water spots, pollen

[b2089]

Hello. I have a 2003 bright red GA that I just purchased. I've waxed it with mequiars wax in a spray bottle. It's what I've always used and since the paint is in good condition I didn't feel the need for anything else. Now it gets ghorrible spots on it, even on the glass sunroof and to a lesser gegree the back glass. I know pollen in my area is bad, but I can't wash this thing every day. Any ideas on making it more slickery so the rain doesn't make it look like a leper mobile? Is this just what you get for driving a bright car?

Also I'm considering using a wax with cleaners in it to make the paint more uniform since it has some swirl marks only visible up close. Should I wash the car is dish detergent to strip off the quick wax or just go ahead and re-wax it?

[erimar77]

i use a car duster... that helps keep the pollen stuff off.

[03xGAxSE]

use a duster if its that bad....

but it sounds like you have acid rain/ hard water spots, those should be buffed out

spray and wax is trash, use a decent hand wax/polish... its more work but it looks better too, removes swirls and is a better protectant

[b2089]

The pollen is bad, but this is different. It could be acid spots but I've never had this trouble with previous cars. Usually I don't even dry them, I just drive them and the water flies off, but not this car. The spots are like water spots on dishes, then the pollen sticks to them making it even more aparent.

I'm begining to suspect that you 03x are right when you said to dump the spray wax. It's a meguirs brand and I know they make good stuff, but it should have protected the car better. I wax it and it shines like it's brand new, for a day. It's like the spray wax doesn't stick properly or something. I have wax in a can that I bought because they didn't have what I wanted in stock. It's the meguirs cleaner wax but I normally use the liquid. I'll try a good rewax and see what happens.

Has anyone used that Tech wax from them?

The best wax I ever had was Teflon wax. They had to stop making it because the government said the teflon wax was a hoax, but I still know it did wonder. I put it on the side of my refrigerater to test it and magnets would not stick. I had to use Ajax to rough the surface up so I could put my sticky not magnet back up. No joke, it worked.

----EDIT---
Let me add, whether it's important or not. The acid rain thing had me thinking. I went out to the car and rubbed a few spots with my finger, no water or anything. The spots rub off with little effort, but don't simply spray off when re-rinsed (my first attempt at removing them bofore coming here). Does this mean it's surface dust sticking or is it still possibly acid rain or water spots?

[03xGAxSE]

probably water spots then, how do you dry the car?

what solvent do you use to wash the car? please dont say the soap at the car wash... if so go buy some "wash and wax" doesnt matter what brand,try 'em out pick your fav. washing by hand sucks, but you reap what you sow...

edit when wasing by hand, make sure you use a clean soap mitt

[b2089]

I have used a bath towel to wash it, but I recently bought a turtle wax brand wooly mit. I use Meguiars deep crystal soap. I have dried it with a towel but I bought one of those leatherlike drying towels that I will use tomorrow. With the towel I couldn't get the car completly dry, but it looked good at the moment. The spots seemed to apear an hour or so later. I supose the surface was damp enough for minerals to pool up. Hoperfully my new car towel will dry the car better,

I used to use the spray wash on a burgandy car and never had water spots, so I tried the spray wash with this car, and it spotted just the same. I even used the "wax". I suppose that a shiney car will just have to be washed and dried properly.

[03xGAxSE]

yeah your chamoice (sp? ahh eff it, shammy) will help out ALOT i bet thats what the problem is.... dirt in the air was sticking to the water left by the towel

sounds like you got a good soap..

just make sure you wash the chamoice first... just throw it in the wash by itself, with a VERY little amout of detergent, that way all the excess dyes and treatments dont stain your clearcoat

keep that clean as well... obvoiusly dirt in the mitt or the chamoice will scratch the paint..

[matts]

i use one of those auto squeegies (sp?). then get the remaining water with a bath towel. towels are usually pretty good with leaving lint behind though. the squeegie doesn't leave very much water behind, only in the spots it can't reach.

[03xGAxSE]

and scratch the hell out of it...

chamoice is the way i promise

[b2089]

I've thought about a squeege. It's risky though because you have to make sure the thing is clean as well as the car, but you just washed it so it should be.

I think my car is what a farmer needs to irrigate their crops. It seems to draw all the moisture out of the atmosphere in an attempt to impeed drying. I'm using the leatherlike chamois, boy is it a pain. I never did re-wax the car, but it seems the spray on wax did okay now. The water doesn't run off completly, but the car looks good. Unfortunatly the nozzle on my hose is sealed on so I have to use a sprayer to rinse. I'm told that a nozzle free hose helps speed water run off and drying.

Drying the car better helps keep the dust from sticking imediatly like it was. Now the car gets a uniform pollen coat after a day or two. I'm going to look into a duster for that, because it's pointless to wash every day.

[Rich]

is the spray wax your using the nxt spray wax? if so, that is really only supposed to be used inbetween waxes with the stuff you put on by hand. but yeah like said above ive heard spray waxes aren't the best. i use the NXT wax (non spray bottle) and its super easy to use and looks great when done. put it on, wait 15 minutes, wipe it off, and enjoy great looking car.

[b2089]

It's wasn't NXT. It was Meguiars cleaner wax in a bottle. I think the car was wxed when I bought it a few months ago, so I put a spray quick wax on it. I then spray waxed it again a week later, and then a few days later since I wanted to use the bottle up and toss it out.