Cleaned up and tried my hand at some new methods...

[Templar]

So for the longest time I've had hard water marks on my roof and a couple of windows that I just couldn't get off... It seemed no matter what I did, they would not budge. I tried the chemical guys hard water spot remover, and while it seemed to make a little dent in the spots, they were still there and very visible. I was afraid to try that stuff on the paint, so only used it on the windows. It minimized them but they could still be seen clearly so I was at my wits end.

I thought maybe I wasn't scrubbing them hard enough? I was also concerned with the spots on my CF roof. No matter how much I washed it, they didn't come off, and in fact they looked worse after a wash. I even tried claying them to see if it helped, and it didn't work at all.

Well I decided I wasn't going to stand for it anymore. I took my Porter Cable out of the box (I haven't used it yet), and got one of the pads prepped. I used a white hex polishing pad. I was afraid to use anything harsher that might cut into the paint. Now the product I went to was the Chemical Guys scratch and swirl begone. It's not a very harsh polish, but a polish nonetheless. I took it to the roof, and the results couldn't be better... I also used it on the hood since I had some swirls and I wanted to see if they could be removed. After the scratch and swirl be-gone (which also works wonders on light scratches), I used Chemical guys EZ creme glaze, and finished off with Jetseal 109 as my sealant.

Before:


After (lighting isn't the best, but it looks like a mirror in person):



Window before:


Window after:


Here are a couple of other shots of my detailing process:

Sonax going to work, my wheels were bad:


Afterwards:


My OEM exhaust was also pretty nasty:


Used Mother's chrome polish and a MF towel:


A couple of shots of the hood, removed a lot of swirls with the polish!



Finally, I would show some pics of the interior, but it would have been hard to see the difference. I treated with Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil and Prestine Clean. The interior wasn't very dirty to start with, but treating with Leatherique seemed to have restored the leather to it's OEM feel and smell. The interior looks like it was new!

[rjd598]

now thats clean!

[GOLFFRR]

impressed

[Tim B.]

What did you use on the spots on the glass ?

[MuttGrunt]

looks great! Always feels good to put some time into your baby and end up getting nice results from it. White always looks very beautiful and "pure" when done right, and your M is no different. Great work!

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Tim B.

What did you use on the spots on the glass ?

The PC I bought came with a soft white foam pad. I used that with the Chemical Guys water spot remover and pushed down on it relatively hard. It took a little bit, but it got rid of the spots. Using the water spot remover and my own elbow grease just wasn't enough.

Also, I had to wash the car again after I used the water spot remover, because I used so much of it and used it in so many different places that it was all over and it doesn't just wipe off, it kinda sticks to everything.

And thanks for all the props guys!

[Nine]

Pics of leather work....plz.

Also, were you using a garden hose to wash your car?

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Nine

Pics of leather work....plz.

Also, were you using a garden hose to wash your car?

I'll try to get some shots of the interior up tonight. Can't upload photos at work.

I used a regular garden hose attached to a foam gun for the wash. A couple of steps I didn't include pictures of was the two bucket wash method, and clay bar use on the car.

The water spots came from the sprinkler system in my old apartment complex. My parking space was in front of the building, right where the sprinklers were. They hit the one side and roof of the car. There wasn't really anything I could do about it. I could have parked in the overflow lot behind my building, but I've seen kids drinking and smoking back there on more than one occasion and police reports were filed in the past by other people for vandalism. It was very dark back there and I decided not to take the risk and just deal with the sprinklers hitting the car.

Even with a regular hose though, washing in the shade and drying the car quickly won't result in water spots in my experience. It's when the water beads on the car (hard water from a hose or sprinkler) and then bakes dry on the car in the summer sun, then you'll have spots.

Overall the job took me about 8-9 hours on Saturday and an additional hour or two on Sunday cleaning up some spots.

[Martin_D]

Take off the wheels and clean them better...

[mikenap]

Looks good! Those carbon roofs are mesmerizing, sometimes it's hard for my eyes to focus on them!

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Martin_D

Take off the wheels and clean them better...

Yea, the only tools I don't have are the ones to take the wheels off. I don't have a jack or any stands either, so kind of SOL on that.

Thanks for focusing on the negatives...

[THE TECH]

Looks good. Nicely done!

[Tim B.]

Originally Posted by Templar

The PC I bought came with a soft white foam pad. I used that with the Chemical Guys water spot remover and pushed down on it relatively hard. It took a little bit, but it got rid of the spots. Using the water spot remover and my own elbow grease just wasn't enough.

Also, I had to wash the car again after I used the water spot remover, because I used so much of it and used it in so many different places that it was all over and it doesn't just wipe off, it kinda sticks to everything.

And thanks for all the props guys!

Ok, thanks. I was just curious cause i just bought some CG water spot remover but hadn't tried it yet. I don't have bad spots(yet).....bought it mainly for my wife's car, so i'll keep your method in mind.

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Tim B.

Ok, thanks. I was just curious cause i just bought some CG water spot remover but hadn't tried it yet. I don't have bad spots(yet).....bought it mainly for my wife's car, so i'll keep your method in mind.

Are the spots on the windows or the paint? If it's the windows, I would just use some sort of terry towel or something, doesn't really matter, and scrub away. I tried but mine were just way too bad. Too much neglect on my part.

I tried using it with a microfiber towel on the roof and paint, but it didn't work much at all, so had to switch to the polisher for that part.

[SchnellM3]

Originally Posted by Martin_D

Take off the wheels and clean them better...

Originally Posted by Templar

Yea, the only tools I don't have are the ones to take the wheels off. I don't have a jack or any stands either, so kind of SOL on that.

Thanks for focusing on the negatives...

Here you go....

http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.ht...hannelid=FROOG

[Tim B.]

Originally Posted by Templar

Are the spots on the windows or the paint? If it's the windows, I would just use some sort of terry towel or something, doesn't really matter, and scrub away. I tried but mine were just way too bad. Too much neglect on my part.

I tried using it with a microfiber towel on the roof and paint, but it didn't work much at all, so had to switch to the polisher for that part.

I have a few spots i'll hit with polish(either by hand or machine) on my paint. She has them on paint and glass.

[Templar]

Long overdue. I took these a couple of days after I did the interior cleaning, but just posting them now

Crappy iPhone pics. The pic of the back is pretty grainy, so it's not that good. The two of the front actually look decent. The leatherique really did a great job, and I didn't even leave it on that long. I think I left the oil on for about 2 hours? Then used prestine clean to wipe everything down, then used a damp microfiber to once over everything. The result was an OEM looking finish and a smell that reminds me of when I first bought the car

[Detailers Domain]

great job!

[AutoCon]

With the CG water spot remover you have to rub pretty hard then flood the area with lots of water to neutralize the acid content as it is a calcium seeker, also the gel will not usually remove the spots but allow them to release when you polish the glass and paint or clearfilm.

Reclaimed water is the worst(Sprinkler systems in large office parks/apartment complex's and tunnel washes)when this etches the paint or glass it can be real bad, but allow it to get on film and it may not release at all(Just encountered this on a Porsche C4S detail on the factory clearfilm covering the rear quarters).

When using the gel it may take repeated applications of hard rubbing, thus why us pro's charge what we do because of the time & effort needed sometimes to correct these issues. One last thing DO NOT FORGET TO USE GLOVES to protect your hands, and a foam applicator (100PPI) works the best if using by hand as if you need to bear down with some friction you will not cause heavy marring to the finish or film(Glass will not be affected).

[Leonardo629]

question to the OP, how easy was the porter cable to operate? I'm thinking about buying the XP version from amazon.com, and just do some light polishing.

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Leonardo629

question to the OP, how easy was the porter cable to operate? I'm thinking about buying the XP version from amazon.com, and just do some light polishing.

Very easy. It's nice that it has varying speeds. It took me a little while to figure out what speeds were right for whatever I was doing at the time, but once I got it down and got it to a look that I liked on the car, I was very happy.

[robb7979]

I'm really surprised water spots would be that difficult to remove. Looks good though! I had a water softener installed for this very reason. I wash by hand every Saturday, with my garden hose. No water spots.