Removing hard water spots

[Cdnone1]

Does anyone here have any experience removing hard water marks on their cars.
I left my 911 with a friend for a few days and he did me a "favor" by rinsing it off everyday...after it had been sitting in the hot sun for 8 hours and then letting it air dry (bake on water marks) soooooooo I got it back with the worst hard water spots on it.
I have tried a search. I have tried washing it, drying, waxing a small area but I can't get these off
I have never used a clay bar or any hard cleaners on my car and would appreciate any info from people with experience removing these little pain in the arses

Thanks Steve

[kilodawg]

You need to ask on Autopia.org

[Netspeed]

Clay bars work awesome....just use lots of the lubricant that is supplied. Try Meguiers but you might have search a bit before your find it. I went about 5 auto stores searching for any type of clay before I found it a local hot rod shop (PAW).

After you use it, you will need to repolish and wax your car. If you feel like doing it on your own, try to get a Porter Cable random orbital with foam pads. Get two pads...one for the polish and another for the wax.

[TOO RUF]

CLR Diluted with water. That is what we use on our boat. Or go to West Marine and they sell products for that.

[Netspeed]

Originally posted by TOO RUF
CLR Diluted with water. That is what we use on our boat. Or go to West Marine and they sell products for that.

That might work great on a gel-coat but I'm not too sure on paint. The beauty of the clay is that it removes the surface problem (water spots, industrial fallout, etc.) without scratching the paint.

[89911]

Take is to a reputable body shop and have them do a final buffing with compound and a buffer. You can try the materials available to consumers, but after seeing my body guy do the final buff on my decklid, I realized that they can do it much better. Orbital buffers are really for the Sunday waxers. An 8 inch rotary buffer can do a lot of damage in the wrong hands, but beautiful results in the right ones. Oh, and Pittsburgh say high.

[rusnak]

NOOOOO DO NOT USE CLR!!!!!!!

Use paint cleaning clay from Griotsgarage.com or HD Cleanse made by Zymol. You can get Zymol from advertisers on Excellence.

No not use anything abrasive either, like Rubbing Compound.

Gawd, do not use harsh cleaners on your paint!

[boxster03]

Had the same problem on a black MB, water dripped from an a/c unit in parking garage and put hard water spots on the hood. after a trip to the detailer it was clear the only thing that was going to work was to repaint. I hope this is not the case with your car.

[rusnak]

Water is not a problem, but water mixed with a little acid or ammonia creates nasty hard water spots that would require a repait, yep.

[Por_sha911]

Use clay only as a last resort. It is too harsh.
Contact Larry at carcareonline.com and he'll tell you everything you need to know. At the end of the conversation you'll know exactly what you need for your specific situation. He's helped me a bunch.

[Hoffman912]

sounds like the sun baked the water into your paint (whitening). what happens is water dropplets, due to their convex shape act like a magnifying glass and burn the paint (ala magnifyling glas burning ants). not to fear, there is a fix. i had a similar issue a few years back where i left a bra on when it rained, took it off shortly afterwords when the sun was shining and the sun cooked it into the paint. its not hard water.. its literally baked in.

here are bits and pieces from an old thread on another forum

[quote]

ive always taken my bra off when done driving. and rarely drive in the rain. when i was at the south east 912 registry event in april.. it rained. the one time i leave my bra on, in the rain, in the 5 years i have owned her and this happens.





btw the process to fix whitening is hard work, but fixable.


we went to an automotive paint supplier, (where you can get all the equipment and paints etc for when you paint the car yourself), told them what happened this is what they told us would be the best thing to do.


what you need are


1)porter cable buffer or any other power orbital buffer

2) 3M rubbing compund

3) 3M glaze

4) wax (pic your favorite carnuba)

*5) polish (we did this just for good measure, but was not mentioned to us, so this is optional, but the rest is madatory to bring the paint back.)


A) now what you do is wash it etc..


use the buffer on the car with 3M rubbing compund. this will get it out for the most part.


C) buffer with glaze. this will continue to bring the paint back, and will take away any and all the swirl marks that occour with step B.


D) polish and or wax (we did this part by hand).


it is good to just do the whole car rather than the one spot, so that the whole car has the same continuous condition of paint, and further more if you are going to go this far, might as well get the rest of the car to look as good. (AND YES IT WILL LOOK DAMN GOOD!)


LEARN A VERY IMPORTANT LESSON FROM THIS!!!!!!!!

I KNOW I HAVE!!!!


only have the bra on when its nice.. rain will cause whitening (moisture baked into the paint, as you see above), and also if you leave the bra on there when not driving, any moisture underneath can cause rust. take it off after each time you have driven it, or when it is raining.. no matter what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (again.. look at the pics above.. hopfuly they will scare sense into everyone, and this message can teach others the hard lesson i personally learned)


bras are not a bad thing. they can do alot to protect paint. BUT when used in correctly

they will cause more harm than good. use common sense and you will be fine.


btw.. what did i have to do to fix my paint....

alot of time, elbow grease, patience, prayer, ulcers (about worrying about an paint job that cost $6k when it was done in 83, being ruined.) it is not 100%, and i doubt it can ever be brought back 100%, as if you look really closely you can still tell.


we got it to about 99.9% back (one small barely noticlble fade on side of passenger fender, right behind the turn signal), using 3m rubbing compound, 3m glaze, polishing compound, and wax.. alot of work. this is a pic after we fixed it... took many weeks and lots of work


btw i still do use my car Bra. it does help alot against chips, bugs, etc.. however.. using a bra is kind of like going out drinking...

if you act responsibly, you will have no problems. if you dont act responsible, you will be in deep ****. bras can do more harm than good, if one is not responsible.


please excuse the rant, but i hope this can really help you out. please, learn from my mistake!!!!!!! this will also happen with all bras vynal or magnetic, as well as magnetic numbers put on for auto-x or racing or in howards case for the heck of it.


here is how she looked the day after we finished doing all the stuff to fix the paint.. from white, pale, dull.. to bold, deep and dark.

[Cdnone1]

Harry
Thank you. The paint is only a few years old and I don't (can't afford) to repaint
I can't believe this happened over only two days. I guess the car had a lot of pollen on it so my friend hosed it off near the end of the day but never washed or dried the car
I'm still in shock that it could happen so quickly. I hope some people become aware of this from this thread
I guess I'll start with a really good auto detailing shop and see what they can do
Thanks everyone!
Steve

[Oh Haha]

You let a buddy use your 911?!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cdnone1]

Sure
I swap cars with my friends all the time, that way we each get to try out different rides and I get to convert them to Porsche fanatics.
Plus some of my friends have pretty nice cars! Heres a picture of on of my friends car that he left with me for a month while he was gone on business

steve

[anthony]

Time to invest in a Porter Cable polisher. I highly recommend Menzerna polishes. Do a 3, 4, or 5 step process and your car will look like new again.

3 step: Menzerna Intensive polish, Menzena Final Polish, Wax
4 step: Clay, Menzerna Intensive polish, Menzena Final Polish, Wax
5 step: Clay, Menzerna Intensive polish, Menzena Final Polish, Glaze, Wax

Menzerna:

http://www.properautocare.com/mepaca.htmlhttp://www.properautocare.com/mepaca.html

Porter Cable:

http://www.properautocare.com/porcabpolac.html

Use a yellow pad for the first polishing step, and a white pad for the second, and then hand wax. If the wax you use leaves a dry residue then you can use the the Porter Cable to remove the residue (usually a wool bonnet with a microfiber cover for that).


Good luck!

[rusnak]

Joe, I think you might be confusing paint cleaning clay with rubbing compound. The paint cleaning clay will remove tar, bugs, and light water spots. You spray a lubricant on the paint and the follow with the clay until you feel no resistance. It doesn't leave big scratches.

I think there is a final product to try before going with rubbing compound. That is TR3, which is more aggressive than the clay, and stronger than the HD Cleanse.

I agree with anthony, go with the Porter Cable random orbital polisher. All chemicals and techniques should start with the least aggressive, then go up in strength as needed. Your paint will not grow back, so any paint that is removed will eventually need to be resprayed back on to the car eventually. The goal is to preserve what you have.

Cdnone, I highly recommend you try to call Richard Griot at Griotsgarage.com. His company sells all the stuff you will need, and he is an expert in the field of paint care, as I'm sure carcareonline is also, though I have no experience with the latter. Good luck.

[nostatic]

take it to the track and sandblast them off...