<p>Waterspots are mineral deposits left behind after a liquid &lpar;such as water&rpar; evaporated&period; During evaporation&comma; only the water molecules will evaporate&period; The contamination in the water will be left behind&period; Minerals are a very common contamination in water&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Where do waterspots form<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Waterspots can form anywhere where there can be water&period; When washing your car&comma; you are likely to use water&period; This water flows into small holes and crevices&comma; which are not always accessible&period; The water on top of body panels can reasonably easy be removed by drying the surface with a quality drying towel&period; But the difficult or impossible to reach areas can still get water in it&comma; and can still get wet&period; Which means waterspots can form&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Very common places to find waterspots are&colon; behind door hinges&comma; on the underside of a car&comma; under the hood&comma; behind the mirror in the side mirror&comma; inside door panels&comma; suspension parts and the underside of bumpers&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Due to the transparency of car windows&comma; waterspots on glass are very easy to spot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Dirty water vs clean water<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Not all water will leave waterspots or other forms of mineral deposits&period; Water in general doesn&&num;8217&semi;t just contain water alone&period; Water from the rain&comma; water in the ocean&comma; water from the tap in your house&comma; all the water contains impurities&period; These impurities can be several different things&comma; but a very common impurity in water are minerals&period; These are picked up during the time water comes into contact with them&comma; which is almost every surface on earth&period; After the water molecules evaporate&comma; the impurities are left behind&period; These are visible with the naked eye in many cases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Waterspots free water<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>It is possible to rinse a surface with water without getting waterspots&comma; by using purified water&period; This is water that has been purified so it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t contain any impurities anymore&period; This type of water has different names&colon; osmose water&comma; purified water&comma; distilled water&comma; de-ionized water&comma; filtered water and demineralized water&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Putting a filter on your tap will help to decrease the amount of waterspots&comma; but it will not be as effective as professionally purified water&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Removing waterspots<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Removing waterspots can be difficult&period; The mineral deposit is reasonably hard and rough&period; So rubbing it around would be very unwise&period; In some cases&comma; the mineral is fresh and hasn&&num;8217&semi;t had time to stick to the paintwork due to the protective layer&period; In these cases simply wiping it with a quality washmitt and proper shampoo can be enough to remove them safely&period; In other cases&comma; they are a lot more difficult to remove without causing surface imperfections in the paintwork&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An explanation from Mike Phillips&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Type I Water Spots<br &sol;>&NewLine;Type I Water Spots are primarily a mineral or dirt deposit laying on the surface of paint&period; Type I Water Spots can be the results of minerals suspended in city water or well water that are left behind after the water evaporates off the finish&period; This can happen by washing a car but not drying the water off the paint or if a sprinkler goes off next to the car covering the car with water drop that are not dried off the paint&period; Type I Water Spots can also be dirt or pollution particles left behind after water from rain or inclement weather evaporates of the finish&period; Type I Water Spots can also be Type II Water Spots in that the water can leave both a deposit on the surface and an etching in the finish&period; Another way people describe mineral deposits is to refer to them has Hard Water spots&comma; or spot left by &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;hard water&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Type II Water Spots<br &sol;>&NewLine;Type II Water Spots are actual etchings or craters in the paint because something corrosive in a water source has landed on the paint and was not removed before a portion of the paint was eaten or dissolved by the corrosive substance&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Type III Water Spots<br &sol;>&NewLine;Type III Water Spots are spots that look faded or dull and are found primarily found on single stage paints after a water source lands on and then pools on the paint and is usually left to dwell on the surface for some measure of time before it evaporates or is wiped-off the surface&period; Type III Water spots can also happen to clear coat finishes too but it’s not as common because I Type III Water Spot is either a stain or fading&period; Clear coats don’t stain as easily as single stage paints because they are not as porous or permeable&period; Clear coats can’t technically fade because they are clear to start with&comma; there’s no color to fade&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3>Methods that can be used<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>It is recommended to work your way down&period; Not only will you start with the safest method&period; You will also remove a little bit each step&comma; making it less likely that you&&num;8217&semi;ll create surface imperfections on the rougher steps&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>Washing like normal &&num;8211&semi; suitable for many type I waterspots<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Cleaning with acidic product &lpar;white vinegar&rpar; &&num;8211&semi; suitable for more stubborn type I waterspots and some type II waterspots<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Clay the surface &&num;8211&semi; suitable for both type I and type II if the above fails<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Hand polish the surface &&num;8211&semi; suitable for both type I and type II if the above fails<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Machine polish the surface &&num;8211&semi; suitable for all types of waterspots<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;

Vinnie van Rooij

Vinnie started the DetailingWiki Project in december 2015, and his quest is still going strong. Hoping to create a solid and informative center of information for anybody who is into detailing.

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Vinnie van Rooij

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