Joe Frito Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 I had my car at work today, and the lawn sprinklers got turned on covering my car with hard water. I didn't realize that this happened, so my car sat for a few hours getting hard water stains all over the hood. I washed the car as soon as I brought it home, and waxed/buffed the hood, but I can still see water spots in the light. The car is vapor with ebony stripes. My question is, am I able to use a clay bar on the stripes without damaging them? I am debating on taking my car in to get it professionally done (and billing my company), but I may do it myself. Any other ideas on how to get hard water spots off of my car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light66 Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 I had my car at work today, and the lawn sprinklers got turned on covering my car with hard water. I didn't realize that this happened, so my car sat for a few hours getting hard water stains all over the hood. I washed the car as soon as I brought it home, and waxed/buffed the hood, but I can still see water spots in the light. The car is vapor with ebony stripes. My question is, am I able to use a clay bar on the stripes without damaging them? I am debating on taking my car in to get it professionally done (and billing my company), but I may do it myself. Any other ideas on how to get hard water spots off of my car? This weekend I got fine tree sap all over the car's top side. I used a clay bar along with a spray on detailer, no problem. No scratches. The paint and stripes are silky smooth. Make sure you use enough detailer, so the clay bar does not stick and you will be just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasShelby Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 2 old school remedies for sun baked water spots, usually a very warm plain white vinegar will neutralize the mineral deposits. Just take your time and don't scrub too hard, let the vinegar do all the work. If your water there has a higher acid content than mineral, then you might try a small amount of distilled water and baking soda made into a paste and let sit on the spots for a couple minutes then see if you can work the spots out gently. (This is the only way I remove bugs from the front of a vehicle, it works flawlessly) Either way then a good wash and I would laydown another coat of wax or sealant. I've had excellent luck with ICE paste. I will laydown 3 or 4 coats in a 2 or 3 day period and touch the front area a couple times a year with ICE liquid. Excellent product and works great on all surfaces and most temps. Of course, depending on how long it sat in the sun and hot it was and what color has a lot to do with it. I would do a small area to see if it's just mineral spots, if it got too hot you may need to have a pro take a buffer to it. The water just spotted the stripes and not the paint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Frito Posted August 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 2 old school remedies for sun baked water spots, usually a very warm plain white vinegar will neutralize the mineral deposits. Just take your time and don't scrub too hard, let the vinegar do all the work. If your water there has a higher acid content than mineral, then you might try a small amount of distilled water and baking soda made into a paste and let sit on the spots for a couple minutes then see if you can work the spots out gently. (This is the only way I remove bugs from the front of a vehicle, it works flawlessly) Either way then a good wash and I would laydown another coat of wax or sealant. I've had excellent luck with ICE paste. I will laydown 3 or 4 coats in a 2 or 3 day period and touch the front area a couple times a year with ICE liquid. Excellent product and works great on all surfaces and most temps. Of course, depending on how long it sat in the sun and hot it was and what color has a lot to do with it. I would do a small area to see if it's just mineral spots, if it got too hot you may need to have a pro take a buffer to it. The water just spotted the stripes and not the paint? No, the whole car was spotted, but I am not worried about getting the spots out of the paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 I had my car at work today, and the lawn sprinklers got turned on covering my car with hard water. I didn't realize that this happened, so my car sat for a few hours getting hard water stains all over the hood. I washed the car as soon as I brought it home, and waxed/buffed the hood, but I can still see water spots in the light. The car is vapor with ebony stripes. My question is, am I able to use a clay bar on the stripes without damaging them? I am debating on taking my car in to get it professionally done (and billing my company), but I may do it myself. Any other ideas on how to get hard water spots off of my car? Yes you can clay bar your stripes, i've done mine before. No damage and they have never looked better. Just like Light66 said use plenty of detail spray to keep the clay sliding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2010KonaBlueGT Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 Yes you can clay bar your stripes, i've done mine before. No damage and they have never looked better. Ditto. I gave my car the clay bar treatment a couple of months after I bought it. Oddly enough, the only place on the car that I could actually feel the clay grab particulates was on the stripes. The painted surfaces were smooth from the get go (meaning they really didn't need a clay bar) but the stripes all had crap stuck to them. Run the bar over each area a couple of times and they smoothed right out. When the bar slides smoothly, it's done it's job. Phill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercompdad Posted September 4, 2010 Report Share Posted September 4, 2010 I had my car at work today, and the lawn sprinklers got turned on covering my car with hard water. I didn't realize that this happened, so my car sat for a few hours getting hard water stains all over the hood. I washed the car as soon as I brought it home, and waxed/buffed the hood, but I can still see water spots in the light. The car is vapor with ebony stripes. My question is, am I able to use a clay bar on the stripes without damaging them? I am debating on taking my car in to get it professionally done (and billing my company), but I may do it myself. Any other ideas on how to get hard water spots off of my car? Intresting that I saw this post today as I had just discovered the same problem and couldn't remove the spots with a good carnuba wax. I don't know about the stripes but I had just finished searching for some ideas and came across this article. I think this is my next step. http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4891 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.