Spots on Vibe and Grand Am

[Charlievibe]

Hi. I need some help with a problem that I am seeing both on my Vibe and on my mom's Grand Am. This morning, we got out and washed both cars (we use the Turtle Wax Car Wash), dried them and then waxed them. While waxing, we noticed these spots on my mom's car (see pictures) - mostly on the hood and roof of the car. These spots have been here for quite a while now and do not go away after the car is waxed. So, while waxing my baby, I noticed that I am starting to get these spots as well. As of yet, they are not as serious as you will see on my mom's car, but they are starting.I tried waxing her car three times, I tried using the bug and tar remover since it said it would remove body spots, I tried using the carnuba wax, rather than the straight Turtle wax, nothing helped.Her car sits in a completely dry walled, enclosed garage, she doesn't take it out often and I wash it weekly. Mine goes out to a manufacturing facility and sits there all day. So our cars are in two totally different environments during the day. Quick explain of pictures...this first one is while I was waxing. The spots really show up as white when the wax is on them, as you can see from the picture. However, once the wax is removed, they blend more into the background. In actuality, the second picture really shows to what level they are present. And please note that the second picture is enhanced to show the spots better, they aren't that obvious.Does anyone know what is causing these spots and what I can do to get rid of them? It seems to me like it is something on the paint itself, but I don't know. HELP!!!!!! Thanks.

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[Charlievibe]

And here is the second picture that shows nice detail.....btw, this picture was taken of the hood after the hood had been waxed three times.

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[NSimkins]

I had a similar issue with my Cavalier (it is black). Turns out we have very hard water here and that caused it to spot like that. Like you, waxing didn't help until I used a cleaner wax instead of just a carnuba or 'protectant' wax. The cleaner wax removed the hard water spots pretty nicely. You can then wax with something more protectant. I just have to do that every so often to keep up with the water. The car was garaged primarily as well, but the wash water was what did it.Since my Vibe is white, I don't see the marks, but still use a cleaner wax every few months.

[ragingfish]

Definitely water spots. We have hard water here, but our water is treated by a softener, so I don't have that problem.Supposedly the Mr. Clean Auto Dry system allows you to wash a car and let it air dry without spotting. Might be worth trying...I reviewed it a while back...http://www.mrcleanautodry.com/http://fo ... ad?id=8772

[Stang2Vibe]

Might very well be from hard water. This can also happen more noticably if you wash the car and the sun dries it before you get to dry it with a towel/chamois. To help prevent this, wash the car in the shade if possible and keep the ENTIRE body of the car wet during the whole car washing. You should only be washing one section at a time and then rinsing the part that you soaped (I start with the roof, then rinse, then tailgate and back bumper, rinse, hood and front end, rinse, left side, rinse, right side, rinse). Every time you rinse off the area that was just washed, wet down the WHOLE car. This keeps the surface wet and cool so that you don't get water spots. I would recommend rubbing out the existing spots with a polishing compound and then waxing. Cleaner wax may work as others have suggested, but the cleaners in the cleaner wax may not be strong enough to completely remove all the spots, it's hard to tell without seeing it in person. Mother's makes a good cleaner wax that we use on all our trucks at work. It will require more rubbing on the dirty spots when removing the cleaner wax, so using a polishing compund may be easier. Plus, a bottle of polishing compound should only cost about 1/2 of what a can of cleaner wax costs, and the polishing compound can be kept around to remove marks on the paint and light scratches later on.

[Charlievibe]

Thanks everyone for your help!!!!I have been washing the cars in the evenings when the sun is on the back of the house and both cars are in shade in the front, and trying to keep them wet, so I have been doing that part correctly. I did find myself wondering if these were water spots from hard water. Funny thing is, here where I live, we are supposed to have some of the best water out there. However, both my mom and I have been guilty of taking our cars through the automatic car washes and I am wondering if the hard water problem is coming from there - both of our cars will turn a grey color after using the auto car wash. I am most definitely going to go buy the cleaner wax, and the polishing compound, Friday and work on the cars this weekend.Thanks again for the help, I really, really appreciate it.

[Charlievibe]

Quick update....I went out and purchased the cleaner wax from Meguiar's. While it didn't remove all of the spots on the first attempt, it did remove, I would say, 75% of them. So, I am going to reapply and see if I can get the rest of it off. However, Meguiar's recommends if it doesn't take off the rest to use a clay bar.So again, thank you to everyone for your help, I was getting so discouraged!!!!!