First Hand Wash of the Year!

"mazda616" (mazda616) 04/04/2015 at 15:05 • Filed to: Mazda

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First hand wash of the year! Now to get rid of the water spots. Not having shade to wash the car in kind of sucks.

Oh, and I ordered a replacement door lock actuator. Apparently, to get the actuator new, it only comes as part of the door latch assembly, which in itself has been redesigned and requires several other parts (according to the Mazda dealer). Final cost is around $200.00. So, I turned to eBay and found a junked 2008 Mazda3 sedan in Minnesota and the guy is selling the right front door lock actuator from it for $56.00. Boom. Ordered it. I hope it gets here soon because knowing mine is broken is bugging the shit out of me. I'm so OCD about my car and other stuff. I really should work on that. :-/ Oh well.

I'm also really glad that red hides swirl marks and fine scratches fairly well, because my paint is full of them. It shines well and I've kept it from fading but damn the swirl marks and scratches/scuffs are hellacious. :-(

Still looks good for seven-years-old and 72,000 miles, though.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > mazda616 04/04/2015 at 15:15

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Hah when I washed my red pickup, the light of the sun just emphasized the billions of circular scratches it has accumulated.

Sam > mazda616 04/04/2015 at 21:45

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Get some spray wax and a microfiber towel. It really helps to get rid of the water spots, without adding more scratches to the paint.

Also, getting rid of scratches/swirl marks is pretty easy if you have a rotary buffer. Just get the right compound and keep the thing moving. It takes a bit of practice, but you'll have it down by your second or third time.

Svend > mazda616 04/06/2015 at 07:06

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For shade you can buy cheap gazebos from quite a few places. Also to reduce water spots in the meantime, once you've rinsed the car off, take off the end of the hose line and 'openhose' rinse the car off, it will have the sheeting effect of collecting water droplets as it runs off the car minimising the amount of water droplets left on the car. Also as someone mentioned below you can get water filters that connect inline with the hose and use for the final rinse off reducing waterspots by removing particles from the water. I use a 0ppm (zero parts per million) filter in the summer. They are cheap enough if you look around the net and many different types.

You can also buy waterspot remover in that it's a spray on product that wipes off removing the calcium, etc... deposits left behind.