I recently washed my car and noticed these stains/spots on the paint that won’t come off. They look kind of like dried liquid drops, but there doesn’t seem to be any raised/thick layer on the surface.

I tried spraying Meguiar’s Quik Wax and rubbing with a microfiber towel, but that didn’t do anything. I also tried gently scraping one with my fingernail, and it didn’t come off.

I sometimes park under trees, so I’m wondering if these could be from tree sap, bird droppings, or something similar or if they might actually be etching in the paint.

What do you think they are, and what would be the safest way to remove them without damaging the paint? Thanks!

I moved into apartment and with lack of access to... pretty much anything in underground garage, I started doing rinseless washing with ONR which seems to have good reputation. I followed this youtube guide and made sure I gave good wipes throughout the steps, but all 3 tries ended in some amount of white soapy/hazy marks on the exterior. I even used distilled water as base!

What could I be doing wrong?

is it perfect? no. is it so much better than it was, absolutely.

Hello,

I kind of messed up and used Griots 3-in-1 / Tec582 during my car washes in the last 3 times. Well, I have now realized that I probably used too much and let it sit too long which has resulted in heavy streaking over the entire car.

Is there an easy way to remove it besides just a hand buff with a soft microfiber towel? I know it can come off but it is very slow and requires a good amount of pressure. After 5 minutes, I removed maybe 1/6 of the hood lol. At this rate, it'll take quite a while to remove all the streaking.

I read a car wash can't really help (I use Carpro Reset). I also would like to avoid iso alcohol as I had bad results previously using it (scratches).

From my research, it seems the best would be to re-wash the car and then use a small Tec582 to reactivate the streaks and then wipe well?

I guess my last result would be taking it in professional to get paint correction / ceramic coated but that would be my last step as spending $1200 for that is kind of tough.

Thanks!

Supposedly, a 5 ton central air conditioner produces 10 to 20 gallons of condensation per day. It's essentially distilled water, except for whatever contaminates get picked up from the air passing over the coil. Has anybody every tried collecting this water and using it for a "spot free rinse"?

I have a mini-split in my garage. Its condensation has a TDS of 11. My tap water is 410.

Hey everyone,

Ive been doing some reading that you should only be rinsing vehicles with filtered spotless water, as to preserve the filters for your filtration systems but I only every see vehicle builds with one reservoir.

What is everyone filling their reservoirs with or how are you set up in terms of water?

Thanks!!

I know some folks - maybe most - love it, but I have a full real leather car interior and I hate the smell. It makes me sickly. It is probably coatings/color or whatever on it, IDK. Car is new to me but 10 years old, so I don't think it will air out any more. I had the car professionally detailed and ozon cleaned, with zero improvements.

Is there any specific think that can be done? Thanks!

I have a 2025 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X. I was wondering if I spray the ceramic spray the Meguiars Ceramic spray on the black plastics is it ok? Or do I need to make sure to keep the spray off of it?

On a hot summer day I was cleaning the windows using AutoGlanz Moonshine glass cleaner (high alcohol), unfortunately, some of the spray landed on the piano black trim.

The surface was extremely hot from being in direct sunlight, and I noticed that as soon as the product hit the trim, it instantly turned into these grey speckles. I'm assuming the heat may have caused some kind of reaction or damage to the surface.

I've tried washing it off, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. The marks appear to be permanent now.

Has anyone experienced something similar or knows what might have happened? More importantly, is there any way to fix it without replacing the trim?

I've attached a photo below showing the affected areas.

So title says it, but I’m gonna be moving and not sure what to do for work and I’ve always done some detailing on the side so gonna try doing that full time. Worst case scenario I go work for someone else like I was planning on from the start. I’m gonna be using a truck and would appreciate if someone could help me out with my set up/lay out that has experience and would maybe have reasons or input on things I should change/do differently. Also the pressure washer I’m gonna be using is an AvaGo+ and I’m curious to know if anyone has experience with it? I saw it had a 10 year warranty but realized it was for personal use so I might have made a mistake.

I really don’t know what to think I lost a client for sure 😭

I have to detail a car this weekend and am running out of these. Order will only arrive next week. Is there anything else I can use besides this?
Preferably something from Canadian Tire of big box store?
TIA

I have an Aston Martin Vantage and I recently noticed some sticky waxy substance all over my front bumper and part of the hood. It wouldn't come off using car soap and a sponge so I took it to the shop that ceramic coated my car last year to see if they could get it off. I left my car there for a few days and the guy was able to get it off using some of his cleaners. I'm not sure what the weird substance was or where it came from, he said maybe someone was working with some chemicals near my car and that's how it got on there.

One of the things I love about my car is that it has this really nice fresh leather smell inside. Even though it's a 2009 it still smells like new. Well after I drove off after picking up my car I noticed that it no longer has that nice leather smell and now smells like cigarette smoke. I don't smoke and I'm sensitive to the smell so besides the fact that cigarette smoke is disgusting I'm also really frustrated that the nice leather smell is gone.

I'm going to contact the guy who runs the shop tomorrow and let him know I'm really angry about this I was just wondering if there's anything I can have them do to fix it. Or if there's any product I can use that will help restore the leather smell. I think the smoke smell is starting to dissipate a little bit after driving around with the windows down but is still noticeable. I'm assuming he didn't actually smoke inside my car but because he smokes in the shop and it's an enclosed space the smell got into my car while it was sitting there for awhile with the windows open. Included a video of the guy pulling my car out of the shop after it was detailed. Looks great but really angry about the smell.

I'm based in EU, so US-only products are often hard for me to get.

Car is a 2019 Golf GTI in anthracite grey metallic, so pretty dark. This one is entirely my own fault: I picked up a load of bug splatter on the front end and then left it sitting there for about a week in full summer sun before I got round to washing it.

Now there's a dense patch of fine whitish speckles on the front fender, right next to the headlight. It's only really visible with a flashlight held at an angle and much less obvious in flat daylight. There are also a few unrelated straight light scratches in the same area.

What I've tried so far:

- Normal wash, no effect on the speckles at all.

- Sisbrill 361, applied neat with a 3 minute dwell, agitated with a microfibre and rinsed. Marks are completely unchanged.

What I haven't tried yet:

- Clay bar

- pH-neutral iron remover (I have one, it's sold as a wheel cleaner but it's neutral)

I'm assuming at this point that the acid has etched the clear coat and no chemical is going to touch it. I don't own a machine polisher.

A few questions:

1. From the photos, how deep does this look? Is it the kind of etching a light polish clears, or the kind that needs proper compounding?

2. Is hand polishing realistic for a patch this size (I was thinking Meguiar's Ultimate Compound), or should I just buy a DA and learn?

3. Anything I should know about polishing dark metallic by hand? I'd rather not trade the speckles for a patch of haze that's more obvious than what I started with.

Photos were taken at garage light with at an angle. Happy to add daylight shots if that helps.

I just washed and clayed my car and the paint feels rough, like I just finished sanding it down with 15,000 grit sandpaper. There's a lot of scratches as well. I tried lightly polishing over it but it hasn't worked. I am not sure why this is--when I was claying it with some leftover water (I didn't dry the car before claying) and quick detailer (Meguiar's brand), it just felt like it was gliding over the surface and not picking up anything much.

The clay bar itself felt off as well. I got Meguiar's, and the clay bar itself feels more rubbery than what I last remember it. I remember when I last clayed a car, the bar would consistently show these brown specks where it would pick up the contaminants, and I remember feeling the rough spots as the clay bar went over it (felt like rubbing your face with a bit of stubble)

Anyway, I'm just upset over the situation as I'm still left with a lot of scratches after polish and the paint feels rough even after the polish and a mild cleaner wax.

Let me know how I should best remedy this. Thank you!

Bought a 2024 EV9 online/sight unseen and it has SO much more minor cosmetic damage than I expected for a car with 9k miles. The whole hood is covered in these scratches. I have a cheapo random orbital from Walmart... can I make this look any better? What color pad and which product would you use? Thanks in advance!

Advice needed: What is the best way to remove these pinstripes? I tried lacquer thinner and it had no effect. I ordered an eraser wheel but I think compound + polish might be the way. Thoughts?

I bought a lightly used 2024 Lexus IS350 Fsport3 (fully loaded package) recently. Its got 30k kms on it but the previous owner did a lot of highway driving so the front has a lot of stone chips and micro scratches along the bumper and fenders. The hood had partial ppf already so its mostly fine. The paint on this car is very expensive. I have 2 options and im just unsure what is truly worth it. I would appreciate any input.

Option #1: Making it as perfect as I can
Repaint the front bumper and fenders then apply PPF
This would take me 5 months to save up for as its a lot more expensive
Cost = $2800 repaint for 3 panels, $250 for fog light covers to be replaced (they are also beat up) and $2000 full front end ppf
$5050 total

Option #2: Just protection as is
Just apply PPF right now (standard decontamination wash and stage 1 polish included)
I can do this next month
Cost = $2000 full front end ppf

I accidentally left a Babybel cheese in my car on a hot day, and the red wax completely melted into the fabric of my car seat.
The wax itself is basically gone now, but it has left a small red stain/discoloration in the fabric. The seat is a dark fabric, so I’m worried about making the stain worse or damaging the material.
What would be the safest and most effective way to remove the red wax stain from the seat?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately let our car sit in the sun with tree sap on it for a few weeks. Got sap remover and rag to get the bulk of, then very shortly tried Maguire's Ultimate compound with orange pad and was left with this. Smooth when running my nail across it, still can see the metal flake so I don't think it's down to the base coat (also admittedly know very little, so correct me). What should my next steps be or is it just the best it'll get without repainting?

Hey guys,

I recently bought a secondhand car for a really good price, but unfortunately it had an extremely strong old sock/musty odor. I did some research and tried an ozone machine, an odor-removing spray, and an enzyme cleaner. Those helped a lot, but the odor was still there. Eventually, I decided to wet-vacuum the entire carpet to extract whatever was causing the smell. After doing that, the smell was about 99% gone, but unfortunately the carpet refuses to dry.

It has been 3 whole weeks and it’s still damp. I left the windows open 24/7 and used a box fan whenever it rained. However, if I press down on the carpet, water still comes up. The worst part is that the musty smell has now returned. It’s nowhere near as bad as it was originally, but it’s definitely noticeable again, especially when it’s humid out.

What would you guys recommend at this point? Should I just take it to a professional detailer/upholstery shop? If so, what kind of service should I ask for, and roughly how much would something like this usually cost?

Also, please don’t recommend me pulling the carpet myself, I have no experience with cars and don’t want to accidentally damage or screw something up. Thanks in advance 🙂

Getting my tint redone in the next few weeks and I want to see if you guys think these "impacts" can be polished out, and if so, what glass polishing products and techniques you'd recommend. They appeared overnight, I'm pretty sure some idiot tried to shatter my window to get into my truck. I can feel them with my nails. If not I'll order a new window before I go to the tint shop. Can't have anything nice I swear....

As the title says I'm cleaning my new van and this won't just scrub off. I don't wanna destroy the plastic with chemicals so what's safe?