I recently left my Lexus for a couple weeks during a bad rain.. I had a nice cover, I thought,



over it, but when I came back and lifted the cover, water had leaked underneath. And now I have these stains on my hood. How do I get these off?

 

I would normally recommend Griot's Garage products, but went and looked at their water spot/stain remover, it didn't have great reviews, so I googled it and Chemical Guys Heavy Duty Water Spot Remover came up and had much better reviews. Their website showed 4.4 avg stars out of 5.

I'd give the theirs a try.

However, I would recommend GG for their Rinseless Wash & Wax, their Carwash soap for foam cannon, their leather interior products, their paint correction cream and clay bars, and their blue soft microfiber towels.


Speaking of car covers, I researched those extensively and thought I'd found a good one with a soft underside and good reviews for our rainy PNW weather, but it ended up keeping moisture underneath, and with our blustery days, made the car cover shift from side to side and up and down, even thought it was securely fastened underneath. This caused rubbing marks on the top coat -- Ugh!!

I NO LONGER recommend using SEAL SKIN Car Covers for outdoors!!

Needless to say, that car is in a garage with a recommended soft cover. I can't remember the name of the brand but when I get home I will edit this with the name brand for their outdoor cover that hopefully would be better as it has vents that the Seal Skin Cover didn't have and maybe? that would be the difference. Who knows with our PNW weather if there's any decent one that would prevent moisture underneath cover during our many rainy days...

 

Few questions, is there no recourse to take with the car cover company? No guarantee it wouldn't harm the paint? Would letting the sun's warmth work on the paint to help to repair it? Isn't this maybe just moisture in the paint? I know the paint is said to be self repairing for small scratches for several years. I would talk to a Lexus approved paint shop to see what they would recommend possibly. Have you tried some compounding to see if it's just stained on the surface? Does the cover have a colour dye in the material that leached out? I can't see why it would penetrate a factory paint job.

I live in a true four season climate. It's very rare to see anyone with a cover on their car. People just don't do it for the most part. Paint takes the salt and snow and ice pretty good here. It's all the sand put on the roads that sand blast your front end and the small stone chips as well. What is the needed protection people feel a cover provides? I get bird droppings on my car and clean them up quickly, never had a stain occur and we have grapes grown in the region and you get plenty of purple poop! If paint was so precious and delicate why don't new car dealers cover up their new car inventory?

 

These are all great questions and good points.

For the clear top coat -- Yes, it is supposed to be self healing in direct sunlight and needs heat/warmth enough to "loosen" the top coat and self-heal some scratches, swirl marks and maybe? water stains.

The car cover I was referring to was what we used for our older SC and not our NX. Our SC still has a beautiful paint job after 20+ years, but the car cover left rub marks even though it had a soft underside and seems to only be on the top clear coat. Looks like the rub marks were from the seams when the cover shifted back and forth and up and down from the wind, even though the cover was securely fastened underneath car.

We plan to have it looked at for paint correction in the spring when it comes out of storage/hibernation mode.

I'm glad to hear in your true 4-season climate locale, people aren't as concerned with their paint and leave their vehicles outside year-round. I realize there are many folks that aren't able to keep their cars in their garage. For newer cars, we like to keep them in our garage and if there was room, our SC would be in there too. With its age and it being a hard-top convertible, we didn't want to take the chance of any weather related wear and tear on it by keeping it out in the elements. We're just thankful to have a family member store our SC in their garage.

 

This is why I love the forum, thanks for the tips!

 

Yes, maybe the cover is just old at two years, don’t notice water under it before after a rain. But we had two solid weeks of rain. I never have to wash it with the cover on at night and it keeps the sun off the leather interior, so I really liked the cover until now. Weirdly, after taking it out into the sun on a lunch trip, it seems less notable, maybe it will heal itself!!!!!!!???

 

Standing water will ruin even the best clear coats unfortunately, no car cover will prevent this at some point during heavy rain or a general storm water will get in.

 

I wish I had known this before... Thanks.

It is so wet here when it constantly rains, and with the blustery winds, everything gets wet or damp, even with a cover it seems there's no escape and it doesn't dry. Just glad we've got our SC in a garage now.

 

This happened to me, I didn't think to check under the cover for whatever reason. In theory a good coating (ceramic, wax etc.) will help prevent this.

 

We had planned to ceramic coat in the spring once out of hibernation, and even though we probably needed a little paint correction beforehand, now there's the added rubbing marks to deal with before we can ceramic coat -- ugghh

 

I had my new car parked in the rain for 4 days or so and noticed circular water stains everywhere, paint and glass.
Never experienced this with other cars. It kind of freaked me out.
Used Turtle Wax rubbing compound to remove the water stains.
You can be aggressive on the glass, but I got a little too aggressive on the clear coat and left a visible scratch.
The scratch disappeared after 3-4 months, so the "self healing" clear coat IS a thing.
I then waxed the car with Turtle Wax carnauba wax so it wouldn't happen again anytime soon.
It's been 7 months with no finishing issues.
I'll hit it with Adam's Graphene Boost next and see how that goes.

With my 2019 Honda Accord LX, hardly washed it, never waxed it, and never had an issue with water stains.
Maybe the "self healing" clear coat has something to do with it, dunno.

 

I know it's a bit of a stretch, but water stains / spots after rain may have come from some fallout in the rain or nearby. I've been the brunt of such many years ago, my car was parked at work, next lot over was a welding fab shop that had decided it was ok to paint a structure with white paint no less, outside. Well my car was a black car, then soon after it was a black car with little white spots! Also while travelling we staid at a hotel just off a major highway, plenty of truck traffic, next morning there was a soot from the diesel truck exhaust covering the car. Rain water can a times have gathered up local environmental contaminants and deposit them on the surfaces of things. Think 'acid rain' days.

 

You can get yourself a water spot remover and use it to wipe your car to get rid of all those. Just a thought.

 

Was already suggested in Post # 2

 

Actually, it’s not much of a mystery where the rain came from as we had epic rain for two weeks solid. But I hear you on the acid part of it. I’m sure it’s not the most pure water even though it’s rain. In the past, I don’t think my cover was compromised, or maybe it was just the inundation. Every single day of rain, it must of finally broke through the barrier. I bought a new cover today since that one was a couple years old. I think if I’m going to be away for a while and I know that it’s gonna be raining in my absence. I’ll just leave the cover off and try and deal with whatever else sticks to it in the meantime. I’m worried about bird droppings though. If that sits on there for over two weeks, won’t that

The large stains on the hood do seem to be slightly fading, I think? I’m gonna give it a couple more weeks to see if there’s noticeable change. If not, I’ll take it in and have an expert look at it. My dealer will probably recommend I replace the entire hood!

I also bought some turtle wax rain repellent to maybe do some DYI stuff on it.On a positive note, after over two weeks. my battery started up like a champ! No trickle charge seems necessary as long as I just let it idle on ready for 10 to 15 minutes before I go. My record is over a month.