GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

HiBrand new Vibe owner (picked it up 10/30), I love my car but don't like the color. I got my Vibe in Abyss and I would've rather had any other color but it was a great deal and the only color on the lot (unfortunately!) It's SO hard to keep looking good in my opinion. Any recommendations on getting rid of water spots? Right now garaging is not an option and where I live unexpected rain storms, no matter how short, are almost an everyday event. I hate the black because it shows everything! Any suggestions? Is there anything out there that does a good job of "repelling" water so when it drys it doesn't leave those ugly spots????? HELP!!

Unfortunately there isn't anything that you can do but keep on it, Learn to live with a dirty car. I can work 8 hours on a total detail and 5 minutes later its dusty. I keep a duster in the car, wash it more than most and keep the wax up . When its clean its so beautiful then a second later its time to start over. Black is a love, hate relationship. good luck

welcome to the boarda good waxing will allow the water to roll off the car. hopefully Whelan will post up some specifics cause he is the wax guru around here

Welcome and congrats!I'm assuming that you are more concerned with the quick showers you get in Florida more than the water used to wash your car. Cause both are two different scenarios when dealing with water spotting. I'll address both.Rain SpotsJust because you got it from the dealer nice and waxed, doesn't mean it's all set for a few months of just washing and drying. My experience with dealers and their detail departments (I worked at one), you get the 2 minute quick wax. The guys at the wax-n-wait places that charge like $30-$50 for a quickie (no pun intended) do a better job. ickkkk...sorry just gave myself the shivers thinking of someone else touching my paint for $50. Anyways, there is a few things you can do to help your battle against the spots. One is carry a chamois or water blade around in your car, that way you can quickly get the stagnant water off your vehicle, believe it or not, some water that is streaked and spread across the car after a quick wipe will dry clean on a properly waxed car. But with a blade or chamois you can easily and quickly get the big spots with no problems.Another alternative would be to take the car to base and start from scratch. With this I mean go home, put a drop or two of Dawn (use only Dawn is is softest and safest) into a wash bucket, give the car a good wash to remove any old wax and materials. Then clay bar the car using a clay bar kit such as Meguiar's or Clay Magic. Both can be had for around $10-15. Once that is done you can go ahead and apply either a light swirl remover then a wax top coat. If you are doing this by hand I recommend the Meguiar's 3 Step, but being that your car is so new, using Steps 2 and 3 should work fine. Step 1 is a paint cleaner which you may not need, 2 is the polish, 3 is the wax of your choice or the one they offer as Step 3. I personally use either Meguiar's Gold Class Mirror Glaze or Meguiar's #26 NXT Generation Tech Wax. If you are doing this by machine, then I recommend Meguiar's #80 and either the Gold Class or NXT wax still. Those will ensure your car has the right coatings and thus water will not dry with spots. If you want to go a step further, I have Simoniz System 5 which is a Teflon paint protection glaze that dealers can charge over $500 sometimes for. It is applied very lightly over the car on top of your polish and wax coatings, left to sit, then removed. You cannot get the car wet for 24hrs. after application for it to fully work. It literally puts a teflon barrier on your wax prolonging its durability. I am offering this for sale for fairly cheap compared to the dealers, if interested let me know.Wash SpotsTypically these are caused by one of two things. Hard water, or very chlorinated or treated water. No matter how much you wash or wipe you still get them. They look like etchings in your paint. There are several methods to removing. The extreme is to pay $300 for a water softener system that hooks up to your hose. Other alternatives are magnetic nozzles that pull the contaminents away from the nozzle opening. Or you could pickup a Mr. Clean Auto Dry Car wash kit. One method that I found helps especially with dark cars is to wash with a two bucket system. One for the soap, and one for rinse. This way you will keep the dirt and grime from sticking and being pulled across your finish. If you are using a microfiber mitt, be sure to use luke warm water as it helps to open up the fibers and release the trapped dirt. Once done, I would grab yourself a Water Magnet. It is a large waffle styled towel that can dry your entire car without the need to ring it out once. It is soft, and works wonders in absorbing.I hope some of this helped, if you need more detail on anything, take a peak in the Washing, Waxing, Cleaning forum, most topics are replied to by me, and if you have a question, pop it in there and I'll get back to ya

P.S. - with a little effort Black can look fantastic!

Thank you for all the info! I will have to get my boy to teach me how to do some of this stuff. He has an '88 Camaro convertible that he loves taking care of, He treats it better than me sometimes! lol. He lives down a long gravel driveway, so everytime I go to his house (usually every day or other day) I feel like I need to wash my car yet again. It's so annoying. But I think it could use a good waxing before all the salt is poured onto the roads, which in Indiana could be in 2 months or 2 days.Thanks again!!

I do two a year, once in spring and once in fall like nowish. Inbetween just good washes and some quick detailer.If your buddy likes Camaro's check this. It's my good friends '67 SS completely restored over a period of 18 months by him and his dad. Valued at $67,000 currently, I detailed it for a huge show we went to a few months back. Pictures of that show are at the link below.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=30360

Hey Florida Viber! Abyss is a great color to show off a great shine... it's probably the best color shine wise, as long as you take care of it.

Welcome! I feel your pain...I haven't had Neptune washed in awhile, (gotta go to the car wash...the community association took away our spigot I have no choice but the car wash.) But it's raining here now, so I'll wait a little more

Your association took away your spigot? That's the dumbest thing Ive heard. Go to one of those DIY washes where you spray and soap up, not a drive through those are horrendous on paint. Or a touchless where it just sprays the stuff on.

that car is gorgeous! He's working on fixing it up, he just had the engine rebuilt cause the idiots at whatever the place is called changed the oil and didnt put any back in it! Needless to say no one is ever allowed to touch it again.I think He's gonna have his brother re-paint it when the weather warms back up. It's blushing in a few spots and the paint is just getting old. I can't wait till its all done! i love riding in it! We're gonna wash and wax mine and his this weekend - then hes gonna take pics.

Abyss is a beautiful color. I looooooooooove black and metallic black is breathe taking.I use Mr. Clean Auto-dry every Wednesday and hand wash every Friday. Usually wax every couple months. The Mr Clean thing works pretty well as long as the sun is out so try that....and to add to what every one else says....DO NOT under any circumstances take it through the automatic washes. Use the quarter car washes if you can't do it by hand and DO NOT use the brushes in the bays either. Probably among the worst threats for a car's finish.

I just bought an Abyss vibe, I cleaned, clayed and polished it when I first got it- then a nice coat of meguiars gold class- it looks great and has stayed really clean for a month now without a wash, just a little dust on the skirts and some water spots, but really shiny and reflective. I ordered some ultima paint guard plus, so I will let you know how that works out once I get to try it.Also, I got a touch up pen for this color from a gm dealer, and its a very good match, has the metallic flecks in it.