How bad is sprinkler water for your car’s paint?

[fbodyauto]

Where I’m living I’m parked in a driveway. Where I park I am getting hit by sprinkler water. Not a lot, but enough to get a part of my car wet and then in the morning have it be a little dirty. I tried parking in another spot but same thing. There are a lot of sprinklers in this community and I do not have a choice but to get hit. The water coming from the sprinkler is believe is just well water. Is this harmful to my paint? I know it makes it look a little dirty but I don’t have a choice now unless I used a car cover (which I will get) but at the moment I do not have and when I do get it there will be times I wont use it (if I’m heading right back out).

[Fiveg56]

You should really avoid the sprinklers the best you can. They can leave some nasty water spots and will take some serious work to clear up if left on the car for long enough.

[Wild Bill]

Depends. Is this hard water? In other words, does it contain an abundace of minerals. It sounds like it is. Hard water is not good for your car. If it isn't hard, don't worry about it. Use some detail spray to remove any water spots. If it is hard, you may want to invest in that cover.

[fbodyauto]

I will try to find any way to stay away. Dont want to risk anything on my cars paint.

[Angelo@Autopia]

Do you know if it's well water, city/county or reclaim water? To me their all bad for your paint on your ride and you need to protect it as much as possible and a product that I recommend is the Optimum Opti Coat 2.0 or Collinite Paste wax. The cover doesn't sound bad for a temporary fix till you can find a better parking area.

[Bobk]

Sprinklers (well water) are terrible for anything except your lawn. I had to replac 5 panes of glass on my bow window because it etched the glass so badly.

[MagnusKrans]

I live in a condo complex and I don't have one of the garage units so I have to park my car outside at all times and every spot is in range of the sprinklers. To make things even worse my complex uses reclaimed water for the sprinkler system so it's way dirty, lots of sulfur, phosphates, nitrates, etc. I can tell you its a constant struggle to keep my car clean. The water has actually etched spots into my side mirrors that I can't get off . I have to wash my car every other day, rain or shine. I use Adams stuff so my paint is pretty protected as long as I keep up with it. I use the VRT on the rally stripes to handle the water spots and keep them looking smooth, and the Adams glass cleaner gets the windows pretty clean but it still can't kill those spots etched into my mirrors. I've read that it's not advisable to use a car cover in continuously windy conditions due to constant buffeting of the cover on the paint surface and I live directly on the beach so the winds are almost constant. Just something I have to put up with for now, its ok, just all part of my day to day spending time on my car.

[Adam's Polishes]

As said by others... its definitely not good. Ground water is full of all kinds of stuff that will either stain, etch, or just leave your paint looking horrible. Add in sunlight/heat baking it on the surface and you can develop some issues that will take a lot of work to repair.

[ActNup NY]

Originally Posted by Fiveg56

You should really avoid the sprinklers the best you can. They can leave some nasty water spots and will take some serious work to clear up if left on the car for long enough.

or you can do a little work to those sprinklers if you get my drift.

[philthy]

It will start to melt instantly! All Camaros melt when they get wet, didn't you know that?

[Todd@Autopia]

How bad it is depends on what exactly is in the water. If it is high sulfur and calcium it can be really bad. As the holding the minerals/solids evaporates, the solid percentage continues to increase. Once the water is fully evaporated you are left with solid material on the paint. Over time (sometimes very quickly in areas of high sunlight) the solids will begin to eat and etch the paint's finish.

Water itself isn't going to damage the paint (it will not harm electronics either since pure water doesn't conduct electricity). The problem is the minerals and pollutants in the water that become super concentrated as the water evaporates.

[Iwantone2]

My g/f's Mighty Corolla gets hit with sprinkler water on occasion. It definitely does not do good things to the paint. If left untreated, those water stains will stay there even after a wash.

[C O Jones]

Todd
What do you recommend to help with removing water spots from sprinklers. I don't want to claybar my car.

[Himmler]

clay it