Washing a car that has been coated with something???

L.S.D.

I've just bought a nearly new car. I have washed it twice, but it leaves water bubbles all over, after hosing down the car. The bubbles dry out & leave dirt stains. I tried sponging them up on the second wash, but no matter what I did there is always some kind of smaller bubble that again leaves dirty spots. I think the car has been coated with something & is causing the problem. How do I stop the problem?

Strider590

Sponge in one hand, hose in the other, use them in that order and wash one panel at a time.

forgotmyname

If it leaves dirt stains you have not washed it properly. When you rinse it off use a chamois or micro fibre towel to dry the panel off before it dries on its own.

L.S.D.

Just to say I clean the car as Strider590 says & have been doing that to all my cars over the years & never had this problem before. The car is definitely cleaned properly & 'forgotmyname' I know what you say, but it really has been washed properly & hosed down. There is some kind of coating but both the original dealer & the one I bought it from say there has not been any coating. When it rains all the cars up the road have water bubbles but after say half an hour all the cars up the road are clear, but not our car it still has the water bubbles for many hours.

forgotmyname

Yeah its got a coating, But you should not let the water dry on the car if your washing it properly. You should be drying it off to prevent water spots.

victor2

Presumably it looked OK when you collected it from the dealer, and had been cleaned then. Have you tried polishing it after washing? Try some car wax on one panel and see if that looks OK when it subsequently gets washed.
Does the rain leave the stains you describe? We live in a hard water area and a friend says he rinses his cars off with rain water from the water butt he has. He gets water marks if he uses tap water.

System

That's why people use chamois leathers ( or the synthetic equivalent) after rinsing down the car and before it dries.

Water is not 'clean' unless you are using distilled water or have a filter in line to remove even the smallest particles. Plus, while wet it will get coated in the fine dust particles suspended in the air.

Hence the reason for using a chamois

L.S.D.

Victor2, interesting about the tap water. My previous car did not have this problem using the same water & it was a new car, but it was a Blue, this one is a metallic Red. It could be that the Red shows it up more, having said that it never had the water bubble problem. I am going to get a chamois tomorrow, but it's an extra step I've never had to do before.

L.S.D.

!!!!!!, I understand all that you say, but I have never had to do it before with all my previous cars. The problem is definitely to do with the coating. Like I previously said mine is the only car up the street that retains water bubbles after it rains.

neilmcl

Forget the chamois, you're better off with a good microfibre drying towel. Something like this - http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/drying-towels/monster-microfibre-purple-monster-edgeless-xl/prod_1297.html

photome

L.S.D. wrote: »

Just to say I clean the car as Strider590 says & have been doing that to all my cars over the years & never had this problem before. The car is definitely cleaned properly & 'forgotmyname' I know what you say, but it really has been washed properly & hosed down. There is some kind of coating but both the original dealer & the one I bought it from say there has not been any coating. When it rains all the cars up the road have water bubbles but after say half an hour all the cars up the road are clear, but not our car it still has the water bubbles for many hours.

As forgetmyname says you need to dry it, i use a microfibre towel.

if you have water bubbles long after others have gone thats a good sign showing your paint is protected

I use this one it was top on autoexpress tests

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KENT-CAR-CARE-EXTRA-LARGE-MICROFIBRE-DRYING-TOWEL-5-SQ-FT-BETTER-THAN-CHAMOIS-/231048731840 and only £2.99 plus £1.99 postage, avaialble elsehwere