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My MINI is one year old. About a year ago I clayed, amigo’d, and epic’ed it and for the last year washed every week drying with hydro.
The finish remains smooth and water still beads, but a few water spots have resisted the weekly cleaning. The spots are from mid-week rainy commutes, rain mixed with tree sap from sitting under large oaks at work, and other road hazards experienced form a daily two hour commute. Note: the water spots are smooth – you cannot feel them when rubbing a finger over the finish. Another imperfection showing up are micro scratches from the washing and drying process over the last year, very few, but noticeable to the trained eye.
I wanted to wax/detail every six months, but time has slipped away. Now I am planning a major detailing and wanted to select the best way to remove those stubborn water spots. My goal is to reduce the amount of work while not using too aggressive a product to take off more finish than necessary. I have these products - Clay Bar, Scratch-X, Amigo. and will be placing a detailers paradise order soon for more Hydro.
I had BAD water spots that would only come off with a polish. Clay wouldn't take it off. We ended up using a light swirl remover and followed up with a paint cleanser.
You should be claybarring before polishing anyway, so if you clay and it didn't come out move up to a polish. If ends up coming out with a clay, then just put some more wax on it.
I would have to agree with Darkness. Start with clay and then add the polish step to your previous process. I use Prima Swirl on a white DP pad before Amigo. If there are stubborn spots, I step up to an orange pad. The polish step, for me anyway, is usually the most involved and time consuming but it is worth it to get rid of the swirls (microscratches) that accumulate between detailings. Of course a lot depends on the color of your MINI as to what combination of pads/polish are necessary or desirable.
