I don't know when or how but have horrible water spots on my glass. The paint seems fine (good amount of wax probably saved me) but the side mirrors and windows look horrible. I have tried all sorts of glass cleaners and nothing works. I heard something about vinegar....any ideas?

 

Another thing that will work is the product: CLR (Calicum & Lime Remover), found in your grocery store.

 

Vinegar will clean it up right away. 50/50 solution.

 

Zaino Glass Polish. Makes your glass look new too.

 

That Zep stuff that you'd get at Home Depot would work. The shower, tub and tile cleaner on a cloth. I'd be curious why you're getting them in the first place? If you're washing your car in the sun that that'll do it. If you wash in the shade and get the water off quickly then you won't have the problem.

 

You've got the right answers here...hard water is caused by various carbonates and hydroxide salts of calcium, magnesium and others. These carbonates are basic - solutions such as vinegar (and CLR, and some toilet cleaners) are acidic - now recall your high school chemistry stuff with acids and bases - voila!
Sorry but I figured many Rennlisters seem to like the underlying explanations to 'hard' problems like this!
I don't know what certain cleaners (e.g. Lysol toilet bowl) will do to your paint - they are often VERY acidic and contain hydrochloric acid. Vinegar's pH is not as low (i.e. acidic) and is probably safer on your paint and plastic.
BTW, if you have an old dishwasher that has developed those nasty hardness spots - try the vinegar or Lysol TB cleaner - rips it right off!!!

 

Install a water softener in the house. ALL water with the exception of outside taps. Install a valve that will feed softwater to the outside spigget that you use to wash your car with. You won't ever have a problem with spots and everything that uses water, including your coffee maker and dishwasher, will last longer.

 

Try this stuff?



From catalog description::::
SEE WHAT YOU'RE MISSING WITH GRIOT'S GARAGE GLASS POLISH
My pursuit for perfection led me to improve our old glass polish. We now sell two different polishes. Fine Glass Polish is for mild spots that you normally see on your windshield, sunroof and side glass. Spots that are visible but hard to feel with your fingertips. For water spots that normally occur on shower doors and that you can feel with your finger tips we've introduced Glass Polish. It has more polishing compounds for heavily calcified deposits. Use either one periodically and your wipers will last longer! Both products may be used by hand with our Cotton Polishing Pads or with our Machine Polishing System and an Orange Pad. Before I recently traded in my wife's Suburban, I machine polished the entire water spotted glass area in less than a half hour! (It is much easier to remove water spots from glass than to polish out a scratch in paint.) For uncoated glass only. Enjoy our pursuit of perfection.

 

Synergy,

I'm in Marin and the water sucks around here too. The glass cleaners mentioned above work well, with alot of elbow grease. I got one of these ... as prevention


http://www.crspotless.com

I got the DI100 unit. It seems to work well for me, and mine is Midnight blue. Prevention is the best solution.

 

Don't you guys who have hard water use a water softener in your house? I can't believe it since it is cheap, works well and improves the water quality. My lake house well water has 68 grams of hardness and I am able to reduce the hardness to 1 gram ( which is far below what is considered soft water). Sure saves on replacing appliances and toilets, too.

 

The water in Marin isn't that hard - about 5-7 grains. My experience with a softener was with a well that we had on an Oregon home. The water was about like yours, and it softened it to about 1-5 grain. It was a pain in the ***, however.

It doesn't take much hardness to spot a car. Thats why I use deionizing filters. The pipes and fixtures in the house are 5 years old, and they look fine.

 

Yeah 5 - 7 grains is not that bad. That's what most municipalities soften theirs to.

 

The real problem here is that much of the year its quite dry outside. Between that and the heat, the water on the car (after washing) evaporates really quickly. I worked like a jackrabbit trying to dry the car before it could spot.

After getting a deionizer, I can take my time.

 

OK, try this detailing trick. After washing and hosing the car down, remove the nosel and just let the water free flow from the hose onto the car. If the car is waxed you will magically see the water just bond and sheet off the car leaving only small droplets here and there that can be quickly wiped up. Give it a try. That should solve it

 

Thanks for the feedback...and yes I have a water softener with a nozzle in my garage. I believe it happened when I parked the car outside for a few hours and the sprinklers went on!!! Ouch!