What is watermark/water spot on your car body?

Water spots take many different forms across the various surfaces on your vehicle. The two most common (and frustrating) are the spots left behind on your paint and glass.

What causes water spots?

Water spots are most frequently created when hard water is left on a surface – paint or glass – to dry (technically, evaporate). This can be due to not drying your car after a wash, parking your car a little too close to a sprinkler, or even from rain water that is left on the surface too long. In a best case scenario, the minerals and dirt in the water are simply left on the surface of the paint after the water has evaporated off. Things get worse if the water contains something corrosive that etches the surface as it sits, creating a “crater”. If not addressed, these craters can actually get worse over time, as water will pool in them and continue to etch the same spot.

How do I remove water spots?

Depending on the severity, there are a few solutions to removing water spots. As always, you’ll want to begin with the least aggressive product necessary to get the job done. So, start with the basic things. Clean the surface; this can be with Car Wash, Speed Shine, Window Cleaner, or whatever product is appropriate for the level of dirt on the surface. Often a simple cleaning will remove some of those basic water spots caused by dirt or minerals sitting on the surface.

If a basic cleaning doesn’t cure the problem, clay is your next level of attack. These will still attack dirt and minerals, and they’ll be more effective at pulling things off the surface that have been around for awhile and bonded to it. Give a light mist of Speed Shine and gently rub the clay across the surface to pull the contaminants from the paint. This is a non-abrasive process, so extra applications are not going to hurt.

Okay, so cleaning and claying haven’t removed your water spots; you’re most likely dealing with spots that have etched into the surface. Don’t stress! A little polishing should take care of the problem. 

How do I prevent water spots?
Simply not getting our cars wet is not an option for most of us, so let’s talk about realistic ways to reduce the likelihood of water spots forming.

First, a good coat of wax or sealant on your paint is the first line of defense. Not only will this prevent most spots from occurring in the first place, it will create a barrier between the hard water and the paint. So, if a water spot does form, it will most likely be on the wax/sealant layer instead of the paint making it much, much easier to remove.

Second, keep your car clean. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, rain will fall, our cars will get hit by a poorly aimed sprinkler, and unwanted water is going to end up on our vehicles. As we talked about earlier, it’s not the water that causes spotting; it’s allowing what’s in the water to sit on the surface. Keep don’t delay washing your car.

SONAX Brilliant Shine Detailer

SONAX Brilliant Shine Detailer is a great compliment to any car enthusiasts' product arsenal. The easy-to-use formulation incorporates a uniques Hybrid Polymer Technology that provides long lasting protection and an extremely flat surface, which generates outstanding paint reflection and a deep, brilliant shine.






For fast, interim paintwork care. Cleans slightly soiled surfaces gently and thoroughly, without scratches. It enhances the paintwork finish and gives the paintwork a velvety smooth surface and a brilliant deep shine. It freshens up existing wax finishes and provides an additional water drip-off effect. A high quality SONAX Microfibre cloth is included for an optimum application and perfect results.

Product Attributes

Hybrid Polymer Technology creates long-lasting protection (lasts several wash cycles)
Compliments and extends waxes or sealants already applied to the paint surface
Produces an extremely smooth surface, increasing the color depth and shine

Sonax High Speed Wax

SONAX High Speed Wax is a simple and effective way to keep your car looking showroom new. The easy on/easy off spray wax emulsion seals the paint surface with a combination of carnauba and silicone. Use SONAX High Speed Wax between wax treatments to maintain a clean, sleek, shiny finish!

SONAX High Speed Wax is based on high tech chemistry that results in a slick shine. A blend of microscopic carnauba wax and a special silicone emulsion deliver a streak-free gloss with real protection!

Other liquid waxes can be streaky because the wax particles are too large or are not adequately stable to spread evenly. SONAX High Speed Wax takes advantage of SONAX's ground-breaking nano technology. The micro wax particles distribute evenly, resulting in a clear, streak-free finish every time.

SONAX High Speed Wax is also suitable for quick touch-ups on plastics, such as vinyl convertible tops. SONAX High Speed Wax makes surfaces look instantly glossy but has the true staying power of a polymer wax.

Use SONAX High Speed Wax after washing to restore any protection that may have diminished as a result of environmental exposure since your last wax or sealant application. It's an excellent maintenance wax when you're pressed for time or just want to give your vehicle a quick touch-up.

Sonax Xtreme Wax Full Proctect

Solid hard wax for new paintwork, and for clean, prepared paintwork. The paste-like wax, which has a high natural Carnauba wax content, contains no abrasives. It provides really long-lasting protection and a perfect shine. Especially economical and incredibly easy to polish out. Fresh new scent.

What is the difference between car wax and polish?

What is car wax?

A wax in its natural form comes in many guises from vegetable waxes i.e carnauba to animal waxes i.e. bees wax. Its is the natural properties of some of these waxes that make them ideal for use in car waxes. The most popular for use in the automotive industry is carnauba wax. What makes this type of wax ideal is that it is

1. virtually insoluble in water, so won’t immediately disappear after each wash or rain shower
2. has a melting point of 82-86 °C so will withstand the high daylight summer temperatures without melting off your car
3. although one of the hardest waxes to be found in its natural form it produces a durable and very glossy finish when combined with other waxes/ingredients used to produce a softer product that can be more easily applied to paintwork.

Most car waxes will therefore be a combination of the natural wax, solvents, silicone fluids, other waxes and colorants. Some will also contain abrasives, depending on the product being developed.In giving your paintwork its shine, your wax will effectively be “smoothing” out the surface of the paint by “filling” in many of the imperfections in the paintwork.

Unfortunately if your paintwork is suffering from oxidation, dullness or swirls there is only so much “filling” that the wax can achieve and all you are effectively doing is covering up and hiding the true nature of why your car is not looking as good as it should.

One other category of “wax” is the “synthetic wax” or “sealant”. These have various other added ingredients that change how the product adheres to your paintwork giving a longer lasting and more durable finish.

What is a Car Polish?

In contrast to a wax a car polish is a product that uses an abrasive action to remove very fine layers of the top coat protection to flatten out the surface to ensure and equal reflection of the light and thus a highly polished look. Such products come in varying degrees of abrasiveness from medium to ultra fine. The quality modern polish will be made of what is known as diminishing abrasives which break down into further smaller particles as they are worked on the paint thus getting finer and finer the more they are “polished” into the paint.

This avoids the need to go through varying steps of abrasiveness in different bottles to achieve a highly polished look. Many polishes also contain gloss enhancing oils which further help to provide a deep look shine to the paint work.

What however is missing by just applying your polish is any protection to the polished paintwork, which is where your wax comes in to protect all the hard work you have just put in polishing and a achieving that deep gloss shine. Which, using your wax or sealant, you will now protect for a few to several months (depending on how often your car is used, how it is stored, the wax you have used and the environment).