How To Prevent Water Spots While Washing Your Car

Join us for some tips on how to prevent water spots from forming on your car's paint and glass. We emphasize three crucial products and processes that will ensure a spot-free shine for your vehicle by avoiding water spots in the first place.

The first step is to prevent water from directly contacting your car's paint or glass any earlier in your process than it needs to. By starting with cleaning the wheels, tires, and engine bay, you ensure that hard water doesn't sit on the paint. Keeping an eye on which parts of your vehicle are in the shade also lets you minimize evaporation during the rest of your washing process.

Also using a deionizer eliminates minerals and contaminants from hard water, helping you achieve a spot-free rinse. High-quality, pH-neutral car soaps neutralize water and eliminate the risk of water spots. It’s actually safer to let the shampoo dry onto the surface of your car than just hard water, since it will rinse off spot-free regardless of how dry the shampoo was.

Graphene Ceramic Coatings also contribute to preventing water spots. Coated surfaces cause water to bead up and roll off easily, leaving less water on the finish to evaporate. Coated surfaces are also easier to dry with a forced air drying unit such as any of Adam’s Polishes' Air Cannons, which reduces scratching and gets rid of the water faster.

•••Adam's Portable Spotless Water Deionizer

•••Adam's Car Wash Shampoo

•••Adam's Mega Foam

•••Adam's Air Cannon Dryer

•••Graphene Ceramic Spray Coating™ Advanced Basic Kit

•••Become a subscriber to Adam's Polishes Youtube Channel

•••Adam's Polishes Website

•••Adam's Polishes Instagram

•••Adam's Polishes Facebook

•••Adam's Polishes Youtube Channel Homepage

[illusionzauto]

Adam's makes the best car wash soaps no lie. I have been using their soaps for quite a while and as a single mobile detailer it's impossible for me to put up a 12x15 canopy so I have no choice but to wash the car in direct sunlight but with their Mega foam car wash soap it has water softeners in it and gives me the confidence to wash in direct sunlight as it does not leave water spots, I swear to God

[josebajonero]

Detailers are very happy with this video. I’m an Adam polishes fan now. Thanks

[MH-jfmq]

Wow. The part about leaving foam on your car being better than leaving water is genius. Really great video. I often get called to wash cars in the hot sun and never really knew how to minimise water spot formation.

[seansean]

I live in Florida where it has August- the devil of all months. I have the water DI system and it is a hassle to use in conjunction with a pressure washer and very expensive over time if you have hard water (my tap water is over 400 ppm- I can get about 12 car rinses before having to change the resin), so I looked for other options, and this is what I learned:
Using Ph neutral soap will help against water spots if you use it defensively. I use a Ph neutral soap to pre-soak the car, rinse and immediately foam again with Ph neutral soap. Now I do the contact wash. I then use Formula 4 spray wax (10 oz water, 2 oz product in a foam cannon) and shoot it over the soap. Its polymers make rinsing the Ph neutral soap super easy and, if it dries on the surface, leaves polymer spots, not water spots, so you can use a detail spray or any other topper to wipe away anything left behind.

[darthrevanakc]

Great video, made it really clear. I get people are suggesting other methods but those aren’t always practical and this is. Thanks!

[chuckhedrick]

I just used Adam's Graphene shampoo for the first time yesterday. I was washing a dark gray Infiniti and while It was 98 degrees in Dallas I did manage to wash in the shade. I will add that the car was coated about a year ago with the Adam's Graphene Ceramic Advanced coating. I mostly followed the advice in the video. I was too lazy to get my pressure washer and foam cannon out. Instead used an IK Foam Pro 2 sprayer about half full of water and added 1 oz of Graphene Shampoo and 1/2 oz of rinseless was with water softening capabilities. I also had a two bucket setup again with the Graphene Shampoo and rinseless mixture. I was a little skeptical of washing the entire car at once since my experience with other soaps (CG's V07 and Sticky Snow Foam) would never rinse clean without additional agitation. But having watched this video I decided to see if I faired better with the Adam's products. After cleaning the wheels and tires, I sprayed the Graphene Shampoo onto the car with the foam sprayer then washed the entire car with a microfiber pad using the two bucket method. Quite a bit of the car had dried by the time I rinsed, but it rinsed off clean! I was shocked (pleasantly)!!! I used my EGO leaf blower to blow most of the water off and there were almost no water spots to speak of. then dried the panels with a little bit of Adam's Graphene Detail Spray as a drying aid. The car came out looking fantastic. The soap was enjoyable to use, was slick and smelled great. Anyway, great video, great advice, and great products.

[maceldolaimy]

the advise of leaving the soap dry is safer worth a $1000 bucks on it's own. Thanks for sharing a great video

[smitty]

Deionized water is key for final rinse. Especially in Colorado.

[waxmanvids]

DEIONIZER = CHEAT CODE once you have one you ll never go back! Amazing.

[denzeljackson]

Thank u for explaining what ph neutral is everyone says use it but doesn't explain what it is, so thanks for that. I finally know what it does

[shellderp]

I just gave up on soap washes and use rinseless washes. Soap prewash can still be useful for dirtier cars. I spray it down, then wash a few panels, then dry. This also means no extra water is coming out of crevices after.

[Youtubedotcomma]

Iv found best results… use a water butt which collect rain water and most pressure washes can operate with that as a water feed. Alas zero water spots. No filters, no fancy products

[papasm]

WOW! Watched the video last night. Followed your advise this morning. Used Detail Spray as described and what a difference it made in eliminating water spots and leaving a smooth, slick surface. Super products!!

[tonytaylor]

The melin hats for joe now! Great video

[evilfingers]

The best way to wash a car and to actually prevent water spots is in a cool and shaded area, but also checking the day's weather and temperature is helpful, because warm or hot air temps will cause the water to evaporate even in the shade.

[randysookoo]

Thanks for the tips and the video!! Awesome suggestions!! 😎🤙

[MikeGDetailing]

Rinseless wash and don’t wash in direct sun.

[hulkspointofview]

Very good video here, alot of good tips here if in the UK I use spotless water and I keep a store in my garage meaning I can fill up from home or out and about. You do not know the impact the water/soap you use will do for you

[Froztinc]

Rinseless washing is the better option in the direct sun because you work and dry a panel at a time.

Here in the Texas summer heat as soon as you put soap and water on the paint it is instantly drying on the surface.

[Gigantortacomax]

I rather use a cordless leaf blower than lugging around a dryer and extension cord and having it get wedged under a tire as you move around the car or truck so much easier with the blower. As for the water spots I use Chemical Guys “After Wash” spray on the truck while it’s still wet and then dry it off and I have NO water spots.