Will paste was prevent water spots?

[don221]

I've had my car 6 months: metallic green + clear coat. I washed it as needed and used Carnauba Wax + cleaner several times by hand. I still got some water spots - not the white kind with crystal edges, but either a faint dark rim or a darkened, transparent spot. A professional detail job removed them, and the new wax beads nicely. But I am wondering if the spots will develop even if the wax is good. What is best practice?

[Selectchoice]

Re: Will paste was prevent water spots?

Water spots come in many, many types and configurations.

'Best practice' I suppose is to never let water sit on your car to the point that it will dry. Difficult to achieve in the real world though.

There's so many different types of 'water' that you can never be too sure what kind has landed on your paint. Wax is merely a sacrificial layer on top of your paint that repels any said defect for an indeterminate amount of time. A pure distilled water may be able to sit for a long time before it leaves spots whereas a recycled/reclaimed water may wear down the wax barrier at a faster rate. Acid rain might eat right through any surface coating in seconds.

Are the spots coming from one source? ie sprinkler system near by. If so, try to avoid parking near it or using harsher types of water on your paint when washing and always dry your car to remove any remaining water as quickly and efficiently as possible.

[don221]

Re: Will paste was prevent water spots?

G'day, mate. No sprinklers, thank God! The only water that I get is from washing (and that is deionized through my house water softener) and rain water. I live in SE Coastal US, so don't think we have much acid rain although there are a few power plants within 25 miles. The spots are all from rain when I can not avoid it. Recently, I have been carrying a waffle weave towel and "blotting" the spots. Since I am not sliding the towel, I don't think that I am scratching the surface. Watch for the joeys!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Will paste was prevent water spots?

Water spots form when water evaporates and leaves behind whatever was suspended in it - mostly minerals of some sort. Unless you've got one heck of a water softener at home, it's doubtful that you're using true, fully DI water that is totally free from minerals or any other contaminants. But even if you did have the highest quality DI water, that's not the issue. Rain water isn't as pure as we'd like to think it is so something is going to be left behind on the paint when even rain drops evaporate. But if rain water was totally pure, if there is any dust at all sitting on the paint and pure rain water (or even DI water) is allowed to land on it and self dry, it's going to push some of that light dust to the edges of the water droplets and, when the water evaporates, you've got a spot.

No wax, sealant or coating is going to prevent that from happening.

If you're being super diligent and blotting the car dry with a waffle weave drying towel, you might want to look into adding something like Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere into that process to make sure you're really not inflicting any marring.