Cleaning water marks and calcium deposits

[flyingfinn]

What is the best product to clean water stains and calcium deposits from our 2008 Safari skin? The deposits were from lawn sprinklers in Las Vegas.

[overlander64]

Greetings flyingfinn!

Welcome to the Forums!

Originally Posted by flyingfinn

What is the best product to clean water stains and calcium deposits from our 2008 Safari skin? The deposits were from lawn sprinklers in Las Vegas.

Warm water with white vinegar with about 35% vinegar worked well to remove water spots and calcium spotting on my friend's highly polished '68 Sovereign. My suggestion would be to try the solution in a hidden location to be sure that it doesn't react with the factory coating on your aluminum.

Good luck with your coach!

Kevin

[Lothlorian]

Mr-Clean Magic Eraser. I have used on the outside and inside of my trailer. It works great.

Brian

[overlander63]

Thetford Lime And Scale Remover works well, but is a bit pricey for the area you're going to be cleaning. You could try a diluted mix of Lime A-Way and water, applied with possibly a sponge mop, and rinse off.

[Phrunes]

Whatever you use, do it quick. I had a newer car that i parked in the driveway a few years back, and every morning for 3 months the sprinklers kicked on and wet the car down. It didn't really bother me at the time since it was winter. When spring arrived I decided to detail the car, and those harmless waterspots would NOT come off of the paint or the windows. I tried everything, lime-away, ammonia, rubbing compound, glass polish, even oven cleaner. The water had actually permanently etched the glass. Needless to say; EVERY window in the car (including the windshield) had to be replaced, to the tune of $1,300 bucks! Some community water sources are putting some pretty caustic chemicals in the water supply, just be carefull and good luck!

[JFScheck]

Yea, the rule (I learned the hard way - our water on base housing in Hawaii at Barbers Point was really nasty) - the water will etch clear coats and glass!

Remove it as soon as possible - wax to protect from future exposure...

[flyingfinn]

Thank you everyone. The immediate response to my question is most impressive and much appreciated. I just bought the Airtream and joined Airforums. I will try the various suggestions and report back, hopefully to assist someone else who may have a similar problem.

[Fmcnair]

Our 2004 Classic got severe water spots from our local city water when I washed it and did not get the windows totally dry afterwards. I tried everything, including vinegar, Lime Away, had a professional detailer work on them and nothing seemed to work. I was thinking WOW, it will cost a fortune to replace all windows. Then, one night as I lay in bed thinking of the problem, a light went off. The next day I tried a very small area of a window with my aluminum wheel cleaner! After much elbow grease, the spots came off! Nope, it did not hurt my windows. I used "Mother's Mag Wheel and Aluminum Polish."

Try it on a very small, out of the way spot but it worked for me.

[lobobuzz]

Warm water with white vinegar with about 50% vinegar worked great on my freshly polished 64 Globe Trotter.

[Shaggy1970]

"The Works" toilet bowl cleaner works great on my boat and cars. Never used it on an airstream but I am assuming its ok, The clear coat on my 2013 F150 looks amazing.

[Althea68]

So I work for one of the BIG Commercial airplane manufacturers and we have had issues in the past with our windshields being scratched or stained. Being that these windows cost 20k$, we have tried everything to clean and polish them. Fmcnair and his aluminum polish are exactly what we have done to fix our worst issues. I just did the spring detailing on our 2012 International this weekend and our windows are pretty rough. I am going to try the CLR and if that doesn't work I will also try the Metall Polish. Metall is a brand name not a mis-spelling. Will update this weekend.

[AtomicNo13]

Barkeepers friend works great but be careful not to use too much pressure on surfaces which might be scratched.

[idroba]

There are a lot of good solutions and advice in the above posts. The thing I have come to realize about water spots and deposits from sprinklers and the like is that there are many different water contaminants, some will be removed by one system or suggestion, some will only respond to another. In my experience, a few waters actually etch the surface and either nothing at all can be done to restore it, or a mechanical re polish is the only thing possible, to remove the adjacent surfaces down below the etched surface.

So, to the OP, try one or several of the above solutions from other posters. You probably will find one which will work. Only the most aggressive waters will etch surfaces, and they are the most difficult to deal with.

Short additional story: I had a car which got hit with a sprinkler when parked in a lot adjacent to a lawn. I tried everything imaginable to get rid of the spots on the windows and paint. Nothing worked. Then I got into a hard rain storm while driving. The spots were totally removed by plain soft rainwater! Nothing else had worked.

[HeadWest]

Originally Posted by flyingfinn

What is the best product to clean water stains and calcium deposits from our 2008 Safari skin? The deposits were from lawn sprinklers in Las Vegas.

Did this happen at a campground, if so which one? We are heading to LV in a couple of weeks and would rather not have our trailer hit with sprinklers.

Hope all works out with getting the calcium off of yours.