I have a Black '03 M3 and the hood has water spots on it from a sprinkler system. Unfortunately I was at a client's office all day in the 90 degree California sun when it happened and by the time I came out to my car and noticed the hood had been sprinkled it had also dryed!
I have tried the following methods/products and nothing has worked at all:
- Clayed using Wolfgang's Poly Clay
- Tried Klasse All-in-one AIO applied by hand(i don't own an orbital)
- Tried distilled vinegar (as mentioned in other posts) mix
None of these will do anything to remove the water spots.
What should I do?
You will likely have to start from the beginning and strip the car with a good wash first.
Then you will need a buffer with some quality polish.
If you don't have or want to get those yourself then a trip to a pro is likely in order.
I have pretty hard water and that happened to me when my neighbor put thier sprinkler out. My EVO got all wet and had spots. I just rewashed later that day when the sun started to go down and the temp started to drop.
2006 Graphite Gray EVO 9 SE
1/8 - 8.28@84.25mph w/1.87 60ft. (catback)
2003 Rally Red EVO 8 sold
1/8 - 7.87@87mph w/1.72 60ft. (intake,tbe,cams,ebc,flash)
You will need some light polish to get it out........
2015 ProSolo STX Class Champion
I would have tried the alc/h2o, first.
Then the clay.
Lastly, the AIO.
You do need a polisher, if they are as bad as I suspect.
Hard to believe that in that short amount of time the water spots are in so bad that it takes a polish to get them out. If that was the case 90% of the cars on the road would have severe waterspot damage. Did you rewash your car in the sun and wait a few minutes to dry it? Because that would cause new water spots.
Most times just a good wash, dry with a microfiber towel, and follow up with a quick detailer will rid 99% of fresh water spots. O
wtf I have never had a water spot that wouldn't come off with a clay bar.
My process is to wash with some Dawn, then clay bar, then hand rub with cleaner/wax before waxing with my high speed random orbit.
Whatever you do don't put too much elbow grease into one spot when using polish, that's a good way to make an unsightly spot (guess how I know).
If you've arrived here from searching, here's a short video I made on polishing out stubborn water spots from dark paint:
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