Removing Water Spots
 

I had the unfortunate situation of parking at a hotel near Spokane, WA this past week which had temperatures roasting at nearly 110 degrees for several days (record heatwave). The hotel sprinklers got my car over night which then baked hard into the black paint the next day. :shakes head: It was several days before I could get home and wash my car and discover the water spots wouldn't come out! :eek:

At first I tried a mixture of 50% white vinegar and water (saw this on multiple YouTube videos), which didn't do anything at all. I next tried the vinegar straight up, again, totally nothing. Next, I tried buffing the paint with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, still nothing. The only thing that appeared to work is Meguiar's Water Spot Remover on a speed setting of about 5 to 6 on my Porter Cable. I followed up with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. The water spots finally came out! but I was surprised by all the hype on the internet about white vinegar which didn't seem to work.

Has anyone else experienced this? What worked for you and what didn't?

sounds about like what Ive read about water spot removal, requires some cutting

I had the same issue on a car. Parked next to sprinkler for a few days in the sun and boom, water spots galor. I ended up using water and vinegar which cut the spots to probably 50%. I then had to polish as well.

Throw down a good coat of wax to prevent this from happening in the future.

Have any pics of the damage?

In this video, I have water spots on my car that have been there for almost a year. They came off with soap and water. I explain why in the video.



Here's the deal with water spots.

There is NO one size fits all when it comes to removing them.

That over the counter crap that is "specifically made" for removing water spots is a joke. You can make the equivalent to the same thing in your kitchen with stuff you have laying around the house. How easy the spots are removed depends on the level of protection you have on your paint. Your situation tell me that you either had no protection or you definitely need to change what you used or how you used it.

It's that simple.