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Water Spotting, Junkman2008 please come in.

2K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Junkman2008 
#1 Ā·
Hello all,
I'm a long time car detailer from the late 80's and came across a new problem I have not had to deal with. I have a 2020 Charger and it's Pitch Black.
Since the season has changed , we have had an unbelievable amount of pollen and tons of rain. My car sits in the garage when it's home but I do drive it to work with a parking lot surrounded by Trees.
I get the occasional Bird dropping which isn't an issue, my protectants have helped protect my paint from that but the brand new issue I have now is water spotting. So My car will sit at my job overnight sometimes as I take the work van home. When I come back to the shop especially after a rain or 2 , my car is trashed with water spots dirt and filth from the tress pollen and dust.
Usually I take it home, give it a PH neutral Shampoo bath and everything is gone and my finish is back to being close to perfection as possible. I dry the car with a Drying aid in a Detail spray light mist and that really helps. I use a leaf blower to get the water out of the cracks and the wheels.
I currently have a Ceramic spray coating on the car in Griots Garage 3-1 and it's been fine up until just this week. I took the car home last night , gave it it's weekly bath only to find water spots all over the hood roof and trunk. I damn near passed out in horror.
I tried using a detail spray to see if they would just wipe off but they are on there. I used a straight polish by hand to test a spot ( Griots Garage Polish ) and they came off. This is after I picked myself off my Garage floor after passing out ( LOL ).
Anyway I'm now questioning my protection. I have been trying the latest Spray ceramic infused products on the market. I use only top quality stuff but learned that Ceramic anything has issues with Water Spotting. I have not had this issue with my Durango which was white and Ceramic coated with Griots and my Charger I got last year in October and also has been coating with Griots with no issues up until now.

So if anyone has any other protection that they fell would be better at fighting off Water Spotting, I'm all ears. I'm ready to go back to my previous Meguries Synthetic Paint Sealant paste as I never had any issues with that product.

On a side not the Griots has been topped every few weeks as I'm a nut with my car. I use Detail spray for drying and at least once a month I will use a topper to help boost the protection.
 
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#2 Ā· (Edited)
Your protection is not much of a protection. You never said exactly what your protection is. Also, drying your car using detail spray is a waste of detail spray. The person who came up with that sells detail spray so that is just a gimmick to make you use more so that they can sell you more.

If you have to use detail spray because the water is drying before you can get it off the car, you are doing a couple of things wrong. It sounds like you are washing your car in direct sunlight. Horrible decision. It also sounds like you are not using the pooling rinse as your last rinse when washing the car. If you did a pooling rinse as a last step before the leaf blower, you would find out that you would have a LOT less water to remove off the car and the drying process would be much faster.

So exactly what is your protection? If it is the ceramic coating, that is not much of a protection if it is spotting as bad as you are saying.
 
#7 Ā·
I have 3-1 Ceramic Spray waxy Griots Garage. Than on top of that there is a layer of Turtle wax ICE Spray wax. I do the topper about once a month.

I gave the car a light Polish today and all the water spots are gone. I just fear them coming back. The Protection is gone and now it's just Griots Garage Carnauba Wax. I only did the trunk Roof and Hood which also included the tops of the fenders and rear quarter Panels. The Tops of the Doors I was able to just use hand wax.

I don't have any washing issues, this isn't where my issues are coming from. I have a very solid technic in a Foam Cannon, 2 bucket method, PH neutral shampoo, clean Micro Fiber wash kits that are very soft.
I dry with a leaf Blower and light mist Detail spray with a Adam's Jumbo drying towel.
I have no water spots with this technic. It's when I have to leave my car at work and the trees , rain and pulling sit on my car for a few days. The paint beads like crazy but I also think that might be the issue. I was looking for some alternative protections. I was thinking of going back to Paint Sealant.
 
#3 Ā·
Not sure if I learned it from one of Junkman's videos or not, but the single biggest mistake I was making up until a few years ago was thinking washing and drying in sunlight was great. Wrong! A cloudy day, or what I do every single wash and dry now, is keep it in the garage during the whole process.

I don't have time to spend 3-4 days detailing anymore, but the single best thing I can offer is that getting the car dry, especially black and darker colors, with minimal sunlight and heat will be your best friend.

Water spots annoy me to no end, and this time of year in the Northeast it's almost impossible to keep a black car presentable. Pollen is everywhere. I washed and dried last week and had a nice coat of polish and by the time I got to work the deck lid and rear bumper were yellow with pollen. Throw in a 16 hour shift where it sits in a parking lot all night and you get the morning mist.

It's a losing battle for me right now as I have Cherry Blossom trees on either side of my driveway. So between birds loving those trees, the pollen, and little pink flowers everywhere, I just give it 2-3 weeks.

A nice finish on the paint will help, but really the only way I can get the water spots completely off is to do another wash and dry.
 
#5 Ā·
Not sure if I learned it from one of Junkman's videos or not, but the single biggest mistake I was making up until a few years ago was thinking washing and drying in sunlight was great. Wrong! A cloudy day, or what I do every single wash and dry now, is keep it in the garage during the whole process.
Yes, that's EXACTLY what I do. Haven't seen a water spot in ages.

 
#6 Ā·
It's been decades since I had a garage with a floor drain. Those aren't allowed any more due to EPA regulations.
 
#10 Ā·
That's basically where I'm at. forgetting all this stuff about Ceramics and going to what I know works. What brands are you using ? I'm thinking of falling back on Maguires. They never let me down in the past and I'm hoping nothing has changed.
 
#11 Ā·
For my sealant, I use Hi-Temp's Terminator Polymer Sealant (HT-62). It actually contains a very light polish so it corrects and seals in one step. The only correction that I would even consider doing with this sealant is THE LIGHTEST possible imperfection that you may have in your paint. I'm talking so light that you could buff it out by hand. You have to allow it to cure so READ THE INSTRUCTIONS on how it is to be used. It does NOT take a lot of product for protection as a little bit goes a long way. I normally apply it with the Flex on a speed of 5, to really work it into the finish. The people that make it are friendly and will talk to you if necessary.

I top that sealant after it cures with Collinite's Marque D'Elegance Carnauba Paste Wax. Both products are easy to apply, provided you don't go hog wild and goop in on all over the place. A little bit goes a long way.

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#14 Ā·
You know I really didn't pay attention to the time line. I did my first and only protection coating back in October 3 2020 when I purchased the car. I have only done toppers since then. I have not re prepped the paint for a new coating of any kind. I use PH Neutral soap and I'm sure over time it has worn down my original layer of protection.

If you think about protection , whatever it is it needs to bond with the clear coat. By using toppers, they just bond to whoever is underneath and don't offer anywhere near the level of protection the original layer offers. Since COVID , my sense of time is tarnished. I use cleaning my car as therapy and love going through the process. Honestly If I could make the same money or more than what I do now detailing, I would absolutely go back to it. My son does it on the side and does very well with it.

But when I saw water Spots on my paint last week I kinda freaked out. Without thinking I honestly barely prepped it when it was new as I didn't allow the dealership to touch it. I took it home dirty right off the truck and the only person who sat in the seat was the guy who took it off the truck and the Tech who new Car Prepped it. It didn't go to detail as I didn't want surface scratches right off the lot.

So I did a top Prep so far but I used a Carnauba based wax for protection and didn't do the sides. Only all top surfaces. I was concerned about the Water Spots etching the clear coat. They are all gone now and I think next weekend I'm gonna do a full Strip wash which should kill the layer of Carnauba I put on, check over my work on all top surfaces than proceed to do a one step pure polish step as needed all around the car. Use a Paint prep which I have to get more and then re apply a good top layer protection.

I'm gonna decide this week what that is. Honestly the Griots Garage Ceramic Spray Coating held up for 7 months and it's just a Spray Ceramic 3 in 1 wax. That's not to bad and the gloss is out of this world. It's more glass like shine than the warm yellowish comfortable glow you get from Paint Sealants and Wax toppers. So I gotta decide which way to go.

Graphene is all the rage right now and even Turtle Wax made a Spray and Paste version. They get stupid good results and all the Torture tests they win every one compared to all others.

What do you think about the Graphene Ceramic Spray coatings? You always seem to have a bit of a inside track knowledge. Again thanks for all your advise since I joined this forum man.
 
#15 Ā·
Here's the way The Junkman's mind works.

When a company comes out with a product that is supposed to be specifically made for a certain color car, I ask one question. How does the product in the bottle know what color your car is?

IT DOESN'T. It's gonna do whatever it does, no matter what color your car is.

So if a product is made for a specific color car, there has to be something in that product that makes it so. If the manufacturer cannot EXPLAIN and SHOW ME what that substance is or the science behind their claim, then I know that it is nothing but a gimmick. It is just like microfiber soap. Are microfiber towels made out of some mysterious material that NO OTHER CLOTHING is made out of? NO. So if not, why does it need it's own special soap? IT DOESN'T. It is just a gimmick to make people who don't know, buy the product. In their mind, they THINK that this special soap is doing something more than any other soap can do. And to those people I say one thing.

The emperor has no clothes.

People can be lead to believe anything if you can sell it. It's those of us who question everything, who can see through the snake oil. So if you think that some product is specially made for your color car, then you should be able to break down the technology and explain why that is so. This is why I explain in detail as to why I do what I do, as well as how I do it. Because if you claimed that something worked and some guy questioned you as to how you know, you can explain the reasoning and/or technology behind your beliefs. If your answer was something like, "Because The Junkman said so." My response to you would be...

"Who the hell is The Junkman?" šŸ˜
 
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