I'll try to make this short, but there's some history/details. I've noted that < 30 days of applying various LSP's and the finish is soon there after exposed to rain, occasionally slight "water etching/spotting" can occur. This only seems to occur sub 30 days of final LSP application. Example 1: Last fall, 3 days after prepping a car for winter (wash, clay, 845 x 2), a rain storm left spotting. The next day I tried to spot clean it up with ONR and various QD's with no luck. I applied a 50/50 distilled water/distilled white vinegar solution and it cleaned up, but.... Example 2 (different client): This spring, about 2 weeks after a full detail (LSPs were JS109 x 2 and Pete's 53 x 2), the car was subject to rain. It was about 3-5 days after the rain before the client contacted me regarding the spotting and unfortunately I wasn't able to do anything for another week or so. End result, I tried an ONR wash, various QDs, clay (Sonus Green) and the distilled water/distilled vinegar solution, but nothing worked this time. The spotting remains. (EDIT: I hit the bootlid, bonnet, roof and other affected areas this past weekend with a single application of Menz P106FA via a PC and white pad. The spotting came right off.) Example 3: Within the past few months I've noted similar stories on a couple make specific boards (various LSPs). Basically it goes like this..."I sealed/waxed my car 10 (or 15 or 20) days ago and after a recent rain, I've noted spotting that won't come off with a wash or QD...". I'm in Chicago so I am not sure if this may be "acid rain/hard water" specific. I prep the surface properly prior to applying any LSPs (50/50 IPA or Menzerna FI wipe down), apply thin coats, allow proper hazing before buffing and allow proper cure time before layering/topping. Curious of any insight out there as I would like to correct my process if needed or advise my clients properly if need be. Thanks
Water spotting from just rain? No way. Only if there is dirt on the finish and then it rains, it will leave marks all over but they will just wash off with a QD or the next car wash. There are even fellows on Detailing World who harvest rain water to use for washing their car, as an alternative to using a spotless water filter.
Environmental Contaminants Environmental damage to paint comes in a varied range of threats; acid rain, road salt, tree sap, hydrazine an extremely active acid that is found in jet fuel, industrial allout, ultra violet raediation and other airborne contaminants are very detrimental to a vehicles paint film surface. They are all forms of environmental contamination and given the right catalyst; reactivity (heat) plus moisture, they will become acidic. During this process the metal absorbs oxygen from the water and forms iron oxide (rust). Given the porosity of paint they permeate the paint matrix down to body metal.
Same exact thing happens to me. I just polished and applied Autoglym HD and not even a week later I have etched watermarks. I live in Cali. I was actually wondering if a sealant would be better than the Autoglym but this seems like it isn't a factor of LSP not protecting?
Sacrificial Barrier The thickness of an applied coating is all that stands between the environmental contaminants and the paint film surface. This renewable barrier is probably less than 0.1 ยต (100 nm, 0.000 4 Mils or 0.000 004 inch) thick. An applied paint protection product is the barrier that provides protection for automotive paintwork besides the clear coat paint. The most effective deterrent to environmental contaminants once the paint film surface has been decontaminated, is to apply a synthetic polymer sealant base, as its formulated to be detergent and heat resistant (up to 350.oF) and then an organic wax over the polymer sealant, and this sacrificial barrier will provide protection by providing a limited resistance to acid rain, bird excrement and the pollutants found in industrial fall out (IFO) and washing the vehicles paint surface and replacing the organic wax on a regular basis.
It proally has something to do with The Cubs being such a horrible team. If you lived in St. Louis you wouldn't have this problem I'm sure :giggle:
Hilarious, hey every team is entitled to a bad century or two aren't they ? Based on some replies here and a few other boards my guess is that this is an environmental issue. Given the landing flight path for O'hare is within a few miles of the client's homes where I have seen this occur, environmental makes sense. I'll just keep a close eye on it going forward. Thanks for the feedback everyone :thumb:.
I have a few Fed Ex pilots that I mantain there cars. They have enlightened me on how many gallons of jet fuel are dumped on takeoff :yikes: I can clay and polish there cars and come back 30 days later and re-clay and come up with a piece of filthy clay everytime. Its very important to stay on top of this situation, as jet fuel that has been allowed to baked into the paint is nearly immpossible tp correct if its been on there any real lenght of time :wall: GL on getting rid of Zambrano this off season. That guy is a 1 man wrecking crew. He has sucked the life out of the Cubs this season :bat:
