Water stains is not something you will get up in one day. Keep doing what you're doing and "maybe" in a week or so of constant cleaning it will eventually go away. Don't expect to get it in one sitting. You might be there for a while. You have no idea how long it's been like that so.....

 

Does anybody know where to get replacement chrome trim? Is that even possible for the chrome around the windows? I can't seem to find it online.

 

I used some chrome polish that I found in a green bottle at auto zone. Put it on a regular wash cloth and the water stains came right off with a little scrubbing. Haven't tried the windows yet though.

 

So did OP fix it?
i have the exact problem on my rims.

 

Hi. OP here. It's good that you resurrected the thread, cause I never followed up with the solution.

First of all, everybody in the world is going to tell you what the "trick" is to removing the hard water stains. That's because everybody's is different. Those who say that vinegar or mineral water or clay bar removed hard water stains just didn't have the stains as badly as you or I did. My theory is that they have some small rust damage from the hard water that they "cleaned out" with vinegar or whatever. But the stain is actually an etching in the car's surface, and the surface needs to be polished down by a micro-meter (I just made that unit up).

Let me back up for a second, though. I just have to say that my knowledge on this subject now has to be worthy of a Nobel Prize in Hard Water Stain Removal. For real. I went nuts trying to figure this out.

Here is what worked for me:

For plastic chrome trim: Mother's polishing ball and Mother's metal polish. Attach the ball to a drill and polish away. Expect to spend about 1 hour per door polishing the water stains off the chrome. They will eventually come off, I promise, but it takes a long time just sitting there with the ball spinning on the chrome. Your arms will get tired.

For the glass: Spot-X. This stuff is amazing. . But expect to spend hours scrubbing. I dropped about 5 pounds of body weight before the water stains came off the window. But my windows look good as new now.

For the wheels: This is more complex. The infiniti wheels are actually chrome paint on top of a black base coat on top of aluminum. I had to remove the wheels, strip the paint, and polish the metal. DO NOT DO THIS EVER!! If somebody ever warned me against it, I would not have undertaken this project. Don't get me wrong, my wheels look fantastic now. But I put in about 80 hours of work into this. Just buy new wheels and tires. Seriously.

As for me, I will never part with my OEM factory polished aluminum rims. EVER. Because they were my frustrating project.

Anyway, if you are in the same boat I was, the hard water stains are very severe. Trust me, I tried every product out there. There is no quick fix. What I listed above is the ONLY thing that will work. But it will work. You just have to set some time aside and put some elbow grease into it. The benefit is that your car will look brand new.

Later!

 

WOW, nice follow up. So your wheels at 80 hrs of labor @ $20/hr are now worth about $1600 above the cost of the wheels, so about $2400. I guess I'd be hanging onto them like grim death too
Glad it all worked out, and probably built your arms up like the Hulk

 

at least you know what your rims are made of.. I don't
have you tries scratch X on stains on rims?
Id hate to sand n polish my rims.. especially by hand

 

Some of us just figured you were saving it for the opportunity to create a new thread.




Glad you got it worked out Sprocket, and I can't believe you actually stripped you entire wheels. That IS a ridiculous amount of work (heck, I could have told you that ). Anyway, I'm assuming you clear-coated the wheels after you polished the underlying aluminum . . . RIGHT?!!! If you didn't, you will wish you did very shortly.



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The only place I use steel wool on the exterior of the car is on my exhaust tips, keep it away from the trim! My hard water spots go away on the plastic "chrome" after I wax, just use some "elbow grease" and it should come off unless you have serious build up from the previous owner.

 

Ooh, ouch. My $0.02...try something like this instead. Nevr-Dull. One can will last you a long time. No elbow grease required and your tips will always look like new.