Water Marks Etched Into Clear Coat

[Brayster]

Hi guys the day I bought my car i noticed water marks on the paint work but stupidly thought nothing of it ... I washed it repeately but they remained.

Sorry for crappy iPhone pic cant get it to focus properly

On examination i realised they looked like limescale deposits...and researched teh net to discover the world of water marks.

I hand waxed and polished it with numerous vinegars and cutting polishes but no avail and was told machining polishing was the only chance now.

So rather than pay for it to be done poorly I went on a machine polishing course and yesterday did the bonnet... looks really great and brill news it removed the white water marks but ........it has left tiny craters in the paint.

I dont have a paint thickness gauage so didnt want to go crazy on the machining but they look pretty deep - anyone had this problem or know how thick panther black paint is typically?

[andy64]

Hi guys the day I bought my car i noticed water marks on the paint work but stupidly thought nothing of it ... I washed it repeately but they remained.

Sorry for crappy iphone pic cant get it to focus properly

On examination i realised they looked like limescale deposits...and researched teh net to discover the world of water marks.

I hand waxed and polished it with numerous vinegars and cutting polishes but no avail and was told machining polishing was the only chance now.

So rather than pay for it to be done poorly I went on a machine polishing course and yesterday did the bonnet... looks really great and brill news it removed the white water marks but ........it has left tiny craters in the paint.

I dont have a paint thickness gauage so didnt want to go crazy on the machining but they look pretty deep - anyone had this problem or know how thick panther black paint is typically?

Sorry to hear about this - seems to be a problem generally with poor quality paint.

I had a black 1988 Nissan Micra - bought new, washed every week & regularly polished - which had the same problem after only a few months & I couldn't get the marks out. The bonnet & roof quickly became mottled with oval shaped stains.

My last car was a metallic black 2002 Astra which didn't suffer from this problem at all during the 7 years I owned it from new (presumably due to Vauxhall using better paint) - fit & finish of the 2002 Astra was, with hindsight, considerably superior to my (newer design!) Fiesta - but having replaced my Astra with a Panther Black Fiesta, the Micra paint issue is back! This despite my Fiesta having had an extremely "pampered" existence so far - always garaged, rarely taken out in the rain & cleaned & polished regularly. Incidentally I also note that my rear silencer's now starting to corrode despite the car never having been on a salty road...

All I can recommend is to wash & polish the car regularly & I find that Autoglym Super Resin Polish helps to take the marks out, at least temporarily.

Don't even think about anything abrasive (e.g T-Cut) - you'll go straight through the paint (as I did with my Micra resulting in camouflage by way of an '80s-style stick-on bonnet stripe!)

[Mark M.K]

First of all, are you washing the car in direct sunlight? If thats the case, this is where your main problem is. The bodywork needs to be stone cold to stop any water baking into the bodywork.

There is a few ways to correct this. You can either try a special water drying detailer - such as Dodo Juice Time To Dry (it works wonders on water marks). A good polish such as Auto Glym Super Resin polish might be able to remove most, but not all. Or you can try claying the car with a soft/medium clay bar.

As you said in your post, machine polish will fix this, but that may cause more damage than good in the wrong hands.

I'm sure somebody else will come along with more advice, as there are some good guys on here who know how to clean a car.