First off thanks for taking time to write a well thought out accurate post . Just didn’t have time to thoroughly read it and think about what I wanted to say. I do agree that stronger LSP (wax , sealant etc), dirt and stuff will slide off.
To summarize. You mentioned that tap water has minerals in it where sun hits it will magnify certain parts and etch the paint. Never heard this before. Would have thought the tap water would be more clean but guess not. So rain doesn’t have much minerals and mostly just dirt then? I know acid rain and pollutants can be issue but Seattle is pretty clean air so don’t think need to worry about that.
Sun drying tap water will cause etching I’m sure but if its in the shade (like garage for me in this case), you are stating that it will evaporate and less of a outline/etching but leave the car bit dirty. But how does it affect (or clog as you say) the wax or sealant etc? and its hard to get off?
That’s the problem I’m trying to avoid. Water stains are pain to remove and polishing only removed it lol
Anyways as mentioned, overthinking this but there are far more worse then I lol. Leaving the car in garage with the rain beads still there and not doing anything is bothersome but seems fine after your explanation. Just not sure how long until my OCD kicks in to wash it off lol
The last that you mentioned is what I would be doing and do as in just leave it as is. Then it's just about how much dirt you can stand out with haveing LOL. Most organic dirt is not so aggressive in to do any damage. The paint first reason it come to be made was so the steel/iron metalls would not rust. Then it was refiened to be better at protecting. Then it came to be used in different colors. What I try to say is what most detailers don't won't to hear is that modern is a very strong protection on it's own. But you can make it even better with adding more protection to it. And mostly it's to get a way better visual looks from it. Don't get me wrong I like to have as defect free paint as possible that looks awesome.
Don't know if it's makes sense but water from the state that is delivered to your house. Or if you well water and it has minerals in it. Often if not always goes though some kind of cleaning to be certain that it's not get so easy contaminants from things that us humans are sensetive to as bacterias and stuff. Hope it's mainly comes through what I mean as english is not my native language. So if I where to chose from washing with rain water or tap water without drying the vehical. Every time I would chose rain water. Then it's about how you would gather all of the rain water but just say it's done in a cleanly way. You can have a very clean tap water depending on where it's taken and how they do to and how much they need to be doing to get the water clean. The more treatment they need to be doing the more bad it is for us who likes to wash our vehicals and keep them nice. So it's much of what you have in your water that depends how the water gets and if they cause damage as in etching or just the residue from when it has evaporated off. If left in the full sun to dry when it's standing at the highest around noon you can have the magnifying effect on water beads even. I say can as it's not a thing that always happens. Then you would have seen many worse vehicals with water spots etching around. And I don't exactly know which minerals or other things in the water that causes the damage on clearcoat from the magnifying effect or just being heated up by the sun. But generally if rain water evaporate even in full sun it should not be making water spots or etching in the way that it's hard to be removed or damage the clearcoat. You can possible have dirt on the vehical before or rain water runs off from something that is dirty and landing on the paint. And this in some way is causing a reaction that leaves hard to remove spots or damage the clearcoat. Sprinklers is what can cause trouble outside of the washing. And especially on those that use a recycled water.
So take the water spots you can get from the water when you wash. It's the water that's left after the rinse. That's mainly the problem. With working in the shade or in the garage and even in lower temperature. Is what makes water to evaporate slower. So the less of the time this stands on the vehicals the better you avoid water spots and also the clogging of your LSP. The best thing is to get it off as soon as you can. Now you don't need to be getting crazy with it and it's also depending on the water you have. So if you wash your vehical out of the sun and dry it with mf drying towels or blowdry them. Before the water evaporate too much. The chance of getting water spots is minimal and damaged clearcoat even lesser.
The clogging I mentioned is what can happen over time if your water has a lot of minerals or solids in it. This can be building up on the LSP with the little of water that is unvoideble to get off before you are able to dry it. The little of water that's evaporates can leave enough of say lime scale as that's the common I know of to clogg the LSP so you get a less performance from it. As in water beading and sheeting from it and the self cleaning ability from it. This is mostly on longer lasting LSP as in ceramic coatings. In rare cases you can have problems with this on waxes and sealants that's longer lasting durability. Mostly you won't notice it as you will be reapply the LSP before it's showing. But who knows as it's hard to know if it's a clogged LSP or if it's a failed LSP as in it's been worned off. Some can be thinking that their LSP fails sooner than others does. And one of the reasons can be that it's just clogged and still protecting the paint. So it's easier to trouble shooting it on coatings. As it's pretty aggressive to unclogg it and most waxes and sealants would be failing by doing so. While a ceramic coating is very chemical resistant you have the ability to be unclogg it. An Italian company has made a car soap that is slightly on the acidic side. To use as maintance for ceramic coatings to use every other month or so. To desolve the lime scale build up before it gets such as build up so it degrade the water behavior and self cleaning ability. Then they have a little stronger product that you can use if it's already clogged by the lime scale build up. And also the even stronger than that when you have gotten a water spot.
So if you want to remove the water spots that are mineral based. It's an acidic based products that you use as water spot removers are. Then they have come far with the chemical technology so they can be mixing in acidic chemicals and use other chemicals so the ready to use solution gets ph balanced. But the reaction on the water spots is still an acidic one. The chemical either transform the lime scale to be able to get rinsed off or wiped off. Or it change the charge of it so it's released from the paint easier. If you have a ceramic coating I would get their dedicated water spot remover. As this is useally not too strong to degrade the coating. If you have a wax or sealant get a recommended water spot remover. As you want to be reapply these where you have used the water spot remover or at least top them up. That said some sealants can be great on resist the water spot remover. Don't know which sealants so it's trial and error. If it's degrades the water behavior directly or if you see it degrade where you have used the water spot remover faster than the other parts of the sealant. And the faster it's done the easier the water spots will get off. If you have had the water spots on for a longer time it can be needed to be doing more than 1 application of the water spot remover. And if it's too big amount of the water spot or that it has etched the clearcoat it's needed to be abraded off with polish or compound.
It's also important to look up that the water spot remover is safe to use on the glass. Some acids will be etching the glass. If you use another product than a water spot remover that is acidic based. I would stay away from getting even overspray on the glass. Some use acid based wheel cleaners as a water spot remover. Some of these can be bad to use on the glass and other materials than you have on wheels and their surroundings. And as with all of the chemical products you don't let them to dry on the vehical.
A waterless wash or rinseless wash has some kind of water softerner in it. So either use as a drying aid or do a wipe down with it after the wash. Useally takes care of fresh water spots. Some QD and spray waxes also has the ability to remove water spots. I even know of a glass cleaner that's also is a water spot remover on the paint. And even some car soaps claims to be acting as being less prone to get water spots on the paint after the rinse. But it's still important to drying the vehical.
In your case where your tap water seems to be able to etching the clearcoat. I would get a dedicated water spot remover to have at hand. If you where to see some water spots a while after you have washed and dried the car. And it's not coming off with the product you use as a drying aid or as a wipe down with after the drying. But as long as you are properly drying your vehical after the wash. And don't dry it too long after the last rinse. Also out of the sun and you won't be getting a problem with water spots. If you feel like it's gone a little longer time between the last rinse and the drying. And you also see some water spots do use a drying aid or do a wipe down with a QD or spray wax that is great for you. If you are carefull and still would get a lot of water spots. I would look for a DI water system to be used with at least the last rinse off.
