<![CDATA[Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL]]>So i have a few black cars and I suck at keeping them clean. And i have a new audi with black paint and it is fucking water etched on the paint and the glass.

I've tried clay bar and hand griot's hand polish and other shit but i don't really know wtf i am doing and i am not getting results. And it takes me hours and hours to do this shit.

So a few questions

  1. what do i do to "bring the car back" -- get rid of the paint and glass water marks.
  2. what do i do to keep this from happening again?
  3. how can i make car care take less time? 🙂

Where do you guys wash/detail your cars? I was washing the A4 [finally] this weekend and the damn leaves were dropping on the car. I wasn't even bothering to get it clean, it was so dirty it needed a 3-hour washing to get "not dirty". It's in the garage right now waiting for me to figure out what i want to do to it before i go any further.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/topic/17928/water-etching-black-car-ownership-failRSS for NodeWed, 27 May 2026 22:43:26 GMTWed, 09 Sep 2009 16:31:03 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:17:09 GMT]]>

63vette;289554 wrote:
If you want to do it yourself try 3M 6064. Its pretty straightforward if you have a good buffer. Here is a link to the system I used on my black corvette and some training videos. Just be careful around edges, make sure the pad is spinning away from the radius and not into it. Wash between everything. I like the black waffle pad best for this. Cory up at progressive also does a fantastic job buffing out paint.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MAutomotive/Aftermarket/Products/Featured_Products/Perfect-It/

Corey is just awesome period!

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/277957https://fargostreet.com/post/277957Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:17:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:13:33 GMT]]>3M is great stuff, if you were to buy all 3 bottles it would set you back $100.00 but should last you a long time.. Also you would need a few different pads black works good and then follow up with blue.

Might want to clay bar befor you polish/buff

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/277955https://fargostreet.com/post/277955Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:13:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:14:30 GMT]]>If you want to do it yourself try 3M 6064. Its pretty straightforward if you have a good buffer. Here is a link to the system I used on my black corvette and some training videos. Just be careful around edges, make sure the pad is spinning away from the radius and not into it. Wash between everything. I like the black waffle pad best for this. Cory up at progressive also does a fantastic job buffing out paint.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MAutomotive/Aftermarket/Products/Featured_Products/Perfect-It/

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/277948https://fargostreet.com/post/277948Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:14:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:22:22 GMT]]>

thrash;287393 wrote:
So i have a few black cars and I suck at keeping them clean. And i have a new audi with black paint and it is fucking water etched on the paint and the glass.

I've tried clay bar and hand griot's hand polish and other shit but i don't really know wtf i am doing and i am not getting results. And it takes me hours and hours to do this shit.

So a few questions

  1. what do i do to "bring the car back" -- get rid of the paint and glass water marks.
  2. what do i do to keep this from happening again?
  3. how can i make car care take less time? 🙂

Where do you guys wash/detail your cars? I was washing the A4 [finally] this weekend and the damn leaves were dropping on the car. I wasn't even bothering to get it clean, it was so dirty it needed a 3-hour washing to get "not dirty". It's in the garage right now waiting for me to figure out what i want to do to it before i go any further.

Layer upon layers of wax... if you get too lazy to wax it one day (or acouple days use meguiars spray detailer. The detailer helps with bugs on the front of ur car also...

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/277937https://fargostreet.com/post/277937Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:22:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:46:32 GMT]]>And like Chuck said once its fixed clean and wax it regularly. No the wax option at don's does not count. I mean a good old fashioned hand waxing. I bought a $10 powerd waxer makes things go a lot faster and gets damn good results. The paint job on my 88 Cougar was original and still in fantastic shape save for some minor wear and tear like chips and scratches.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275955https://fargostreet.com/post/275955Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:46:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:14:13 GMT]]>

24valvenotak;287417 wrote:
kevin cut and buffed out my 17 year old black shitbox and it looked like it had just been repainted. i wont even bother learning how after seeing that.

lol its not a shitbox

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275835https://fargostreet.com/post/275835Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:14:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:25:23 GMT]]>kevin cut and buffed out my 17 year old black shitbox and it looked like it had just been repainted. i wont even bother learning how after seeing that.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275811https://fargostreet.com/post/275811Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:25:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:38:37 GMT]]>This week we had a chevrolet malibu with really bad water marks all over it.

Process to remove them would be :
A1. Try Car Brite's Surface Clarifier(removes water spots from chrome paint and glass.
If that didnt take care of it then you must polish..
1.Cut-Compound
2.Swirl mark remover polish
3. Ultra-fina high gloss polish to remove any holograms left by the swirlmark remover
4. Paint sealant

  1. Re-seal a few months later.

Good Luck!!

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275803https://fargostreet.com/post/275803Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:38:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:52:24 GMT]]>I am no expert....

But lots of light really helps when doing anything related to cars. Especailly when detailing. They use a powered buffer.

Nothing wrong with wanting to learn. But, I would not even think about trying to learn to buff on a black car. Talk to Kevin or Tony. The price they charge is probably less then what you would spend trying to purchase proper equipment to do it yourself.

I guess I do not know what you mean about a "new" audi. I have heard that if you leave water spots on fresh paint that they will become permanent. It is just a rumor I have heard.

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275800https://fargostreet.com/post/275800Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:52:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:43:59 GMT]]>thanks for the response. i'm not against paying the pros to do it right, but i'm hoping to learn to fish here.

do you use any kind of machine buffer or do you polish/wax by hand? do you have a well lit garage you do this in? do you hole up in a bay at whale-of-a-wash or something?

]]>https://fargostreet.com/post/275797https://fargostreet.com/post/275797Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:43:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Water Etching / Black Car ownership FAIL on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:30:50 GMT]]>
  • I'd suggest one of two places to have it detailed:

    • Straight Line Detailing on Main or Muscatell Subaru (Ask for Tony West) to get the vehicles buffed back in shape. Both shops do a great job, I've had Kevin @ SLD detail my car numerous times and anyone that has ever seen how meticulous Tony is at cleaning cars knows that he will treat you right as well. So both are excellent choices that I can personally endorse.

    1. Wax regularly, clean regularly

    2. Practice makes perfect....

    ]]>    https://fargostreet.com/post/275792https://fargostreet.com/post/275792Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:30:50 GMT