Spots on new car :(

[mr_walker]

I took the new Jetta to the car wash for the first time today, and spent the afternoon "bonding" with her. Took to her with the bug remover first, and then gave her a polish with Meguiars Deep Crystal Wet Look. She looks well cared for now!

I've found a dozen or so spots on the horizontal surfaces near the rear that look just like water marks, but they don't come out. Looks like something has damaged the clear coat Has anybody had something similar? I've only had the car for a couple of weeks, and I can't say for sure if the marks were there when I picked her up.

My OCD's making me twitch...

[GOLFBALLS]

What colour is the car?
If its a dark colour and the spots are a blueish purple, then they are almost certainly bore water stains that the car picks up somewhere from Germany to here. At Audi we get this problem constantly. The best thing ive found is using a clay bar. Its like a big slab of blu tac. You have to rub pretty firm, but be careful! Use windex or distilled water to lubricate the surface. Obviously, clean the area first, or you'll end up with some great swirly scratches.
If on the other hand they are more like water 'rings' from dried tap water droplets, a buffer may be needed if they've been there baking into the paint for a while. I recommend a pro for this. It shoulnt take long or cost too much.
Some of the Swissall polishes might remove both problems too.
Is the car brand new?

[GOLFBALLS]

Actually i forgot a coupla other possibilities.
Bird s#@t will DESTROY the paint. Its so acidic. It will need buffing.
The only other thing i've come across that it might be is oil drip damage. If its just a few round 4-5mm spots of dull paint?
They load the cars up on those trucks and trains one above the other, and sometimes little drops of oil get the on cars.?? Could even be hydraulic fluid.

[Spyda]

Silicon spots?

Thats what my old man calls them anyway, maby its a bad translation.

Not sure if you get that with the way they paint new cars, but you do get it from respray for sure.

Buffer.

[mr_walker]

Thanks guys - yeah the car is brand new. It's funny, when I had it in the garage under lights the spots stuck out like dog's nuts, but in the daylight they're very hard to see. That's probably why I didn't notice them until the first wash and polish.

The Jetta is platinum grey (metallic), and my best guess is that a few drips of something a bit corrosive must have settled on there for a while, and slightly eaten into the clearcoat. I think the cars are covered with some sort of plastic film on the ship, because I found a couple of very small tear off's in the seams, so it might have happened when it was trucked down from Sydney.

I might have a crack at them the next time I find the time to do a proper polish. Not going to let it get me down though - the car is still *awesome*.

Cheers,

Walker

[anthony]

The car is awesome,and so is the new Jetta colour,but I would insist that the dealer does a complete polish and detail.
They must get it perfect.
I am so happy that I chose the Reflex Silver...my previous Astra was that colour,and after over 6 years it still looked brand new.

[craig_the_german]

Hi,

I was a detailer for a number of years and the biggest issue I had with the darker colours was if the car had been washed and then left to dry in the sun without being dried off. I worked at a local Ford dealer and the mechanics had the habit of squirting water around to wash off marks etc that they left during pre-delivery and then just driving them outside and leaving them wet.

I believe that the water droplets act as a lens and actually "burn" the paint with the sun. The marks are very / if not impossible to remove as the paint is actually damaged. You can also get a similar situation on the windows with water droplets marking the glass surface.

This might not be whats happened to your car but is just an example of what can happen.

[JVLR32]

Use a meguiars paint cleaner,that will solve prob......next throw out the liquid wax and buy NXT Generation Meguiars wax...its a paste wax.

If you washed your car when warm or in sun you will get these type of spots.
Make sure car is cooled down
wash down for prep
ad wax in cool shaded spot away from sunlight*you dont want wax to bake to car*The longer the wax sits the better the results.Paste wax must come of like chalk.

JVL CarShine Elite Detailing

[mrx]

What colour is the car?
If its a dark colour and the spots are a blueish purple, then they are almost certainly bore water stains that the car picks up somewhere from Germany to here. At Audi we get this problem constantly. The best thing ive found is using a clay bar. Its like a big slab of blu tac. You have to rub pretty firm, but be careful! Use windex or distilled water to lubricate the surface. Obviously, clean the area first, or you'll end up with some great swirly scratches.
If on the other hand they are more like water 'rings' from dried tap water droplets, a buffer may be needed if they've been there baking into the paint for a while. I recommend a pro for this. It shoulnt take long or cost too much.
Some of the Swissall polishes might remove both problems too.
Is the car brand new?

I had this when picking up my new Skoda in Perth a couple of weeks ago. The car is black. The dealer noticed before we picked it up, and delayed the delivery because they sent it to a professional buffer to get fixed.

The "professional buffer" missed a few spots and totally forgot about the windows, which were also rough to touch. I was able to fix it up with some Meguairs Scratch-X, then of course some polish and wax over the top (no, not on the windows).

[GOLFBALLS]

Yea good one. Make sure you guys dont get polish confused with wax! Polish should be like a paste in a squeeze bottle with varying types of abrasive cutting granules. Wax is in a tub and is applied with a sponge or cloth.
If you use a fairly abrasive cutting polish, be sure to wax after!
Those water spot removers for glass are great. Sometimes i'll even use a fine scourer. Clay bars will also get the purple water stains from glass. I've actually had good results with normal cutting polish on windows too...