absolutely dead panels. No hyrdrophics at all. Even after the contact wash the panels were acting like a coating that was 90% gone. I know it's just a spray sealant, but I cannot imagine it not lasting a week. Ive had spray detailers last longer.

I rinsed the car off and started drying. That's when I noticed what I thought was soap residue. I rinsed thoroughly, I have a ryobi car detialing model with the higher GPM. Adams soaps don't normally streak on me either. I slowly started to realize it looked like very rapid water spotting. Anywhere water sat for more than a minute or two it left spots that I had to use my drying aid (amplify) to remove. These spots happened on the very hydrophobic glass, the hydrophilic paint and even the wheels, which received a 5 step clean with multiple rinses in between.


So, all that said, what is going on? Am I doing something wrong in the process, like mixing my soap too heavy, not rinsing the car long enough,? Is there something else going on, like being near the Chesapeake bay just taking a toll on coatings? I do have a water softener, and a tannin filter, but I thought those reduced hard water spots.

grateful for any theories etc.

 

[Silly Rabbit]

I am just spitballing here. I have a car and have washed it in different environments and always get the same working experience and results. But I took the car in a trip and washed it at the hotel I was at. Others were washing their cars as well. I noticed the water was causing water spots, alot of them and bad. On everyones cars. And this is city treated water system. So I have gathered that not all water, even city water, in different regions, are equal. I am not saying this is your case, just something I have experienced. Maybe have a sample of your water tested, maybe that is the cause? Before you go chasing any product, method, etc, that could be a cause? Even go try a car wash bay, one of those coin bays where there is a boom sprayer. See how your experience comes out there. A change of venue.

 

[04lss]

I am just spitballing here. I have a car and have washed it in different environments and always get the same working experience and results. But I took the car in a trip and washed it at the hotel I was at. Others were washing their cars as well. I noticed the water was causing water spots, alot of them and bad. On everyones cars. And this is city treated water system. So I have gathered that not all water, even city water, in different regions, are equal. I am not saying this is your case, just something I have experienced. Maybe have a sample of your water tested, maybe that is the cause? Before you go chasing any product, method, etc, that could be a cause? Even go try a car wash bay, one of those coin bays where there is a boom sprayer. See how your experience comes out there. A change of venue.

You may be on to something. We moved in last December and learned not to drink the water. It smells like blood etc. they did some tests installed a second filter and it’s been “ok” but we still use bottled water to drink and cook.

I just tasted what’s coming out of my rod pressure washer and it tasted salty. Not quite sea salty but noticeable enough to taste.

Would washing with salt water really kill a sealant that fast ?

 

[TroyScherer]

I would point out that Koch Chemie rapid rinseless is not a polish remover and also states that it leaves some for of slick “protection” behind. So I would guess that starting out you still have polish residue as well as additional protection left behind. Anything that leaves a slick finish or gloss enhancement is leaving something extra behind and it could be considered protection.

While using ADS prep spray should help it’s not made to remove any kind of durable protection. So while it cleaned some I would guess it didn’t fully remove everything.

While some will disagree with me I also have found that mixing prep products and final protection products really isn’t the best idea. Most companies do have “special” ingredients that help in the bonding process when used as a system and mixing products then introduces new possibilities and issues.


The new rapid water spotting sounds like either the original water spots and residue were not fully removed in your initial attempt or you have other conditions and factors at play like water quality, overly hot panels, etc.

 

[04lss]

I would point out that Koch Chemie rapid rinseless is not a polish remover and also states that it leaves “protection” behind. So I would guess that starting out you still have polish residue as well as additional protection left behind.

While using ADS prep spray should help it’s not made to remove any kind of durable protection. So while it cleaned some I would guess it didn’t fully remove everything.

While some will disagree with me I also have found that mixing prep products and final protection products really isn’t the best idea. Most companies do have “special” ingredients that help in the bonding process when used as a system and mixing products then introduces new possibilities and issues.


The new rapid water spotting sounds like either the original water spots and residue were not fully removed in your initial attempt or you have other conditions and factors at play like water quality, overly hot panels, etc.

It’s possible the rrw messed up the coating.

I do disagree with the idea that the original water spots were not removed. I was meticulous about verifying that. The new spots also happen where water was standing things like the mirror drips or the rear license plate.
Based on some checks
I did on another car that did not have water spots I think the water might be to blame. Noticed it tastes salty, I did some digging and our water softener might be clogged and over flushing with salt brine. Only a theory, but I’m certain I compounded out those water spots.

 

[DFB]

Why did you use RRW and not the panel prep for polish removal?

When you did use panel prep, how much did you use? A light mist and wipe? Or a generous application, allowed to dwell for a short period, then wiped?

 

[04lss]

Why did you use RRW and not the panel prep for polish removal?

When you did use panel prep, how much did you use? A light mist and wipe? Or a generous application, allowed to dwell for a short period, then wiped?

Mainly because I was going panel by panel and taking breaks. I had about 40% of a bottle left of prep and didn’t want to risk running out. I used most of the bottle so decent amounts on each panel

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Something just popped into my head, and I can't remember....I think I had gotten a new hose, and popped it on and started to wash the car and got horrible spotting like that...apparently something in the hose, because nothing else was changed. I've also found that nozzles have springs that rust, and I have one of those retracting hoses that I use for the garden, that when it sits for a few days, the water comes out brown at first (not sure if that is a nozzle spring or something leaching out of the hose).

I'm just noting all this in case you've got something in your system that is corroding or otherwise contaminating the water.

 

[04lss]

So, I think I know what happened, at least for the water spotting. I was in the shower, and decided to taste the water, at the beginning of the shower it was salty gone by the end. We have two water treatment things here, both use salt to flush the resin in the filters. One of them was holding water in the salt tank. A few regen cycles and its fixed, but after doing some research, if the salt brine is too strong it will make the water salty after a regen.

my theory is that the standing water made a saturated salt brine, and it caused the filter to become salty. I have a new test now, I run my pressure washer for a minute or so with no nozzle, and then give the water a quick taste, if its salty, no car wash, if it tastes normal, I can wash the car. I do think that I am going to switch to a rinse less wash system for 90% of washes. My understanding is that rinseless will prevent the salt from saying on the paint because of its ability to encapsulate minerals. That said, I can use 2 gallons of distilled water for the bucket to completely rule out my water.

We are moving this fall, and ill have access to a pay and spray again. (the one in town here literally puts out green water, tried it once, filled my bucket and left before washing the car)

 

[Setec Astronomy]

If you're getting water in the salt tank, that sounds like a clogged pickup, which would keep the brine from getting into the resin...and resulting in hard water, so keep that in mind also.