How do I Remove Water Spots?
Northwest residents live in one of the most beautiful regions of the country--we have rivers, lakes, mountains, beaches, and one of the most diverse ecologies anywhere in the country. Did you know that one of only two rainforests in the U.S. is located in Washington State? Unfortunately, all of the rain that keeps our forests and lawns green and lush takes a toll on our automobiles.
One of the most common questions that we are asked is "how do I get water spots off of my car?" There are many ways to accomplish this, but in the below article we are going to describe for you the BEST ways--the fastest and easiest ways--to get hard water spots off the windows and paint of your car. Below you will find some very useful information on how water spots end up on your car, and the best way to remove them.
What are waterspots and how do they get on my windows and paint?
A waterspot is a mineral deposit left on any surface that is allowed to air dry. Waterspot formation is affected by the mineral content of your local water supply. The serverity of the spot is directly affected by the specific minerals or "suspended solids" which are contained in your local water supply. The Sodium level of the water has a very large affect on the severity of a water spot.
Water spots form when a surface that has been washed is allowed to air dry. If a surface is allowed to dry in the sun, water spots will be more severe as the heat causes the suspended solids (minerals) within the water to "bake" onto the surface. The type of surface will also affect the severity of the water spots--more "slippery" surfaces are less likely to hold spots although generally they are softer and more prone to etching.
What does this mean? Basically, if you wash your car in the sun and don't dry it with a towel or shammy, the minerals in your local water supply are going to bake onto your car and when the water is gone the minerals will live on--you will have water spots on your paint and windows. At The Car Bar, we see a lot of cars with water spots as a result of parking next to sprinklers, so it doesn't just happen when you wash the car. Generally, rain doesn't leave bad waterspots because the mineral content of rain (with the exception of chemical rain) is much lower than that of water that comes out of the ground.
Determining the level of severity of waterspots
The first step in determining how to remove the spots from your paint or window is to determine the severity of the mineral deposits and thus determine what level of product or approach you need to use. If you work with cars on a daily basis (like The Car Bar does) then you can almost immediately recognize the severity of the problem and the best way to solve it. We don't waste our time with a "light" approach to waterspot removal because there is one method to remove any severity of water spots, but if you don't know what you are doing, you can badly damage your vehicle's paint. More on that later.
The more severe the water spots the closer together and "deeper" they will be. When waterspots are really bad, they have a sort of matting affect that dulls the color of the paint and makes it harder to see through the windows.
The best way to approach removing the spots is to use one of the panels of your car as a 'test' panel. Using test spots, you can gradually escalate the severity of your approach until you find the chemical and method that takes the spots off with the least rick of harming your vehicles paint.
There are really only a few effective methods of removing water spots
1. The Car Bar way
Light water spots can be removed with a light chemical application and minor agitation. We have seen a lot of homemade recipes for solutions that remove water spots--everything from Ketchup to white vinager. We were interested to see if white vinager worked, and were not really surprised to find that it does work on very light water spots. Vinegar is fermented from ethanol in a process which yields acetic acid--acid is the most affective way to remove water spots, so it is not surprising that a light acid would take of light water spots. To remove the light spots, we simply put it in a spray bottle let it sit for a moment, and then wiped it off with a regular microfibre towel (we didn't see any real difference between using a slightly more abrasive terry cloth towel and our regular microfibre towels). The vinegar did not work for removing a heavier spot.
ACID
Acid removal of water spots is really the only way to go. The Car Bar uses a product called Acid Clean to remove water spots. We dilute the product depending on the severity of the water spot starting at 1 part water to 1 part acid or 50/50. If it works to remove the spot we move on to the next step. If not, we increase the amount of acid so the dilution favors the acid. We do this until we find a ratio that works for that particular spot. There is not much point in diluting the solution at less than 50/50 unless you feel like standing around all day. Make sure that you are wearing protective gloves before you start messing around with the chemicals. These are serious chemicals that should not be handled by an ungloved hand. Use gloves that are rated to withstand heavy chemicals.
THIS NEXT PART IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT SO PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU START TRYING TO REMOVE YOUR WATERSPOTS.
The water spot removal process is as follows:
1. Wash the Car before you begin the waterspot removal process.
2. Make sure that the car is clean and wet AND NOT IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT. If the car is in direct sunlight you are about to destroy your paint job so don't have the car in direct sun unless you feel like repainting the vehicle.
3. We recommend using a pressure washer rather than a hose for rinsing as you are going to remove the acid quickly.
4. Put your solution into a spray bottle.
5. You are going to want to work one panel/window at a time. Do not try to make the process faster by tackling more than one panel at a time, especially if you have not done this before.
6. spray the acid solution onto the selected area of the vehicle and use a wash brush or cloth to gently spread the acid over the surface of the panel or window.
7. Wait no longer than thirty seconds and then thoroughly rinse the solution off the surface. Make sure that you get all of the solution of the car.
If the water spots have been removed, the water will run off the car quickly in a thin flat sheet. If not, the water will seperate into small riveluts. You do not want the water to 'bead up,' this is a common misconception. Beaded water indicates a higher coefficient of friction or "stickyness." Stickyness is simply the presence of some other material (minerals) that causes the water to adhere to the paint. If the water is not running off the car quickly in a thin sheet, the water spots have not been removed. If the water spots have not been removed, repeat the above process until they are removed. Once one panel/window is clean, move on to the next always being careful to not leave the acid on the vehicle longer than 30 seconds at a time and to rinse the solution very thoroughly off the surface.
IMPORTANT!!!: If you leave the acid on the paint for too long, or if you do this in the sun you WILL burn your paint job. Burns will show up as white or foggy spots on the paint, and they cannot be buffed or wet sanded out. If you burn the paint, you will have to repaint to fix it.
How do we know this? We train water spot removal to our employees using test panels that we get from body shops or junk yards. After we have shown them the correct way, we allow them to burn the panel so that they can see what happens when you leave the solution on the car for too long. We have never burned paint at any of our shops. We guarantee that we will not damage your paint taking off the spots.
If the acid does not take off the waterspots--it means that the minerals have etched the glass or paint. If that is the case, then you will want to remove all of the water spots you can with the acid method and then use a combination of wet sanding and buffing to get whatever spots or etching remains. On rare occasions, we have had to use a fine steel wool in conjunction with our acid solution in order to remove very heavy water spots from windows. If you have a problem of this magnitude you will want to take it to a professional. If you rub to hard with the steel wool you will scratch your glass. We have not yet found an effective way of removing scratches from glass. There are a number of products which claim to do so, but we have not yet found a system that works consistantly.
An upside to removing waterspots from your vehicle is that it leaves the paint looking fresh and bright. You will want to wax and seal the vehicle once the spots have been removed. A good wax/sealent will protect your car from waterspots in the future. This is why we typically recommend an exterior detail along with any water spot removal service.
IMPORTANT!!!: If you use acid to remove your water spots you must be careful to trap and dispose of the used water in a way that is environmentally responsible and complies with local and state regulations. There are a number of services that will pump the water for you, but you must be careful to trap the water. We use a large wash mat that traps the water. We then pump it into barrels.
2. Cutting and buffing
Water spots can be removed with a buffer, but you are in for a long and exhausting fight if this is your preferred method of water spot removal. Additionally, unless you are highly profficient with a buffing wheel you run the risk of burning the paint. If you insist on using this method, here is how you do it. Basically, this is how you cut and buff a vehicle.
1. Get a wool pad and some cutter. We use a cutter called "Tru Grit" although we don't use it for waterspot removal. Any abrasive cutter/cleaner will work.
2. At low revolution 900-1000 rpms use the buffer to cut the waterspots off the clear coat.
3. Once you have cut the whole car, go back with a swirl remover and black pad to remove any swirls put into the vehicle during the cut process.
4. Once you have removed the swirls go back with a polish and sealant using a black pad.
5. If you really want to shine, finish off with a tan pad at higher rpms (2600) and a polish.
6. Remove any excess wax in the cracks.
What can happen if you don't remove the waterspots
If you let the waterspots go, eventually the minerals (composed mostly of sodium) will etch your paint and/or windows. Once this happens, you will have to drop some dough to either have your car cut/wet sanded, your windows replaced, etc. Most of the time it can be fixed, but on rare occasions, repainting is required.