When I wash my car at home, I end up with horrible water spots. Even if I towel dry the car immediately after washing, some still show up, although maybe not as bad.

How do you guys deal with this problem? Is there a product available to prevent spotting? Or, am I just doing it wrong?

 

Check out this thread!

https://g35driver.com/forums/care-detailing/181877-crspotless.html

 

Thanks for the link ABQ_G35. I guess I should have searched. There's a lot of information on this subject.

I'm not sure I want to spend $400 for the crspotless system though. I'm sure there's a practically free alternative that does exactly the same thing, right?

 

I would ask George at Detailed Image....Great Guy

https://g35driver.com/forums/showthr...t=detail+image

Im sure he can help you out with a product and/or advice

 

You should just go to a self-service carwash. All the ones I've been to have spot-free rinses and they always work well. It never leaves water spots and it actually dries spotless even if I don't get to it in time to dry.

 

I've done that in the past and you're right, the spot free rinse works well. That's probably what I'll do.

 

I bought this system, when I did the math, it's going to cost about the same per year than going to the self serve car wash, and that includes buying the unit, after the first year, the cost will go down plus, at home you don't have to put up with mud, oil and whatever else gets washed off in those bays. I'd spend $7 washing my car, more if I washed the wheels and tires at the car wash, I usually did that at home.

 

Well, it looks like the practically free alternative is to wait for a cool evening to wash the car. It was in the low 80s at about 7:30 this evening so I decided to give washing it at home another shot.

I washed the wheels first so that I could dry the car as soon as I finished washing the body. I think that was a good idea. The water didn't have time to evaporate before I towel dried it.

It looked really good when I finished. No water spots at all. Naturally, it started raining on the way to the store after washing it, so it probably has water spots all over it now. But, at least it looked good for an hour or so.

 

Not sure of you've already done this, but I'll share anyway. Immediately after washing the car, I male sure that I start drying it. I then spray whatever tire shine that I'm gonna spray on and take the car for a quick spin. I then check to see where any holes or crevices have allowed water to run and dry them asap. I then dry the wheels and as I'm done, I dry any water that has been left around the doors, hood or trunk. It minimizes water spots to the point where I have nothing to worry about. Hope this helps. I'm just real **** when it comes to drying the car.

 

It sounds like you go a little further than i do with drying your car. I don't bother to dry the wheels or go back over it to catch drips after driving it.

I had to run some errands this morning and was happy to see the rain last night didn't leave any spots. I park in the garage but put it away wet after running to the store. Lower temperatures and towel drying immediately after washing seem to be the keys to preventing spots without spending a lot of money.

 

Here's what I do:

Take the nozzle off of the hose so it's just an open end. Turn the water about halfway up. You want the water to flow, not squirt or spray. Hold the hose about an inch above the roof and re-rinse the car. Do the same thing to the front/rear windscreen, hood, and trunk.

Water is very collective; using it as a spray makes it difficult to roll off of the paint. With low flow, it will pull most of the water off only by using roll off. Dry with a chamois or microfiber towel.

I use the Absorber because I got tired of the maintenance on leather chamois. The synthetic ones didn't seem to do as good of a job, either. Microfiber towels are nice, but they need to be cleaned constantly to do a good job.

As soon as you're done drying, apply a quick detailer to the paint. You'll have little to no water marks now.

 

Well, if you can do that, then you don't really have a hard water problem, if you did that here you'd have crusty water spots that can even etch the paint, sounds like your water is okay down there, So tell me, if the spots dry, can you just remove them with water and a towel? Rain is a funny thing, sometimes if it rains hard enough, the car will still be clean. Oh, and by the way, rain water spots are nothing, they just wash right off! One other thing I do is use a cordless blower to blow the water out of the door handles, spoiler, grille, mirrors etc.
You can't do that if you have any water conservation that's a huge waste of water, here you could be fined for that!

 

He actually sells the CR Spotless System.

http://www.detailedimage.com/CRSpotl...-Systems-P160/

 

No, the spots won't come off with just water. In fact, the first time it happened, I re-rinsed the car and quickly dried it off. The spots were fainter but still there.

Yeah, the rain didn't leave spots at all. It was a really light rain and I wasn't out in it for long, but it was enough to wet down the car pretty good. Rain water must have a lot fewer minerals in it.

I thought about using my air compressor to blow dry the car but I'm not sure if the hose will reach that far. What do you mean by cordless blower? Like a leaf blower?

 

wax your car a little more often after you get the spots off. That way the spot are on the wax and can be wiped off with quick detailer spray. It is possible that the water spots are never removed when you wash and they are etching from a acid rain. So what you actaully see are the same spots over and over. Try polishing with a PC and follow up with a machine wax then a hand wax to ensure you have a nice thick coat of protectant. See if that helps.

Also mist the car right before you dry it. I use a "jelly" skeegy which gets 85% of the water in like 2 minutes. Then I follow it with a micro fiber. My car is black and water drys quick.