DNC

I know this topic has been mentioned before on here, but never with any kind of resolve. I am posting the topic again in hopes someone has discovered a solution or perhaps we have a new member who might have knowledge to share as to a fix.
I see LS430's all the time with water stains under their outside door mirrors. The stain is always under the mirror running down the door as if water ran out of the mirror and down the door.
When I wash my car I rinse all the soapy water from behind the mirror by spraying it with a lot of water. I don't stop until the water draining out of the mirror is completely clear, and then I run the water a while longer.
Still the next day there appears the stain on the door below the mirror.
When I was at a Lexus dealership last week I noticed all their LS430's had the same issue.
Has anyone discovered a fix to this? Thanks.

wildace

iTrader: (1)

...keep a clean rag handy to clean that up.....dont have the mirrors fold in. i dont notice this with my car

jayclapp

Simple solution. Use a leaf blower to blow out all the water after washing.

Boomer01

After washing and drying my car, I drive it where ever I have to go and then get out and wipe it down again. There is usually drips from the mirrors, front bumper and back bumper.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Neither of my LS have done it after a simple chamios dry, but my Supra passenger mirror does it *bad* and the visibility of the result is compounded by the black paint and our hard FL water = very annoying. The only way I can get it out is with a shop vac and a minute or so of careful vacuuming around the mirror joints. I can also use an air nozzle (135 PSI shop air) and blast it from about 1-2" away, but I don't like doing that because I fear I might be blasting water inside the door somehow (further distances of the nozzle/gentler streams of air won't get it), so I use the vacuum.

CG lover

interesting, have never noticed or seen my mirrors holding water in that area,,

Derry

caddyowner

I've had a number of cars with "dribbly" mirrors. Since I often use an electric leaf blower to help dry my cars, I direct the air into the mirrors to help clear out the extra water.

Tee

I have the same problem too and hate it! The old mirrors did it and so do the replacements, def a design issue.

DNC

Tee, What I find so weird about the issue is I have never seen water dripping out of the mirrors. After drying the car and cleaning the interior there is no sign of water dripping out of the mirrors. Yet the next day when I open the wash pit there are the stains. They are easily removed with a quick detail product and a micro fiber towel. It must take hours for the water to finally run out of the mirrors.
This is very easy to spot on my black LS, but given the time and correct angle I have seen evidence of this on every LS430 I have ever tried.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

after i get mine washed i always notice water still at the bottom middle part of the mirror housing so i get out and dry it with an old tee shirt i keep in my trunk for just such occasions

if i don't do this is runs all down the side of my door as i drive off... but i have never noticed a stain on my car from this.

DNC

With the soft finished black paint on my car if I wiped it after driving it some place it would look as though I wiped it with sandpaper.
I am glad to hear your car is immune to these stains. I would not wish this on anyone. If I don't wipe it the next day (when I discover it) with a detail product and micro fiber towel it will not come off without claying, paint cleaner, and then wax. I usually keep a car a long time, and I really like my car, but once the 2011 LS has proven they have gotten rid of the soft finish and has depreciated 2 years this car will have to go.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

i also think the type of water may have a big deal with this as well. when i lived in CO at this apartment complex their sprinkler systems used this smelly (most likely well water) water that once it hit your car or even windshield left stains... i had to park so freakin far away just so my windshield wouldn't have hard water stains on it every morning, it was a pain in the *** just to get the first set of water spots off my windshield in the first place,, took many many washings.

caddyowner

^^^
Good point in regards to sprinklers. Many lots at office parks have the same issue.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Absolutely. When I lived in rural TN the small-town's water supply was so good that you really didn't even have to dry a car by hand to avoid waterspots -- just drive it down the road and it was good unless you wanted a just-waxed look. Here in FL, even with a water softener system there are so many dissolved solids in municipal tap water (fuhgetabout well water) that you have to do a good wipe-drying job to make the car look really clean. Leave the car to air-dry instead and it'll be covered with very noticable water spots.

I used to work for a specialty chemical company. I was working with an engineer in Raleigh NC on a project, and looking at the waste treatment requirements for the chemical that I was supplying his company. He said that he used to work in FL close to where I live, and that FL *tap water* has so many dissolved solids that it would not be allowed to be discharged from his manufacturing plant into to the municipal sewer system. LOL No wonder it causes water spots.

CG lover

+2 on that Florida water,, when we lived in St Petersburg near the beach you could smell the sulfur every time you turned on the tap,, was bad for a wash job in that sun as any dried area really left a spot that did not wipe off easy,,

this Missouri water is a lot friendlier but still will leave a ring,,

Derry