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Maintenance & Repair Paint and Body Maintenance & Repair
1025 messages, Last post on Nov 12, 2009 at 10:06 AM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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Replying to: obyone (Aug 20, 2009 9:06 pm) |
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I have a 2 month old black Acura TL. Sprinklers have twice left water on the car, and I'm in the Nevada summer climate of about 100 degrees. I wasn't aware previously of the problems of water stains. I've been researching this on the web, and have found various contradictory suggestions on how to deal with this. Using Meguar's products (from Meguar site) - clay. Then I read don't use clay. Don't try to rub it with microfiber towel. Use white vinegar. Use 1/2 distilled water, 1/2 white vinegar. Use 4 part water, 1 part white vinegar. Have a professional detailer work on it. Please help. Two main issues: 1) How would you deal with getting rid of water stains? 2) What can I do for the future? Was planning to drive up north, including Oregon and Washington where its raining/misting all fall/winter. How do people in rainy areas deal with keeping their cars water spot free?
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Replying to: jwbooth (Sep 04, 2009 5:33 am) I think clay is overkill for water spots, as it a professional detailer---both would be last resorts IMO. As for any "home remedies", which might work just fine, be sure to test them out on the bottom portion of a rocker panel or bumper before you slather any household product on your car. |
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Replying to: jwbooth (Sep 04, 2009 5:33 am)  Actually, there is a difference between water that falls from the sky and water that comes from a hose or sprinkler. Rainwater around here rarely causes any spotting that won't come out when you wash your car. So you can relax when you come to visit. Of course, EVERYTHING shows up on a black car. As Shifty says, hard water from a hose or sprinkler can cause spotting. I recently had some experience with this in the eastern part of the state where the water is harder than here in the west. I parked in my in-laws' driveway and their sprinklers caught the fender of my car. This was non-potable irrigation water. Ugh. The stains didn't come out after multiple washings but they did come out when I did my annual detailing. That included clay and applying a high quality paint sealant with an orbital. I really didn't pay attention to which step did the job. IMHO, if you wash the car so that there is no loose dirt or dust, you shouldn't have any trouble with clay or wiping the paint with a microfiber cloth. A fine polish should also do the trick. Finally, (and obviously) if you wash your car and dry it right away, water spots will not form. When the sprinklers get you and that water dries in the sun, you'll get spots. |
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I've been noticing a number of cars with what looks to be clearcoat failure. This appears to be an area of faded paint surrounded by a hazy border. It looks terrible. What's the main cause of this? More importantly, what can be done to protect paint from the clearcoat breaking down? I wonder if certain car brands or colors are more likely to have this happen. |
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Sep 12, 2009 3:05 pm)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 12, 2009 3:14 pm) So it sounds like the best protection would be a good old wash and wax. It seems black cars show this kind of damage more often. Red would be second. Any opinion on that?
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Sep 12, 2009 7:25 pm) This is why I'm really against any heavy buffing of a clear coat car---once you break the clear coat barrier, you can't just repair the top coat---you have to do both clear coat and color coat together. |
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Sep 12, 2009 3:05 pm) I would think an improper repaint and clearcoat application. I had some clearcoat failure on used Nissan Altima I had. I bought a small bottle of clearcoat, scraped off the clearcoat that was loose, and used the liquid clearcoat to seal along the border that was breaking down. Seemed to work fairly well.
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Replying to: jipster (Sep 15, 2009 6:37 pm) I probably haven't noticed cars that have small areas of failure. What I've seen are cars that have large areas (several square feet) where the clearcoat seems to be sloughing off either in one spot or several spots on one panel (like the hood). Makes an otherwise attractive car look bad. I figured that sunlight was the main culprit but I was wondering if there was anything special I could do to ward off premature failure. Maybe I'll wrap my cars in plastic like they used to do with living room furniture.
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