[esonu]

well i have a redfire 03 gt. when i bought it (march 11) it was in great condition paint wise except for the rock chips in the front of the car. well now theres alot of minimal water spots and its not as smooth as before. i have meguiars clay kit, ultimate polish and liquid caranauba wax. how would i go about usung this and would i be needing something else? ive looked at videos but they pretty much do it on spotless cars so just want advice. if u want pics let me know i will try to get them up.

[brokenweasel]

Pictures always help!

First step - wash the car with something that will strip any wax already on the car.
2nd- clay the car, make sure you're using a good quick-detailer (mothers showtime instant detailer is excellent, but since you have the kit what came in it is fine)
3rd - if the water spots are still there, I would recommend getting some Meguiars Ultimate Compound and some elbow grease and go to town. You can follow up with ultimate polish if you want/need.

If you can't get them off with that, you'll need to seriously consider how bad it looks to you and if you want/can afford to get into machine compounding/polishing. This is a decent investment (I'd say minimum $300 to get what you need) and you can find more information about that in the stickies and other threads. Good luck!

[Gebor]

Only way to get water etching out is to sand and repaint

[glittle75]

^^ not true. A DA with a good cut pad and some compound will take them out. if they are deeper than that, which most aren't, then a wetsand and buff will get rid of them. The only time you really need to sand and repaint is when you have scratches, chips, etc that have taken basecoat off. And even then you could touch it up first.
I had water spots all over my car when i bought it. and they had been there for years. 6-8 hours with a PC later, and they are gone now.

[luke1333]

Originally Posted by glittle75 ^^ not true. A DA with a good cut pad and some compound will take them out. if they are deeper than that, which most aren't, then a wetsand and buff will get rid of them. The only time you really need to sand and repaint is when you have scratches, chips, etc that have taken basecoat off. And even then you could touch it up first. I had water spots all over my car when i bought it. and they had been there for years. 6-8 hours with a PC later, and they are gone now.

Yeah I thought you could buff them out. I was like repaint??? No no no lol

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[amustangrocks]

if its rough feeling paint, the clay bar with smooth it out nice. then a swirl remover/polish will clean it up nicer. works best with a buffer, then it also remove swirls good too. my red car is a battle, my water here sucks. this summer i`m gonna make a house filter setup on a stand that i can add inline to the water hose for washing.

[NoColoradoGT]

Originally Posted by Gebor Only way to get water etching out is to sand and repaint

Terrible information.

With a decent compound and a pad with enough cut, you can achieve wetsand like results without the risk of sanding through the paint.

Depending on how deep the etching is, yes a Porter Cable may not take everything out and you may need to utilize a rotary, but a compound with a heavy cut and a decent pad with take them right out.