Hard Water Spots
08-03-2009, 05:12 PM
#11
Contributors
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Newnan, Georgia
Posts: 1,769
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2004 545i
Production date: 02/04
Color: Black Sapphire Metallic
Trim: Anthracite
Options: Sport package with STEPTRONIC, Premium Sound, Rear Sunshade, Xenon
Wash...blow dry as much water as possible with a grass blower....and finish off with Adam's quick detailer...which removes some tiny water spots...and washing from direct sunlight definately helps.
08-03-2009, 07:10 PM
#12
Contributors
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 456
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: I have an 05 545i. It's a manual with a few options. This is my first BMW but I don't know how I'll ever be able to switch to something else.
^^^ What they said. Wash in a shaded area if you can, if not then get a good car wash shampoo that has water softeners in it to help combat the water spots.
As for your procedure you listed, let me tweak it a bit:
1) Wash the car. Wash from the top, down. The bottom parts are the dirtiest and you don't want to wash your car with dirty water, they will induce swirls. If your going to clay the car after this, DON'T DRY THE CAR. There's no point, your wasting your time because you want to wash the car again after you clay, or use a waterless car wash like Poorboy's Spray & Wipe.
2) Clay the car. Make sure to use lots of lube! Lack of lube will mar the paint and that is a big no-no, that will require some heavy duty paint correction.
3) Wash the car again, or use a waterless wash, to remove all the clay lube from the car and any residual dirt. Dry the car now. I recommended some big Waffle Weave microfiber towels, not just regular microfiber towels. The WW towels can absorb much more water, and have more room in them to capture any dirt particles to avoid scratching the paint. Also, have you tried the water sheeting method to dry the car? Dry car with water method This removes like 90% of the water on the car, allowing you to quickly dry the rest of the car and avoid water spots.
4) Now you can polish the paint. Depending on what kind of correction you need you can use (stronger to weakest): Compound, Abrasive polish, chemical polish a.k.a. Paint Cleanser or Pre-wax cleaner. Always try to use the least aggressive polish needed. Compound is literally liquid sandpaper so be careful with this stuff. There is no need to wash the car after this step. Here you can go over the car with a quick detailer to remove any polish residue (recommended)
5) Now your ready for your LSP (Last step product), this can be either a wax or sealant. Sealants are more durable, but don't have the depth of a wax. They leave your car very shiny, but not that "wet" look of a wax. You can layer a wax over a sealant for the best of both worlds, but you can't layer a sealant over a wax. Chemistry
Shoot me a PM with your e-mail and i can send you a good .pdf on detailing
As for your procedure you listed, let me tweak it a bit:
1) Wash the car. Wash from the top, down. The bottom parts are the dirtiest and you don't want to wash your car with dirty water, they will induce swirls. If your going to clay the car after this, DON'T DRY THE CAR. There's no point, your wasting your time because you want to wash the car again after you clay, or use a waterless car wash like Poorboy's Spray & Wipe.
2) Clay the car. Make sure to use lots of lube! Lack of lube will mar the paint and that is a big no-no, that will require some heavy duty paint correction.
3) Wash the car again, or use a waterless wash, to remove all the clay lube from the car and any residual dirt. Dry the car now. I recommended some big Waffle Weave microfiber towels, not just regular microfiber towels. The WW towels can absorb much more water, and have more room in them to capture any dirt particles to avoid scratching the paint. Also, have you tried the water sheeting method to dry the car? Dry car with water method This removes like 90% of the water on the car, allowing you to quickly dry the rest of the car and avoid water spots.
4) Now you can polish the paint. Depending on what kind of correction you need you can use (stronger to weakest): Compound, Abrasive polish, chemical polish a.k.a. Paint Cleanser or Pre-wax cleaner. Always try to use the least aggressive polish needed. Compound is literally liquid sandpaper so be careful with this stuff. There is no need to wash the car after this step. Here you can go over the car with a quick detailer to remove any polish residue (recommended)
5) Now your ready for your LSP (Last step product), this can be either a wax or sealant. Sealants are more durable, but don't have the depth of a wax. They leave your car very shiny, but not that "wet" look of a wax. You can layer a wax over a sealant for the best of both worlds, but you can't layer a sealant over a wax. Chemistry
Shoot me a PM with your e-mail and i can send you a good .pdf on detailing
08-08-2009, 02:29 PM
#13
Members
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Anzafin' post='964224' date='Aug 3 2009, 05:26 PM
Congratulations on your new car!
Reading the Autopia is a good thing, that site gives a lot. But I tell my point of views shortly.
These are the general steps in a full detail (exterior).
1) Washing
- a regular car shampoo isn't enough, you need something stronger, maybe a solvent wash
- with a strong solvent wash you can remove the most of the contaminants and strip the wax layers off
- some watermarks may disappear too if they're on the wax instead of clearcoat
2) Claying
- wiping all the panels with a special detailing clay using a quick detailer or a car shampoo + water dilution as a lubricant
- removes all remaining wax layers, contaminants, and possibly water marks
- if you're not going to polish the car after this step, go straight to waxing
- a must-to-do step before polishing
3) Compounding/polishing
- you need a machine polisher (rotary or random orbital) to effectively polish a car
- is actually "sanding" = removes a marginal amount of the clearcoat (the amount depends on the roughness of the polishing/compounding product and the pad used and the technique)
- removes scratches, swirls, water marks...
- there are lots and lots of different products to choose
- if your car needs a compounding, then it will need a lighter polishing step too to make a shiny finish
- requires some learning and experience
- note that people often use the "polishing" word in different contexts too, so don't get confused!
4) Waxing
- well, I think you know what this generally is
- after claying or polishing, you will need a good wash before waxing to get rid of possible residues of stuff used
- lots of different products available with different abilities as you know
- a wax or a sealant with good cleaning abilities may remove some water marks that are not "burned" on the clearcoat itself, but on the existenting wax layer
- using a cleaner wax is a milder choice for a clay, for example if you want just to strip the old waxes and put new ones on (needs a wash before of course)
- these cleaner waxes are great to be used as the base layer for some other, more resistant wax
- some waxes and sealant include "fillers" that can fill some of the lightest scratches and swirls, but will be washed away in time
- Antti -
Reading the Autopia is a good thing, that site gives a lot. But I tell my point of views shortly.
These are the general steps in a full detail (exterior).
1) Washing
- a regular car shampoo isn't enough, you need something stronger, maybe a solvent wash
- with a strong solvent wash you can remove the most of the contaminants and strip the wax layers off
- some watermarks may disappear too if they're on the wax instead of clearcoat
2) Claying
- wiping all the panels with a special detailing clay using a quick detailer or a car shampoo + water dilution as a lubricant
- removes all remaining wax layers, contaminants, and possibly water marks
- if you're not going to polish the car after this step, go straight to waxing
- a must-to-do step before polishing
3) Compounding/polishing
- you need a machine polisher (rotary or random orbital) to effectively polish a car
- is actually "sanding" = removes a marginal amount of the clearcoat (the amount depends on the roughness of the polishing/compounding product and the pad used and the technique)
- removes scratches, swirls, water marks...
- there are lots and lots of different products to choose
- if your car needs a compounding, then it will need a lighter polishing step too to make a shiny finish
- requires some learning and experience
- note that people often use the "polishing" word in different contexts too, so don't get confused!
4) Waxing
- well, I think you know what this generally is
- after claying or polishing, you will need a good wash before waxing to get rid of possible residues of stuff used
- lots of different products available with different abilities as you know
- a wax or a sealant with good cleaning abilities may remove some water marks that are not "burned" on the clearcoat itself, but on the existenting wax layer
- using a cleaner wax is a milder choice for a clay, for example if you want just to strip the old waxes and put new ones on (needs a wash before of course)
- these cleaner waxes are great to be used as the base layer for some other, more resistant wax
- some waxes and sealant include "fillers" that can fill some of the lightest scratches and swirls, but will be washed away in time
- Antti -
Listen to Antti - he knows his stuff. Couldn't have said it better myself!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post