How can a car valeting firm remove hard water spots from your car's paint?

I get a lot of questions from people regarding water spots, swirl marks and scratches. Water spots and swirl marks are different problems, but most often the solution is the same: polish the paint.

The same water you use to bathe in can also damage your car's paint. The spots and damage are caused by the minerals in the water. When water evaporates off of your car's paint, it leaves behind the trace elements it contains. Car owners in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire will be very familiar with the problems caused by hard water!

Filtered water

The easiest way to avoid water spots is chase them around the car while they are still wet with a drying towel or chamois leather! At Karlsson Collins we go one step further and filter all of our water prior to rinsing a car, this removes the harmful minerals and reduces the risk of any water spots. Does your existing car valeting firm use filtered water?

If the spots are allowed to dry and bake on, they will attach to and harden on your paint. When this happens, you need to use a mild acid to get them loose. Believe it or not, the best acid is also the least expensive and most available: a gallon jug of distilled white vinegar. Some car valeting firms refer to this as an acid wash and may ask for an extra payment for performing the acid wash and also to replace the vinegar for their chips!

Vinegar has more uses than just on your chips!

If water spots are allowed to stay for more than a week or so, the minerals will etch the paint. In this case, using vinegar will remove the mineral spots, but the paint will have etched spots (dimples). It is necessary to use a polish or mild polishing compound to restore the paint surface.

Professional car valeting may be the only option.

Where etching has occurred and your usual brand of polish will not remove the marks I would recommend that a car valeting firm that is familiar with machine polishing be asked to quote for the removal of the spots. When asking for a quote always ask how much experience the car valeting firm has in machine polishing as this is a highly skilled techniques that not all valeting firms completely master.

Please call 0845 0 944 942 for a FREE no-obligation consultion or click here to email Karlsson Collins Mobile Car Valeting.