Water spots AARGH!!
 

I own a black Acura CL Type S that I recently spent two days detailing. The other day I sprayed water on the car to wash off some dust/pollen that had collected. The next morning I look at the car, and I've got these white rings (spots) all over the car. So I wash the car, however, the spots, although not as noticeable, are still there.

I'm guessing either I've got really bad water or there's a problem with the clearcoat finish.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem is and if so, how do I fix it?

The best thing you can do is wash the car again and then use some good wax. I use only Meguiar's products. First, I use the Deep Crystal steps one and two - cleaner and polish and then Gold Class wax. I have 2 black cars so I wax minimum twice per month. You can try to use a quick detail spray but I find if you have hard water spots then you need to wax the car first. Then after every wash you should use the detail spray. It helps keep the finish smooth so you don't have this problem again.

You should also get a car duster. It will help you keep your car clean in between washes.

Mother's makes decent waxes too.

Try using a clay bar (Zaino or other) and dont forget a lubricant.

I know for a fact that Mother's Chrome Polish cleans like a dream on windows.....but I also own a california car duster, and that really, really, saves me money on car washes. I really only need to wash my car about once a month, then dust the rest of the month. Just rub those spots out with a car duster and you'll be fine.

Thanks to everyone for their input, it is much appreciated. I have been using Meguiar's products for some time now, however, part of the problem is that I didn't have a garage for over a year, so the finish has suffered somewhat.

A black car is pretty to look at, but what a bitch to keep clean!

first off you should NOT polish the car yet. Never polish unless it's a last resort, as polishing takes off a thin layer of clearcoat every time you do it. Eventually you'll lose your clearcoat and your paint will no longer be shiny.

Try washing it with meguiars gold class car wash first and see if that removes them. If not, get some Meguiars Quik Detailer and some detailing clay and rub 'em out. Polish is only used to remove pits in the clearcoat, NOT to remove stuff stuck on TOP of the clearcoat - and the white spots are just minerals from the water that have deposited on the car.

Then wax with meguiars gold class. Remember that anything you do to the paint - washing, waxing, polishing, detailing, MUST be done in STRAIGHT lines. If you go in circles like most people do, you'll get swirl lines in your paint which you will have to polish out. Mister Myogi was wrong about waxing cars!

If you wax your car with a random orbital buffer you will not get swirl marks...I spent about an hour w/ mione and some 3M ultra fine polish on my wifes darl blue (also hard to keep clean) 02 trans am (ws-6/6 speed...god I love that thing) and cleaned up all the factory swirl marks and some water spotting...followed up w/ meguiars. Even with a fine polish and a buffer you will have to quite careless to "burn through" the clear coat. The most important thing is to keep your car waxed and always dry it off ...and get a cali car duster those are worth way more than the 20 bucks or so they cost
my 2 cents...no change req'd

yeah, but like you said if you're not careful (and you have to really know what you're doing) you'll damage the paint with the orbital buffer. I'm all for good old fashioned elbow grease here!

Update: got in an accident yesterday. Some yahoo ran a red light and smashed up my nice car pretty badly. Thankfully, no one was hurt except the car.

I may be getting a new vehicle :mad:

Sucky! That was a really nice car to lose too :( Gonna get the same kind again?

one word (can you read french?) : chamois

you don't want my opinion b/c I fuked the finish on my Boyd billet rims about 3 years ago & now it will take for ever to polish the bitches up.

then on my new Dakota I have a shitload of hard water spots & I just scratched the crap out of my bed rails last night while I was moving 3 sofas.

That sucks! I guess the water spots are no longer a problem. Good to hear that you were not hurt.

I really liked that car but now that is has "diminished" value, I think I'm gonna get rid of it.

I'm looking at the Infiniti G35 as a replacement.