Hello everyone,

My 1st attempt of using hydro went bad. I guess I need a little attention from hydro club members here!
Somehow, I managed to get a lot of water marks on my ind-blue after washing and hydroing yesterday! I don't know what I did wrong! Maybe hydro doesn't really like me!?

I'll try to break my process:
* Wash MINI as usual, but with brand new black wool wash mitt from DP, amazing mitt BTW. I parked MINI half in garage, half on driveway since I just moved to my new house and got a lot of boxes in garage
* Hosed entire car really good, and got rid of some water here and there, but left some on for hydro
* Apply hydro and dry w/ Platinum microfiber towel (amazing MF!).
* --> WATER MARKS everywhere...

What did I do wrong in this process?
I admit that I was in a rush to finish the job, I only have about 1 hour for a dirty MINI. My wife drove it thru construction site last Wed. I am not blaming her this time, I am really glad she came home alive...
I have to say that I didn't like to dry my car w/ a towel, I always used this rubber blade thingy taking care of all water on cars. Did I forget how to dry cars with towels???

The worst part: I can't get rid of the water marks anymore, I tried Quik Detailer last night, and nothing happened. I usually had good luck treating water leftovers after wash with Meguiar's Quik Detailer. However, Those water marks might trapped under hydro now!!! To make myself in tears, I somehow made a lot of swirl when I tried to fix water marks. I am afraid that I have to polish whole car again, which I just did 2 month ago, and I really don't have another 12 hours for polishing right now.

I know everyone wanna a picture to analyze, but I just moved to my new house, camera is in one of 100+ boxes.

After seeing so many happy hydro-ers and beautiful cars, I am so disappointed with my hydro experience. I'll have to stop using it.

Sorry KenChan, I know you must be sharppening your knife right now, but I won't tell you where I live...

 

So far my experience has been great. Your washing process is similar to mine but I have been using Mystique to wash. Maybe thats it. Maybe you have really hard water?. Sounds frustating but again your process seems right.

Good Luck.

 

Despite how easy the "wax as you dry" part sounds, you really do need to dry the car well. Maybe the paint was too hot and the water dried before you could get the Hydro on. One good tip I learned here is that you should take the sprayer off the hose and go over the car with the slow, thick stream of water. This will get off most of the water, cool the car down, and make Hydroing that much easier. I don't know about you but it was 100 degrees in PA yesterday...

 

Did you get the MINI good & dry or did you just kinda dry it & leave smears of water on it. The only thing I can think is that you didn't dry it all the way off & you have hard water where you live so the minerals in the water spotted it.
Or did some water possibly get sun-dried on some areas of your MINI as you were washing other areas & before you got around to drying it? That happens to me sometimes as I have no garage.

 

I'm sure Ken will be gentle.

 

One other thing, I have only washed my car when the sun is behind my house and it is early evening and cooler. The car is completely in the shade.

 

Thanks for fast reply guys!

The paint wasn't THAT hot, I watered the car well when I spray it, paint was actually much cooler than me! It was 87 out here in MN, and was really cloudly & steamy. OK, I'll drive my car into lake to cool it completely off before washing it then! Lucky me, I got a lake right next to my house.

I had left smears of water on it for hydro, bad idea?

I actually always wash my car in garage, so they won't get 'sun-burned' or dried too fast out there. I'd better move those damn boxes fast!

This is the frist wash I did at my new house, I don't really know how hard the water is. That's a great point!

 

Yeah. After you spray on Hydro --- and lightly --- you need to dry the car. What you did was spread Hydro around in the water and then the water dried.

 

here's your problem: "* Apply hydro and dry w/ Platinum microfiber towel (amazing MF!)."

you need to use a drying MF towel when using Hydro. You just didnt
get all the water off the car. Platinum MF towels are for QD.


I can wash my black Legacy in the summer sun while using Hydro.
without it, it will be a water spot mess.

 

"* Apply hydro and dry w/ Platinum microfiber towel (amazing MF!)." can be break down a little bit more:

~ spray Hydro on hood (example here) with a little bit water still on hood.
~ massage hydro around, hoping get an even spread
~ use platinum MF wipe water off REALLY good until it dried completely
~ move to next section...

I understand paint has to be completely dry after hydro, and that's what I did. I had used all 3 platinum drying it. I know I need to get drying MF for the job, but my bank account kept telling me otherwise.
I know I am cheating here, but platimum really got the car dried.

Where did the water marks come from???
This is driving me nuts, I'll wash my SUV tonight and see what happens. If everything falls apart, I'll just make an ice-hydro-drink tonight

 

if it was COMPLETELY dry when you finished, then look above.

notice any trees? how about some rain clouds? or perhaps your
garage door had some water accumlated and you opened it and
it dripped.

your problem is elsewhere; not Hydro.

 

How much Hydro did you use? I can imagine the possibility of putting it on SO heavy that you end up with Hydro smears when it dries - when I use too much I end up with white residue in my nooks and crannies...

 

dang...

 

(places finger on Hydro crown... but dares not yank it off Ken's noggin quite yet...)

 

Can Hydro be used as a QD and would it have the same effects? If you are having a hard time with it, that's how I would use it. I love my drying process and would find it hard and a bit more expensive to use hydro as a "wax as you dry."

 

But the question remains: How will YY MINI get rid of the wter marks? I assume you've tried just washing the car off again and no help... I would try claying just one panel and see if that fixes that problem, ...if not, then I would email Heather at DP...as to the swirls, well, maybe once the filmyness from the water marks are gone that maybe the swirls will be les noticable? If you are brave at that point, you could re-hydro as supposedly Hydro does hve decent swirl hiding characteristics. according to Octane Guy....

 

you can use it as a QD, but does not have the lifting capabilites of Slick.

i HIGHLY DOUBT that it was the product's fault. Hydro does not leave any
water stains. like ive mentioned before, i use it in the sun on my black
legacy and this is the most efficient way to wash the car without risking
water spots and stains in the sun. ideally i would wash in the shade.

i only use 2 squirts per the Hydro bottle per panel.

 

One thing I learned about Slick... don't leave it on more than a few seconds before you wipe it off. I'm used to using Griot's Speed Shine for QD. Thought I'd try Slick... walked around the JB MCSC, spritzed it down... went to wipe it in/off.... smeared and required a lot of elbow grease to get it off.

Best to spray a little on your MF towel and then buff it in/off.

Me... back to using the Speed Shine. Easier and looks great.

 

I tried Speed Shine and Slick. I prefer Slick. The instructions do say to wipe it right away. I have sprayed it on, then gone into the shed to get the MF and then wiped it off with no problem.

 

You must walk fast.

 

I agree with kenchan. It only takes a small amount of Hydro. First time I used it, I did about 4 squirts per panel and it took a good amount of work to work it in. 2 seems to be perfect. I can't see how Hydro, used correctly, could cause water spots. The work-in -- really drying with a very slight bit more action ---- removes pretty much all the water on the car.

 

Hi guys,

I am back. I didn't solve anything last night, water spots are still on my otherwise good looking paint (view from 6ft away.)

If I remembered correctly, I used 2~3 squirts/panel. I had read the 'hydro club' thread pretty carefully, and did what everybody else said~"Wax as you dry". They are water marks, not smears. Imagine someone hose a car soaking wet, let it bake under the sun for hours. That's what my paint looks like right now. Ok, try again, MINI is not 100% covered with water spots, but good amount of stains could be found on every panel

I had took some time off from moving boxes, and just stair my car, it was a sad feeling. As I said, MINI looks good from 6ft away, but when I get closer: water marks, swirl everywhere. Paint was perfect after 12 hours of 2 polish+2 wax...

umberto got a good point, how do I suppose to fix the defects? I think stains and swirls are trapped under hydro now.
I'll try 'cleaner wax' or ScratchX some time soon. That hopefully will get rid of water marks. Swirls Time to use my PC polisher again.

 

I wouldn't go crazy with the PC and anything abrasive... I'd start with something like Prima Amigo (a gentle paint cleanser) and see if that gets it off...

 

I feel your pain here. A month ago, after I'd polished with Swirl (by hand), I sealed the car with Epic and the next day there was a slight haze all over the car.(Swirl residue) Its a pain in the a$$ when you screw up, and especially when you don't know how, but its all in learning, right?

 

just remove it with griot's PaintPrep. only takes 2min. then hose off.
start fresh.

SpeedShine vs Slick i have gallons of both.
They are both great products and has its own characterisics.

Speedshine does not SHINE like Slick which is a good thing for me.
Slick has much better lifting power than Speedshine which is also a good
thing for me.

so, i use Speedshine on my hobby cars for the paint, and use Slick
on the wheels. best of both worlds.

i don't QD my commuters... i just wash them.