Welcome back to Detail Garage!
I'm Matt, and today we're talking about water spots.
So, I parked my car here at work,
I got hit by sprinklers. It was the middle of the day, and the spots got baked onto the paint.
So I've got many levels of water spot damage on the car.
There's light ones and heavy ones that have etched all the way in.
I'm going to show you how to remove water spots from your car,
depending on the level of severity that the water spots have damaged your paint.
We'll start with the least aggressive method, and go up to the most aggressive to take care of anything.
First thing: Let's see if we can just wash them off!
I have some EcoSmart and a microfiber towel, so let's see if we can wash these spots from the hood and grille.
Saturate the area, then wipe the dirt away in one direction,
and roll to a fresh edge as you go. You don't want to grind the dirt in.
I'm going to go into the grille as well...
After you've removed the dirt, go ahead and flip your towel to a dry side and buff off the leftover wax.
So... you can see we've taken care of some of the larger spots from the surface...
...but if you look at certain angles, and it'll definitely show in the sunlight, you can still see a lot of spots left in the paint.
I don't know if you want to get a closeup on this now... whatever you want to do...
You can still see all these spots...
...all these spots...
We started with the hood looking very nasty, and we've taken care of a lot of the bigger spots.
But looking carefully, you can see we still have a lot of spots left in the paint.
So let's try to get those out.
We tried washing the car, and that took care of a good deal of the larger spots on the surface.
But as you see, we still have some spots left in the paint.
Now we're going up to the next aggressive method: we're gonna try the clay bar.
The clay bar removes embedded dirt, pollution, and contaminants that get stuck on the paint.
Sometimes water spots will get stuck on the paint, and you can take them off with a clay bar.
I'm going to use the Chemical Guys OG Clay Bar.
If you're not familiar with the clay bar, you can look on our YouTube channel where we have over 600 videos,
and you can learn how to use the clay bar.
I'll use some Luber, saturate this little area,
and I'm going to try to remove these embedded spots with the clay bar.
It's important to use a high quality clay bar and lubricant; you don't want to induce any fine marring or scratches.
A lot of people ask how do you know when you've clayed enough...
And once the surface feels and sounds smooth, you're done.
I'll get a fresh towel and let's see what we're working with.
Okay... it looks better... but nope. We've still got these spots.
This can be very frustrating for people who are not in the know...
It can be very frustrating and alarming to keep trying these steps and still have water spots.
So the clay bar didn't work.
What's the next aggressive step?
We're gonna try a water spot remover.
This a chemical we make: Chemical Guys Heavy Duty Water Spot Remover.
It is slightly acidic: so we're playing with Chemistry now.
Water spots tend to be alkaline: they're all the minerals left over after a water droplet evaporates.
If you hit it with an acid, it neutralizes the alkalinity.
If you want to order this, contact our Customer Service department since it's tricky to ship this product.
We're coming out with a different size bottle so we can ship it from our website like any other product.
I'm working the product in. Always in straight lines: never wipe in circles on your car.
If you got any debris on your applicator or towel, you don't want to scratch in 360°.
You work the product in and see if we can break down any of these heavier minerals.
This water spot remover works on paint, glass, metal.
I would avoid using it on plastic surfaces, but it works great on automotive surfaces that are shiny or clear.
Once you've worked the product in, you have to wash the area to neutralize the acid.
Don't let it set too long.
I'll just use more EcoSmart.
We've now neutralized all the acid.
Just like before: I'll wipe one way to remove all the chemical.
Then buff off the EcoSmart residue.
If you come back in again, you'll see we still have water spots! Very frustrating!
So we tried washing the car, we tried claying, we tried the water spot remover gel,
but we still have the water spots.
So now I'm pretty sure everything we see is etched into the paint.
That means the spots have corroded and burned into the paint.
Nothing else we put on top will get rid of it.
Now we have to remove paint to get the spot to go away.
So we turn to machine polishing.
Here I have the TORQ10FX dual action polisher:
the latest and greatest machine to hit the market.
I know from experience in polishing this car that I need to use a microfiber pad and V34 Compound
to actually achieve any type of paint correction.
I'll prime my pad with an 'X' and spread the product in...
...and I'll put some Pad Conditioner on the pad.
Just for demonstration purposes, I'm going to put some tape down so you can see the 50/50
so you can see how many water spots we remove with this process.
You don't actually need to use tape when you do this on your own car.
But just so we can see a stark contrast for all you folks at home, we'll put some tape down.
I've got my polish ready to go. Cord over the shoulder. I'll just polish a small 2' x 2' area here.
The TORQ machine is great: this digital control flips on and the machine is waiting for me.
Once I click this button, the slow start engages very smoothly.
So I used the slow setting to spread the compound evenly over the surface,
now I'll turn it up to cut away some paint.
Love using this machine! It's very smooth and pleasant to use, and it gets the job done!
We've done our pass, the polish has turned clear, so we know it's ready to be removed.
I'll go ahead and buff off the residue, and now you'll see all the spots are completely gone.
We cut away the paint where the water minerals etched into the paintwork,
and we're left with a flat surface free of any spots.
That's the most aggressive method I would use to remove water spots.
If even this didn't remove the spots, I would bump up to a heavier compound like V32.
If that didn't get them out, you might have to do some wet sanding.
That's the end of the road.
If you have to wet sand to remove water spots, you're better off going to a body shop.
That's intense work and if you don't know what you're doing, you can do a lot of damage.
I'll follow up this polishing step with some V36 to back out the marring from the compound
to get a nice fine finish on the paint!
Is this where we play all the dubstep in the video?
(WA WA CHIKA CHIKA WA WA BRAAAAAA)
(We don't need to record this, but don't cut please.)
(Maybe you should tell people why prime the microfiber pad and not a Hex-Logic pad...)
You prime both, you just do it differently.
Okay, ready?
You might notice that I'm priming this microfiber pad a bit differently than we do the foam pads.
That's because I want to coat every individual strand with polish.
With Hex-Logic foam pads, you put 5 - 6 dots of polish, spray it with pad conditioner,
and as you go it spreads around and works over the whole pad.
With microfiber, it's better to coat the whole thing when you first go. I use the 'X' then spread it over the pad.
After I've primed and used the pad, I'll add the normal 5 - 6 dots of polish for subsequent passes.
...using big words like "subsequent" on our channel...
Once again...
Go ahead and dab out the polish on the surface. Spread it out evenly. Flip the machine on, bump up to 1...
Spread out the polish,
and then bump it up to full speed to do the paint correction.
That's it! Our polish is turning clear. It's done its job.
To remove it, I'll use a fresh towel, and buff off the residue.
Now we have the beautiful lustrous shine again, and no more unsightly, ugly water spots.
If you don't take care of water spots fast enough: wash them off, use the clay bar, or water spot remover,
this is what happens: they will etch into the paint and cause permanent damage.
You need to get on them as soon as you can.
That depends on a lot of factors: if your car is sitting in the sun, it can bake the minerals in,
it depends on what minerals are in the water, so it's best to take care of them before they cause damage.
Now that we've removed the spots, the paint is totally exposed, and it's time to protect it.
Once again, I'll switch out my pad...
...and I'm going to use a brand new Red Hex-Logic Pad.
The Red pad is the softest pad and it's good for spreading fine sealants and cream waxes over your car.
Nice and centered...
I'm going to use some JetSeal.
JetSeal is our flagship sealant: it gives yearlong protection against the harshest elements
like pollution, road grime, water, insects, bugs, birds, any of that stuff.
I'm just going to put a few dots over the pad, and these few dots would easily do the entire hood.
I'll just show you how quickly you can spread product using a machine polisher and the right pad.
Here we go: just put a few dabs out, and turn the machine to the lowest speed setting.
That's it!
You can imagine how quickly you can wax or seal your entire car.
If you're a professional detailer or enthusiast who loves to detail your own car,
you can do a lot of work very quickly using these versatile machines.
It's very important to have the right machine for the job.
JetSeal has a 15 minute dry time, I'll grab a water and let this cure. See you in a moment!
So we're back! Our JetSeal has dried
(Stop! Walk out, do it again. Sit down, then start talking.)
(3... 2...)
So we're back! Our JetSeal has dried and we're ready to remove it.
Take a clean microfiber towel, and buff off the residue to reveal the beautiful shine and protection.
I'll remove the tape so you can see the 50/50 difference before and after we removed the water spots,
and sealed the paint against any future damage.
Now that I've finished this test spot, I'll replicate the same process over the entire hood.
If you guys have any questions, you can send us an email, check out our website,
or our YouTube channel where we have over 600 videos on how to detail anything.
You can also go on our website to order any of the products we used in today's video.
I'm going to get on the rest of this hood because these water spots are driving me nuts!
I'm Matt, and I love detailing!