I have some bad water spots in my factory black stripes. I tried claybar on it but that had little effect.

Anyone know a good cleaner for stripes that can get out my water spots?

 

Oh, what a great question, Scatpack! I have the same spots on mine.... I'd love to know too.

 

The OEM stripes are, in my opinion, TERRIBLE this way... Mine were spotted as well and got marked by moisture when I put a magnet on one for a day or two. In the end, the only thing that got them clear was polishing them with paint polish and a random-orbital polisher. Everything I've herd says to not use auto polishing on the vinyl, but as nothing was helping and I was minutes away from just pulling them off the car and replacing them with something like Aesthetic Creation's bonnet stripes, I figured "what the hell"?

Polishing them with Griot's finest-grade machine polish left them shining and mark-free, but it DID resuly in a scary ammount of vblack residue on my pad, so I'm assuming if I polish them repeatedly that I'll eventually wear away the black and have to replace them. Again, POLISHING IS NOT OFFICIALLY RECOMMENDED and might (probably WILL) lead to you wearing a hole in the stripes eventually, but it is the only thing I found that got the marks out of the black stripes. Some people recommended Soft Scrub but this DID NOT WORK - I think that fix is for the white stripes that get stained - the bleach in the Soft Scrub helps bring back the white shine, but it does not do anything on the black as far as I can tell.

What I'd recommend is polish them until they'rre mark free (go slow) and then IMMEDIATELY apply a few coats of wax to the bonnet AND the stripes. If moisture never reaches the vinyl then it can't mark it, I figure (it's working for me so far anyway). Worst case scenario - if you can't repair them, a replacement set can be had for only about $50 and the DIY install isn't that complicated.

 

I had the same problem. White stripes pretty well stained up with water deposits. I tried Goo-Gone, water and vinegar, and Armour-all grease remover.....no luck. Had some Turtle wax rubbing/polishing compound. Used a damp cotton cloth to apply a little amount, rubbed GENTLY and buffed and removed the compound with a Micro-fiber cloth. Stripes as bright as ever, waxed bonnet completely with Black Magic Wet Shine Liq. wax.

 

Try zaino Z-PC paint cleaner. Great stuff for removeing swirl marks, oxidation and blemishes. It works easy by hand and even better with an orbital. http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=Zaino

 

Any paint cleanser will do the trick. Rub in one direction, back and forth (not circles) and use a pure foam applicator for best results. I have successfully used 3-4 different brands...P21S, ZPC, 3M, etc.

 

I just had to clean my white stripes.. not black, I know.. from a bunch of exhaust crud build up.. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with a little Klasse AIO and it cleaned up them nicely. Some of the areas needed a little more elbow grease than others.. but virtually every spot came out..

If you're going this route, I'd try it on a small portion of the stripe first to make sure it doesn't dull them at all.

 

I'm having the clearbra installed on my CR MC tomorrow. Before that clearbra goes down, I want to remove some water spots on the black vinyl bonnet stripes.

So I searched out this thread and I'm going to strip the wax off the stripes tonight and then lightly go over them with some rubbing compound. Then I'll cover them with the NXT wax again.

Now... question is, if I got the water spots already on my 3-month old stripes, how do I keep from getting them back ?? I always dry the car right after washing, but these stripes seem to collect water spots very easily.

As always, appreciate any help I get !

 

Question?

Are you planning on installing the clearbra over your bonnet stripes?? Cause if you are, then when it comes time to replace your $50 stripes, you'll also have to redo your $300+ cleabra installation.

Just a heads up.

Btw, water spots are simply mineral deposits in your water. You've heard the term "hard" water versus "soft" water? The amount of mineral deposits vary from location to location. Unless you use something to soften your water, you might try resorting to doing either a "dry wash"--not exactly recommended using QEW (Quick Easy Wash from Protectall)-- or softening your water, i.e. deionized water or also distilled water are possibilities.

Either way the problem is in the water.

Richard

 

Richard,

Yes, I'm going to have the clearbra installed over the bonnet stripes. And yes, I do realize that if I ever need to replace those stripes, the job becomes much more expensive. But since this is a brand new car, I would hope those stripes are good-to-go for a few years, at least. (fingers crossed)

Thanks for the info. Yes, we have very hard water where I live. I can tell by the speed at which deposits occur in the toilet bowls. So I believe I'll invest in one of those filter attachments I saw in the Griot's Garage catalog that you can put on the water hose. Might help a bit.

Thanks for the reply... appreciate your expert knowledge and advice !

 

You're welcome.

I wanted to be sure you understood the clear bra implications because I've seen this happen so many times. Your clear bra will surely outlast the life of those stripes, and since both the stripe material and the labor to install them are so much less than clear bra, a lot of people prefer to put the bonnet stripes over the clear bra instead of under.

Good luck on the install!

Richard