Supratt6s

I recently got a brand new paint job a month ago and just got sprinkler water all over my car but no bucket to wash it with... what are some suggestions?

dwiemers

Run that thing through a touchless car wash asap! That is hard water and you better not let it dry on there!

Luweegy

If that is irrigation water it will leave spots.We had it happen to one of our cars last week.We had to sand it with 2000 grit and buff it to get rid of the spots.Good luck.

Supratt6s

Did this and hopefully it did the trick. I will be finding out soon enough

vetdude

Gotta ask, what's the difference between "sprinkler" water and water from the outside spicate at your house?

captej

none....

383vett

Do you mean spigot?

vetdude

Yeah, that too.

04_Z06_CE

yes its fairly bad , especially if you let it cake on and dry ...days after

wildwall

Depending on the hardness and the minerals,it can be a bitch to get the mineral spots off. The minerals deposits are alkaline, so some thing acidic, like vineger can dissolve them. They are particularly hard to get off glass.

Supratt6s

I heard about that vineger trick but is that harmful to paint as well?

brnin8r

Depends on where you are, or what he was referring to. Seen places that use "greywater" for irrigation and sprinklers. Recall in Nevada seeing signs about not "playing in or drinking the water".

jerseydrew

if you have a good coat of wax there should be no problems. just go to a detailer and have him hand wash it for you. it'll cost a little more then a regular car wash but they will take care of it.

and the water depends on where you are like others have said. usully the irrigation water is straight from the town or well. where the spigot is "filtered if you have a well. at my house i have the sprinkler water straight from the town and then run the house and spigots through the water softener and filters.

FastestBusaAround

Exactly - nothing special to worry about...

LOSNSUX

Most of you won't agree with me, but I've followed this regimen for keeping my cars clean for well over forty years and won more than a few car shows along the way. I have NEVER washed my cars after my first year or two of driving. Wet (not dripping) towel, dry towel. Small sections at a time. The key is finding cotton towels that are soft and absorbent (generally, those are towels that have been used for a couple of years...and the right ones are few and far between). Both towels folded to use clean surfaces as one surface gets dirty. Just like wax, never wipe the car off when the surface is hot or close to it. I wax my cars twice a year. There are no swirls in my paint.

It always bothered me that when I washed the car there were areas where you couldn't dry all the water, then when you drove the car the water would stream out and water spot. Even if you didn't drive it right away, the water accumulated where you didn't dry it and that's not good for any surface.

As far as the original post, if the surface of the car wasn't hot, wet towel, dry towel. If it was hot, a no touch car wash, as previously suggested, works. If one isn't available, find some shade and wet towel, dry towel. The key is to get the alkaline off the paint. Swirls can be waxed out.

twfreightman

I have had this happen. A 50-50 solution of vinegar and tap water washed with a white cotton hand towel and rinsed off with plain water and then hand dried did the trick for me. No damage to anything.

Sandpaper???

teking

Ummm .... In a ton of places in America you'd be wrong.

Down here in Florida where I live spinkler water is usually Reclaimed Water or Well water. Both are very bad for automotive paint jobs.

teking

Again ... I have to disagree. If your spinkler water is reclaimed or well water it WILL etch the paint. Especially in water with high disolved particle content.

teking

Exactly. Common sign down here in Florida. Two water pipes to your house. Blue = drinking water, Pink = Recliamed Water.

twfreightman

I have even had stain problems from rain water. Car gets showered on in the parking lot at work. Sun comes out and bakes the water spots on. Vinegar/water solution does the trick.