How do you remove water spots from engine compartment panels?

In the right light I can see remnants of water spots on my panels inside the engine bay of my 360. I am sure they are cooked in pretty good and I am looking for an easy way to hand rub them out. On a lesser car I would try some WD-40 but I don't think that is appropriate. What has worked for you guys?

 

I try not to get water spots to begin with, by using the cheap "Mr. Clean" car wash gun. They stopped making the product, but you can still find it on fleabay. Works really good for a $20 product (I only use the spot free rinse and none of the other features like the soap).

 

No no, I am all about getting in there and rubbing it away with something but I am not sure what to use (ie: put on the rag). Its like semi-gloss paint so it cant be rocket science. My car will most likely never see a hose again, especially not the engine compartment!, and it sounds like your product is a hose attachment thing. I might hand spray the grime off the sides if I get caught in the rain but it would be with a hand spray bottle....Yeah..it's that kind of obsession for me!

 

I'd think the order of attack would be to use a) non-hard water (e.g. see if some filtered water will wash away the spots). It's easy, but might require a lot of water. From there I'd escalate to something like Griot's "Speed Shine", and if that fails, clay should work.

Interested to hear what others think

 

I tried speed shine, no luck. I hadn't considered clay....hmmm

 

Try using white vinegar with a microfiber rag.

 

Jason of Xcaliber detail.

 

I'm all for esoteric solutions to cleaning products, but when it comes to the engine bay I can think of no better product than what you've already mentioned: WD40. What better product than one that cleans, shines, protects and is designed to displace water? A little bit on a clean microfiber is all you should need.

 

I have used this in the engine bays of other cars with good results but am not familiar with the paint characteristics of the engine panels so I hesitated. Also perhaps more importantly is if there would be any vapor generated by any trace residue once that engine heats up again and fog or coat the windows to the engine bay!

 

WD40 will not harm auto paint --- just clean away the residue with soap and water after using.....don't let it sit.

Also, it will "burn" so you don't want to use it on surfaces in the engine bay that will get hot when you run the car ---- it will not ignite to a flame, but it will smoke a lot.... very much like motor oil does when it gets heated.

One time I sprayed quite a bit (WD40) on my exhaust manifold to remove a turbo flange stud on my Lotus, and it was inaccessible to wipe away completely. The damn thing smoked like crazy for about the next 6-7 drives before it all finally burned off ---- it has a very low flash point. I did not notice any smoke residue on anything, but it was unsettling to have the car smoke so much while running ---- kept thinking I had a bad oil leak or that the engine had caught fire !

 

Sounds like a plan...WD40 followed by speed shine!

 

I had this exact same problem. I tried everything, and found one thing that absolutely works. It is made by Auto Glym and is called Super Resin Polish. It is a liquid polish designed to use on car paint, but works perfectly for the side panels in the engine bay of the 360.

Apply it with a foam applicator. Work it in with circular motions as if you were waxing the paint. While it's still wet, buff it with a micro fiber cloth. Good as new!

Believe it or not, I found this stuff at Pep Boys. I don't know if they still sell it or not. The Auto Glym products are very popular in the UK.

 

May I suggest that you apply Simple Green in a 50-50 solution to the WD40, scrub lightly with a wheel brush or tooth brush (use the wife's - she won't notice), then rinse with water and use a compressor to blow off the rinse water.

 

Contact Todd Cooperider of Esoteric detail.

Maybe try Black Again or 303 aerospace or how about (test it first) "Jet Dry Finish Rinse Aid". Its a dishwasher additive found in supermarkets, you add it to prevent hardwater stains on your glasses, etc, etc. Put a little bit on a microfiber rag and gently rub it in, in an inconspicuous area first.

I sometimes will add this to my wash bucket too. I wash my car in the garage and will sometimes rinse down with distilled water. I know crazy, details is all about being crazy !!


Good Luck.

 

50/50 mix white vinegar and distilled water. Sponge it on and let it sit. Repeat. The vinegar cuts/dissolves the minerals.

Also works on painted surfaces when you get hit by sprinklers.

Costs a few bucks and can find all the ingredients at your supermarket.

If you have really stubborn spots, use a rubbing compound.

 

The water spots are the minerals from the dried hard water. Vinegar will dissolve the minerals as mentioned above and it will not damage the paint other than removing the wax.

 

Most municipality water has some hardness associated with it...some more than others depending on the source etc. But it is important to understand that hardness is due to dissolved minerals, or salts, (as opposed to suspended solids) and that dissolved salts cannot be removed by typical filters. Most commonly, it is calcium (typically as chloride, carbonate, or sulfate) that we all worry about and it can be removed by "softening" but that process is simply one in which the calcium is replaced with either sodium or potassium thus the water still contains TDS or total dissolved solids which will still leave spots when the water evaporates and the TDS is re-precipitated as a solid. Unlike calcium, sodium or potassium salts can be more easily washed off but unless the rinse water is low TDS, the spots are simply rearranged.

What does one do? Get a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system for the garage..one that can handle 5-10 gpm of water flow. RO systems are essentially very fine membrane filters that can filter out TDS under pressure. The caveat is that an RO system should be paired up with a water softener ahead as calcium will eventually precipitate in the membranes causing them to plug and cease functioning. I believe that most car washes today use RO systems to provide very low TDS water for the "spot free rinses".

BTW, vinegar works because it is a weak acid that will dissolve calcium carbonate that is usually precipitated when hard water dries and leaves spots.

Hope that helps..

Brock

 

Wow, way more mileage from this query than I thought but so nice to get all the advice and solutions. Update, the WD40 did not work, looked good for a heat cycle or two but then back to noticing the spots. I am glad that Esoteric had a recommendation but I am afraid to click their website since I automatically spend an exponentially greater amount on awesome products than I intended! ;-)
I did order the auto glym solution from Tclark and with Amazon prime free shipping I am hopeful I got it nailed and will have a new product to try on other parts of the car...plus I've never tried any of their stuff before. I should have just tried the darn vinegar but I have such a hard time getting rid of that stuff from the cupboard once I get a bottle. I can use the smelly variety on chish and fips or spam musubi but I dont want my engine compartment smelling like anything other than the pleasant wafting of a warm engine on a cold day during an unnecessary pit stop to sign autographs!

Note to self: I will try Vinegar if TClarks idea doesn't pan out..and big thanks for that idea!

 

Kevin I think you and I have the same problem where those spots are baked into the paint -- as such I doubt any topical surface polishing will take care of them long term.

It looks to me like the solutions proposed here are primarily for temporary water spots. My car is 10 years old and has lived in Florida so I can assume that it has seen multiple cycles of torrential rain and heat-cool-cycles on these side panels to completely ruin them.

On another note -- I was thinking of removing these panels and getting them repainted with high temp paint -- any recommendations on the original color and what paint to use?

Thanks.

 

Dan, before I would try a repaint I would try the Vinegar and also clay them. I am sure there is a way to get them out!

 

Here's my WD40 attempt on one of them...worked about 75% of the way there; there's still discoloration left which makes the edge look more whitish than the rest of the panel but there's substantial improvement...
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The Auto Glym stuff totally worked! Very nice results. I am thankful for the suggestion.

The stuff is a white-ish squeezable polish. I used a terry rag and rubbed it in per the directions and buffed off with a micro fiber towel. It feels like there is resistance when your rubbing it in like it's a rubbing compound so I think its like a cleaner polish (these scare me but this stuff worked great on the engine panels). Could be that I had multiple layers of cooked on stuff but after two applications it looks great! Never got to try the vinegar but this stuff is a permanent addition to the out of control collection of products.
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Glad to see it worked for you. I love the stuff. It is also quite nice on paint.

 

How is this Autoglym different from a rubbing compound? I was going to try a rubbing compound first...

 

I don't know other than the label says "paint cleaner, polish and sealant". So perhaps a little of each formulated to work well. I never know how much to rub with a rubbing compound and this stuff was apply like wax and buff off immediately to a nice shine! Maybe 1 minute total to do both panels...I am talking simple!