should i remove water spots???

[sudsbyhubbs]

I was detailing my dad's neighbor's 1988 Cadillac earlier this afternoon for a much discounted price of $50. This included steam cleaning, engine cleaning, leather cleaning, interior fully dressed, wash, clay, wax. So after I get done the neighbor is complaining about these serious water spots/etchings that were on the trunk before I cleaned it. I told him before hand that for $50 that service was not included. He wasn't willing to pay more. Should I have gone ahead and removed those?

[AeroCleanse]

Personal choice.

[b2bomber]

hmm. IMHO - well you did say "detail", if I would have used that word I would have meant "full exterior detail" - thus concentrating on detailing the whole external of the paint. including getting rid of the water spots.
at the very discounted price you mentioned, you could have justified not doing a full engine detail and a full interior detail. a light interior detail would have been sufficient.
In however tempting it may seem to say, he got he's money's worth -- i still think you should have gotten rid of the water spots. and informed him beforehand that at that price, you can't include a full engine detail and interior detail.

.02 hth.

[J. A. Michaels]

I think you should of removed the water spots. If for nothing else then that car is a walking billboard for you work. People will see the water spots and say " He did not do that great of a job. He charged him for that.". Plus being your dad's neighbor, I would have removed the spots. Maybe just wiped down the engine compartment instead.

[sudsbyhubbs]

it was hard to determine if they actually were "water spots" i did try to get them off using clay, paint cleaner and d151. none of those seemed to even touch them. they were black in color and to be honest, i'm just not really sure what they were. the paint was really rough in that area. any ideas?

[yalerd]

I would try to remove them but if they require more work than usual then I would tell him that I tried but unfortunately to eliminate/make them less noticeable it would require more work than what you expected.

[acsuppa]

it was hard to determine if they actually were "water spots" i did try to get them off using clay, paint cleaner and d151. none of those seemed to even touch them. they were black in color and to be honest, i'm just not really sure what they were. the paint was really rough in that area. any ideas?

Wow. You tried a paint cleaner and D151 with no results? I know Cadillac paint can be hard but I thought that either D151 or a good paint cleaner would have at least made an improvement. If the paint was rough in the areas, then I would lean toward clear coat failure. Maybe bird "droppings"? If that's the case, then there will be no way be remove them. I had some luck in the past with a bad case of bird etching. I lightly wet sanded the area on the hood, then buffed the hood with #83 via rotary followed by #80 and #26 via PC. The hood came out really good but the spots were still very slightly visible in certain light and at certain angles.

[J. A. Michaels]

This sheds a different light on things. If you tried those steps, then really there was not much else to do. At least you tried.

[Funkster]

Doesn't sound like they are going anywhere. You gave it an effort at least.

[sudsbyhubbs]

yeah, i think i gave the wrong impression about it earlier. i went back over today and tried scratch-x as a last ditch effort, but it didn't work either. one of my goals is to learn the rotary this winter. that might have made a difference. i'm kind of leaning towards the clear coat failure theory.