weird spots on paint
 

Hi guys, has anyone of you experienced weird spots on the paint? They appear to be UNDER the clearcoat. I had seen the once before, then they went away. I washed the car after 2 weeks of not washing it (really weird for me) and these spots are there. What is even weirder is that only one side of the car seems to be affected. Any input? as I stated, they appear to be UNDER the clear coat.

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It looks like hard water spots to me. Can be a pain in the butt to remove. Maybe someone else with more detailing experience will chime in.

Yeah, that looks like hard water spots to me too. You could try using a water spot remover. Chemical Guys has one and I think Meguiar's does too.

I've detailed cars (not professionally) for so long and I had never seen something like this. Is it normal for them to appear UNDER the clear coat?

Also, please take a look at this other picture, the two panes shown here are the quarter panel and the lowest panel in the car, the one that runs from front to back below the door.

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It would be very odd if they were under the clear coat. Maybe someone will chime in here if that has happened to them before but I would try the water spot remover or clay bar and polish.

I tried googling hard water spots but could not find one image that looked like this. All of them look like mineral deposits ON the paint. Can anyone point me to a reference of a pic that looks like these? Thanks for the help so far.

I've seen other guys with the same issue, only one side... etc. Turns out the side of their car that was affected was parked near an automatic lawn sprinkler system... very nasty water.

Anyhow, I would recommend trying what pedZ had said. Otherwise for peace of mind you could try a forum like Detailing Bliss and asking the people there.

Post some pics up so we can better understand the marks. I currently have an issue with my paint and it isn't water marks abd it's under the clear coat.

Pics are up in the first few posts, I posted links to IMGUR since they were too big.

Have you tried or applied anything to try and remove it. I know for a fact, any crap that sits too long on the paint, like bird crap or even a wet leaf can etch the paint and leave a mark. I can usually polish it out though. I usually use Adam's polish, but I found really good results by using a clay bar, 3M's scratch remover followed by a fine polish, then applying a new coat of wax. Not really sure what your situtation is without seeing it in person, but I would at lease give the clay bar a shot. It might even be iron deposit, in which case you could give Aquartz Iron Cut a shot.

I'm gonna try to clay and polish as suggested and report back. It's weird because the car is thoroughly waxed. Also the cutoff on the panel is extremely odd.

I tried polishing and the stains didn't even fade. Any other ideas?

I would take it to the dealer. If might be a paint defect, especially since it's only on that panel and not the bumper.

Hey, did you resolve the issue or not yet?

It looks like you have a clear coat separation. This happens where there is dirt on the paint surface before they put clear coat on.

I have 2 of them on my altima, much smaller than yours and in different places. But I have the same color as you do as well.

I would do one of two things. Go to your dealer and demand they take care of this ASAP.

Take care of it yourself and head to a body shop, like I am going to do.

I seem to have these on my hood. I clayed and polished today with adams products and it did not take care of the issue. For me you can only see them if you look at the hood at a certain angle and in certain lights. Don't even think it would be worth fighting with the dealership. I have a clear bra on the hood and that would just be a real pain in the ***.

I was polishing it with another product and they started to come out, BUT now I noticed I f'd up the paint. Have a look at this:
http://imgur.com/Sn8t3

I did call the dealership and they said they'd never seen it before. I thought it might be hard water stains. IMO it makes more sense that it's the clear coat separation thing mentioned here before. But I don't know why the stains started to come out by polishing then.

Now i have this bigger problem I don't know how to take care of. I'm afraid I might have to repaint.

There is no way to take care of that, you burned through the paint. That's the primer showing.

The reason why the spots started to come out may be that you polished the clear coat right off. I'm assuming you used a rotary polisher or buffer and not an orbital.

I would have just let the dealer handle it to begin with. It should have been covered by warranty.

And it looks like a moisture issue with the paint proces to me. Maybe there was moisture on the panel when it was painted, or some chemical was sprayed on the car that softened the clear coat and it absorbs moisture when you wash it. Clear coat turns milky when the humidity is too high or there is moisture in the gun or paint process. That would explain why it comes and goes, and I'm guessing it just rared up when you washed it.

well, the rest of the car still has it, this was my "test" spot. It was the only spot I tried to correct it. I don't know what to do at this point. I was thinking of going to get that part professionally repainted and then going to the dealer to fix the rest of the car. BTW, I used a PC, not a rotary

Any suggestions?

I would have wet sanded it with 3000 grit paper and polish it out w/machine or by hand your choice.

I just got back from the shop and they quoted $187 to fix the part I f-d up. As for the rest of the car, I think I'm gonna have to go to the dealer.