The pics below are from my wife's black 2010 rav 4. When we bought it new we lived in a condo complex and she parked next to a sprinkler. The water spots are baked onto the paint. Here driver side window is also stained, which seems hopeless. I'd really like to get the paint shiny again. There's multiple paint chips and door dings which I know I can do nothing about. I'm a bit scared to work on the car since its black. I've got a griots OB. Can someone point me in the right direction as to where to Start?
Easiest solution would be to clay bar the car and then get sonax paint cleaner and a foam pad on a griot's for the paint and the windows. It'll remove paint oxidation and water spots and bring back the gloss abd clarity. It's very easy to use and not as complicated as paint correction. There are also many companies that sell mineral deposit removers like optimum MDR but I prefer using sonax paint cleaner.
Sure you can use those. I personally use the pads Phil sells but I doubt there's much difference when using sonax paint cleaner. Use a heavy polishing pad for best gloss and a light cutting for more defect removal. Sonax paint cleaner has a pretty long work time but can sling if you're using too much so be careful. Also if you get it on trim wipe it off and it shouldn't damage it. May even darken and improve its appearance. Afterwards considering using sonax polymer net shield sealant to protect the paint. No IPA wipe down necessary just go straight to the sealant. Good luck.
Awesome, thanks. I've been reading about the polymer net shield, but I've got about half a bottle of Menzerna left so I'm going to finish off with that. Thanks again for the help.
I know sonax products are designed to work together so they should bond well but I'm not too sure about the bonding between sonax and menzerna. So you might have to do an IPA wipe down after the paint cleaner which would diminish some of the sonax 'hiding properties', just FYI. You can always ask Phil.
Menzerna sells a 3 in 1 polish like sonax so that might be a better choice if you're going to power lock afterwards. I haven't used it myself but you may want to look into it.
