Water spots and trails down the side

[bigb]

I got some hard water spots and trails on a fiberglass motorhome. I have some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound which I tried with a 6" pad on a DA, it took a couple tries but it does eventually remove the water spots. I plan to follow up with Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax, or the Flagship Premium Marine Wax, I have both on the shelf. Is this a suitable plan of action? Is the Ultimate Compound my best and safest option for the water spots/trails?

Thanks, Brian

[Buddy]

If it's working and you have it on hand, I say keep using it.

[bigb]

If it's working and you have it on hand, I say keep using it.

It is working although slowly. There's a lot of square footage to cover! I also tried some clay with detailer for lube after I made the original post and it worked too, maybe even a little easier. Then I saw Meguiar's makes a water spot remover for RVs so I'm going to try that tomorrow. If nothing else I might try the Mequiar's spot remover with the clay. I've concluded that no matter what I use I'll need to wax afterwards as I will most likely end up removing whatever wax that's on it now.

[Buddy]

I think you have some good plans, water spot remover, clay, and compound. You may have to do all of them, if the spots have been there for a bit they may be burned in there.

[Nick Winn]

What pad are you using for the Ultimate Compound? Our Marine/RV Water Spot Remover is more for fresh water spots. So yes, you may need a liquid cleaner like Ultimate Compound. You can also consider a cleaner wax like our #M50 Marine/RV Cleaner Wax or Flagship Premium Cleaner Wax, or even our new M300 So1o All in One. A great dedicated compound is our #M67 Marine/RV One Step Compound as well.

[bigb]

Hi Nick, I was using a blue finishing pad with the compound. When you say fresh do you mean as opposed to salt water or do you mean recent? The water spots are from groundwater and likely high alkali. They are about 10 days old, they were exposed to the sun for about a week but now in a garage.

Going shopping here in a bit and will pick up more pads and look at some of those products. I also have some of the M50 on the shelf, as well as a bottle of Mirror Glaze Professional Medium-Cut Cleaner #1 in the tan bottle which I haven't tried on water spots.

Appreciate the help and hope to hear back soon.

[Nick Winn]

Hi Nick, I was using a blue finishing pad with the compound. When you say fresh do you mean as opposed to salt water or do you mean recent? The water spots are from groundwater and likely high alkali. They are about 10 days old, they were exposed to the sun for about a week but now in a garage.

Going shopping here in a bit and will pick up more pads and look at some of those products. I also have some of the M50 on the shelf, as well as a bottle of Mirror Glaze Professional Medium-Cut Cleaner #1 in the tan bottle which I haven't tried on water spots.

Appreciate the help and hope to hear back soon.

Yes I mean the water spot remover is more for recent water spots.

Don't be afraid to use an aggressive foam pad if needed. I would stick with Marine/RV specific products if you are going to buy something new and it's not too much trouble to obtain.

[bigb]

So I was going to try the M50 with an orange pad but first I wanted to try the Meguiar's Water Spot remover. I waited all day for it to arrive and if finally got here so I went out to the garage and tried it. It looks very promising. I tried it on a corner that I had cut/polished with the compound but there were still some stubborn faint traces and it took them off! At least I hope it did. I noticed the label says that it helps prevent future spots so there must be a surface conditioner in it that I hope isn't just hiding them, although I did notice one streak still remained after the surface dried so I took my finger and applied pressure on the cloth and that seems to have removed it. Tomorrow I'll wipe the test area down with wax & grease remover to see how it looks naked.

Question, can I apply the Flagship Marine wax after using the water spot product or do I need to remove the conditioner/residue first? If the water spot product leaves a deposit that isn't compatible with the wax I'll try the M-50.

Below is an example of some of the worst that I am dealing with. Of course it shows on the dark surfaces a lot more than the light ones which makes the light surfaces harder to work because you can't always see where you've been.

[bigb]

I did a test, the top half with an orange pad on the buffer using M-50 and the bottom using the Meguiar's water spot product. All looked good till I shined a flashlight across it and even after two applications the water spot product still left some traces behind. The M-50 took it all off first pass.

My plan is to use the M-50 with the orange pad and the water spot product on areas where the pad can't fit. The surface feels very smooth after the orange pad but would you recommend I go over it with a finishing pad afterwards?

[bigb]

Just about finished. The spot remover worked great on the awning brackets and the top roof radius where a pad would have been impossible. It even took the water spots off the awning fabric. The M-50 worked great everywhere else, all that's left for tomorrow is the cab. Pics below, it's hard to get a good pic of the roof radius due to all the reflections.

Now I need to decide if I want to apply wax, or clean off all the wax and do ceramic. The rig sits in the garage mostly and only gets out about 30 days per year so I'm thinking wax will work OK, but then again I'm thinking if I do ceramic I won't have to worry about it for a long, long time.

[Nick Winn]

Happy to hear everything is working out.