Oxidation/Water Spots HELP!!!
 

Ok, apparently I'm not doing some right. I'm still seeing hard water spots on the paint. Purchased the Groit's DA will all the cutting pads. I've used Meguiars M105 Ultra-Cut Compound. (No change) I've used Meguiars Scratch X. (No change) I've read where you can used diluted vinegar and water. (Nothing). I've clayed, compounded, polished and waxed. Still no change. I can only see these on the hood, trunk and roof. What am I doing wrong? Sorry for the crappy pics. Thanks in advance.

The big spot on the first image looks to me like extreme clear coat etching to the point of clear coat failure.. it is hard to tell from your far away picture though. Does it look like this? If so, the only way to fix that is with a re-paint.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...ngWrinkles.jpg

The other water spots you show look similar to what I had on my IS250 when I bought it. This is before correction.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...84229579_n.jpg

This is after correction.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...38710509_n.jpg

You can clearly see the improvement, however it is by no means perfect. I was not after perfection, as this is a DD so it is not worth it to strive for perfection, when you need to leave as much clear coat as possible.

I used M105 with Surbuf pads. I tried several other combos before I went to this aggressive product + pad combo. I used the PC7424XP on speed 6 with 4-6 passes (if I remember correctly) per section. Remember - technique makes all of the difference! Work in small areas, 2x2 ft max when you are trying to do heavy defect removal, often times you will get better results with even smaller areas. You need to be using extremely slow arm speed with moderate to heavy pressure. This means you need to be moving about 1-2" per second while applying pressure to the head of the machine to compress the pad. You then need to clean your pad after each section so the spent product and clear coat are removed and your fibers are "fluffed up" once again. With surbuf pads, this is most easily done with a bad conditioning brush or compressed air.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...16000806_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...20069665_n.jpg

*Remember, what worked for me may not work for you as all paints react differently. What pads were you using initially? Were you using proper technique? Always start with the least aggressive approach before stepping it up to something like this! There is no point in removing clear coat with aggressive products if it is not necessary.

Let me know if you have any more questions!
-Zach

Thanks Zach I really appreciate the information. Below is a link to the kit I purchased. Yes, the first picture does look like the issues I having. So new paint huh? Crap! I see a couple of things I'm doing wrong that you've decribe. I'll try it again using your techniques and see how it goes. Thanks again bro.

http://www.autogeek.net/griot-s-gara...arter-kit.html

First off - I don't care for the CCS pads... but that is off topic all together.


I would bet that if you cannot get the results you are looking for with the orange pad and M105 with proper technique, you will need something more aggressive like the Surbuf pads that I needed to use.

As for the clear coat failure that you mentioned - I would imagine it is from a bird bomb left to sit for a while. It does not take long for the uric acid in bird poop to ruin paint... especially soft Lexus paint.

Good luck!

Put more downward pressure on the machine, keep it flat, and work it SLOW.

Those DAs are pretty weak so you have to really take your time and do things slowly. Make sure the pad is spinning and not just vibrating because that won't do diddly squat in terms of correction and taking those water spots out.