Touchless car washes clean the car without brushes touching the paint. They can still leave spots if the water isn’t rinsed well or the car isn’t dried properly.
An oil change is regular maintenance where the engine oil is replaced. Dealerships often do a wash at the same time, and that wash can still cause water spots.
A tunnel car wash is an automated wash where your car drives through a long tunnel. Because it uses lots of water and runs on a system, it can sometimes leave spots or residue on your paint.
Water spots are those dried marks you see after water dries on the paint. They’re often mineral residue, not actual grime, so regular washing may not fully fix them.
A tunnel wash is the automatic kind where your car drives through a long machine. It’s fast, but if the rinse and drying aren’t great, it can leave spots on the paint.
“Concentration levels” refers to how strong the wash chemicals are when used in the system. The episode argues that incorrect concentration—often due to cost-cutting—can reduce cleaning performance and increase the chance of residue buildup.
Car wash chemicals are the cleaning and wax products used during the wash. If they’re cheap or mixed incorrectly, they can leave a sticky film that builds up over time.
A price war to the bottom means businesses keep lowering prices to attract customers. To do that, they often cut corners—like using cheaper wash chemicals—so the wash may not protect your paint as well.
Door jambs are the spots around the inside edges of your doors. They’re easy to miss in automated washes, so residue and grime can collect there over time.
Wiper blade areas are a common spot for water spotting because water can pool and dry around the base and adjacent trim. The speaker highlights that the spotting is especially noticeable “around where the wiper blades go,” suggesting contamination transport and drying patterns.
Brushless tunnel washes use high-pressure water jets and/or chemical sprays instead of traditional rotating brushes. They’re often considered gentler on paint because they reduce the chance of brush-induced marring, though water quality still matters for spotting.
Microfiber towels are soft, absorbent cloths used to safely wipe and dry paint without scratching. The segment emphasizes using microfiber to reduce abrasion during the wash process.
Paint protection refers to applying a product that adds a protective layer over the clear coat to make contaminants easier to remove. In this segment, it’s presented as something that helps the car look better now and stay cleaner longer after the next wash.
The segment describes a gradual accumulation of wash-related damage: small issues may not be obvious at first, but they build up over months. This frames why consistent protection and careful washing matter even if the car looks fine initially.
If a panel was repainted, the paint may be different from the rest of the car. Products can behave differently on newer or different coatings, so testing matters.
They’re using a specific cleaner called “Pure Magic” to lift spots/contamination. If it doesn’t fully fix the marks, they say you may still need to polish.
Polishing is how you smooth out the paint after something left marks. If a cleaner doesn’t fix the problem completely, polishing helps restore the surface.
They’re recommending a big, absorbent towel to dry the car right away. Drying quickly helps stop water from leaving mineral spots.
LIVE
I got a message today from a customer named Daryl and Daryl just bought a brand new Audi
Q5 in black, which is a very difficult paint color to
Maintain and keep up
He said the dealership put a ceramic coating on it, which could be a whole another podcast episode if I'm being honest with you
But it went in for its first service and Daryl had them wash it. Why wouldn't you write a free car wash?
Get the car back serviced and cleaned. It's like a win-win, right?
There's only one problem is that
After they washed it it came back covered in water spots covered
So now Daryl has a problem and I think Daryl has a problem that a lot of you deal with whether
It's a dealership doing a car wash or your local
Car wash spot on the corner or your local monthly service car wash spot
I've had so many customers that have the monthly memberships to these even touchless car washes and water spots are a major
Major problem and so I obviously responded to Daryl
But I thought man, this would be a great podcast episode to kind of do a deeper dive
Then an email allows me to do because I know first hand this is so common when we think of water spots
We think of only oh, I parked by you know a sprinkler and it hits my car every night
Or oh, I washed my car in my driveway with just a regular garden hose
And I got water spots because I didn't drive the car too fast
But we really don't expect to get water spots from a literal car wash
right
Car wash location or even a dealership car wash
We really don't expect to do that
But it does happen and I know this could be one of the most frustrating things especially for someone like Daryl
Who just got a brand new car?
I'm assuming this is kind of the first service that he took it in for me the first oil change at
5,000 miles so his car is virtually brand new
And you trust someone to kind of you know not only do the service for your car
But to take care of your car which is essentially what you're trying to do as the owner is
Hey, I'm trying to take care of this car and then it comes back worse or with an issue that you didn't have before and
It's so frustrating and I don't think this is just dealerships
This is car washes as well like I said because ultimately at the dealership. They're just using a car wash tunnel
So it's usually a you know smaller
Operation of what they have at those bigger dealerships, right?
so I don't think the issue though isn't because I've seen this across whether it's dealerships or
Car washes whether that's a brushless car wash or a car wash with brushes
Whether it's a gas station car wash or whether it's a full service car wash, which we're seeing a lot lot less of
It's not where you're going to wash your car because they're all like I said pretty much the same. It's how the car is getting
Wash the process of it and I think most people think like I could just take my car anywhere to get washed, right?
But clean and properly cared for are two different things though
We I don't know what that's called when you blend two ideas. It happens a lot
Not to go off on my first tangent already, but it happens a lot
When you use like a truth and a lie and you blend it together
And you you think that that is truth, right?
Like a truth plus a lie equals a truth when it actually doesn't and the same thing it happens a lot in chemicals and products
I see that a lot what a lot of brands will use the truth and a lie or a
Half truth and a lie and they package it together and then what comes out. They are selling this truth
But in fact, it's actually, you know convoluted with a lie
We saw this with the mortgage crisis of 2008, right?
They package the bunch of crummy loans together and called it good loans. It wasn't right and so
That's again, maybe a whole another subject a whole another podcast episode where we could call it one lie and one truth
Does not equal a truth, right?
But the same thing is true. Most people think oh, it's a car wash. They are meant to take care of my car
That's literally their whole business to clean my car
but the reality is like I just said clean and
Doing it properly or properly caring for a car are really two totally different things
And so what's actually happening and what is likely happened to Darrell's car?
In fact, I know that this happened with Darrell's car is the first problem is that the water that they are using at these
We'll just call them tunnel car washes
Is usually recycled water. It's recycled water because these things are highly
audited and scrutinized with the usually the local cities that they're in now
I don't know where Darrell lives, but I'll use my location for example in Southern, California
Runoff is a major deal and water usage is a major deal because though
California apparently is no longer in water
in a drought
We do still
It's an active campaign to conserve water
Again another whole podcast episode that I would be outside my depth on of talking about how your whole entire state could be
Bordered with water, but yet we have a water shortage. Anyway
Back to the tunnel car wash
Because of this the drought the water shortage the conservation the whatever water in these car washes is usually
recycled water
recycled water is
Very very hard water a lot of minerals in the water
That's a whole another thing that we'll talk about is that people confuse water spots with dirt water spots are not dirt
It's just the minerals that have attached themselves to the clear coat of your car that are left after
Getting the car wash. So it's not actually dirt on your car
It is minerals left behind on your car because the job wasn't done thoroughly enough, right again
Getting a car that is clean and then get a car getting a car wash that is caring for your car two different things, right?
So think about it the tunnel wash uses recycled water
It usually will use a higher pH soap which is detrimental to the ceramic coating that the dealership applied
It'll degrade that faster. You mix that with a
Water that is high in mineral content. It's kind of a nasty disaster as it continues through the tunnel
They soap it they rinse it. Maybe it soaps again, whatever
And then you go through the blowers, but the blowers really aren't strong enough
The car isn't even really clean by that point. And so your car exits the tunnel with all those
Minerals still on the surface the water has begun to evaporate because it went through the blower
And that's what you're left with the minerals on the paint and we call those water spots, right?
So again, water spots are not dirt
It's the minerals and the things that are left behind that have actually attached themselves to the clear coat of your car
And so whether it's a dealership a tunnel wash at home
That the damage is happening during the wash process and after the wash, right?
So during with the hard water and then really after the baking in the Sun drying all the way is really where the
problem happened so
And then again, if you go through a tunnel
Which a dealership is probably gonna have a tunnel with brushes those brushes are really dirty
So now you have you know spider webbing coming in again the blowers don't fully dry the car and
Here is the real kicker
employees and and
Car washes well, let's break it down car washes and dealerships both have the same goal in mind
Get the car done as quickly as possible right and basically what I like to effectively call knock the dirt off
Right, so we are knocking the dirt off and we are focused on speed not perfection
This is a car wash people are coming here, especially at a dealership
They are usually doing it as a
Complimentary thing and my mom worked at a dealership and she worked in the coffee bar at a high-end dealership and every day
They did free car washes so you could literally bring your car every day for free
And in fact the coffee in the coffee bar just a drip coffee was also free
So you got all these people that would wait around forever to get their car wash for free, right?
This is not a money-making
Situation for the dealership in this instance where I just talked about they're just trying to get more people in the door
If you're there chances are higher that you're gonna buy a car, right?
But in fact the car wash or detailed department is not a profit center usually for dealerships
So they're incentivized to do it very quickly right especially if you're getting in for free
You're not gonna complain that much or at least if you do complain you're a real winner, right?
But complaining about a free car wash is pretty weak if you are
At going to your local
Corner car wash
Where maybe you have the membership for $30 a month. It's similar to a gym membership
They are banking that you don't come that you don't show up and you keep your membership, but even if you do go
You're usually in two different camps. You're the person that goes every day because you want to get your money's worth or whatever
You're an Uber driver or whatever, right?
So 30 bucks is fine and it's not that much money, right?
So you're like, it's not perfect, but it knocks the dirt off. That's where that same comes from, right?
And so for 30 bucks you don't expect much, but it's delivering on low expectations
But again, the name of the game for that is run as many people through as possible
That's why we are seeing the closure of so many full-service car washes
Or car wash detail centers because they simply aren't profitable
It's way more profitable to have three people running this whole operation
Sell packages for $30 a month is and run as many cars through as you can, right?
Tunnel washes whether it's a dealership or a local car wash has one goal
Process as many cars as frickin possible. We're not protecting them
Even though we'll sell you on a ceramic soap
Do you want to use our ceramic hot wax at the very end which I tell all my customers?
Without a doubt if you go through
Actually have a pretty decent car wash brush brushless car wash at a
Gas station locally to me that I tell people in a pinch
It's good to go to but only get the cheaper package the cheapest package possible
Because that hot wax or whatever that they spray on their on your car after is
Kind of a version of the protector wax that I'm working on that I've done some videos on
But it is highly concentrated
It's designed to make the water beat up so that when you go through the blowers you get more of the water off your car
So it's actually designed to make the car wash better
The problem is is that their concentration levels are at a whack and they
Surprise here cheap out on the chemicals car wash chemicals and bulk are extremely cheap
It's a price war to the bottom in that industry
And so everyone is just looking for the cheapest price in chemicals
Because they are designed to process cars and process your credit card not protect your car, right?
and
What I've started to notice with these is that buildup will happen over time
Especially in door jams, so I have a client that I ceramic coated their car. They're older
They take it through a touchless car wash
That I suggested to them that the gas station one and the cars look good enough for them, right?
They drive Braille and so not really but they hit curbs their cars not perfect
But it is ceramic coated and they just want to knock the dirt off
but what I started to notice after a couple years of
Maintaining their car twice a year is that the water spot buildup in the door jams
Around where the wiper blades go is tremendous because they are using
Recycled water hard water recycled water harsh chemicals. It's a bad mix. It's a really really damaging mix to your car, right?
I in fact I just talked to someone here in my center today talked about getting their car ceramic coated their
Tesla another Tesla ceramic coated and he asked this question too
And this is kind of what prompted this podcast as well is like well
Hey, if I go through the tunnel wash is that bad for the ceramic coating, right?
Which is a whole another podcast episode, but what I told him is like hey look
I understand if you have to go through the tunnel wash, but your best defense against the tunnel wash is
Going to be a ceramic coating because ceramic coating versus no ceramic coating
Your car without a ceramic coating going through that tunnel wash is going to be a total disaster
So hundred percent
Get it coated, but I told them also this is
Where the vast majority of people mess up this is why I told them literally and I would tell
Who's my message from again? I forgot with all this talking Darrell told Darrell here is your best bet whether you have to do a
Tunnel wash or you're an uber driver and you're looking to wash your car often you just have a monthly membership whatever
Here is what you need to do. Okay, you run it through the tunnel
Okay, brushless would be ideal, but maybe your tunnel has brushes whatever for the sake of this podcast and not to go on too
Many tangents. I'm just gonna call it a tunnel wash whether this happens at the dealership or in your neighborhood
Whatever right here is the deal
Go through the tunnel pull over into the parking lot, right?
Grab your softer than softer towels which I sell and grab a bottle of toughest shell which I sell, right?
Your car is already clean
Go through and do this every single time you wash your car every single time, right?
Because the tunnel is so abrasive whether it's the chemicals or the brushes. It's abrasive and they're used in recycled water
Take two minutes literally two minutes of your time
You could go over every single surface of your car either one spray into the towel or one spray on the panel
Use your soft microfiber towels and wipe in toughest shell every time you do this if you do this
You will not allow one you'll have protection built up your car will actually come out cleaner
It'll help you on the next wash, which is a big deal
But it will also help prevent those mineral deposits from sticking to your clear coat, right?
So you are actively protecting your paint your car is gonna look better
You're gonna help yourself for the next round the next time you go through and it only takes a couple minutes
No streaking no issues. No worries, right?
and so
That is where most people don't do that because they're in a hurry
They just want to run it through the tunnel. They're just getting the service
They just want to run it through they just want to knock the dirt off, right?
And so but if you take two extra minutes, this is exactly what I explained to the guy here
If you take two extra minutes to go around your car add some paint protection again
Not only is your car gonna look better, but you're gonna make it last
So much longer and the damage will not pile up and that's what happens the damage piles up a little bit here a little bit here a little
Little bit here you don't notice it on the first few months
You don't notice it on the first few years maybe but after a year it starts to pile up
After six months starts to pile up those water spots come in and if you do have water spots
There's a couple mistakes that people make a couple things they do a lot of people think that it's dirt
Remember water spots are not dirt. It's mineral deposits. It's something actually on top of the surface of the car
But they'll grab a brillo pad. They will grab a compound. They will grab
Anything and start aggressively trying to clean their car, right which only
Makes more damage now you're literally scrubbing abrasion every time we touch our car
We've run the risk of scratching our car
So if you have water spots and you're literally scrubbing, it's really bad. It's even worse than the water spots, right?
Mineral deposits are bonded onto the surface of the car. We have to break that bond
You are not gonna break that bond by scrubbing more. You need to either chemically
Or you need to chemically remove that or you might need to use some sort of abrasion
Like a compound or a polish something like the picture perfect polish, right or what I would try first is pure magic cleaner
so you need to
Chemically remove those or a break or use an abrasive to remove those but scratching using a brillo pad
Using a very aggressive compound by hand
You are literally not helping yourself at all. You will damage the paint even more by that and so
We really need to be careful because we need to not do that
So if you do have water spots, here's what you're gonna want to do and here's exactly what I told Darryl to do
You are gonna want to take some pure magic cleaner
Before you do anything you have to have the mindset of I'm gonna do a small test area first, right?
Never start on the whole entire car start on a very small test spot, right?
Make sure that the chemical isn't reacting weird. It's not doing anything silly that panel was repainted
And you didn't know that there is a whole host of things that can happen here
Okay, so I'm not saying that the chemical is bad
I'm saying that you don't know what you don't know and so before you go
You know buck wild on the whole car on half the hood
Let's figure out anything that may you know be happening that I don't want to happen first and then we'll move on to a bigger section, right?
So the test spot
Again is important and every coating Darryl's example
He has the dealership ceramic coated it every coating acts differently
But the test spot will tell you everything you need to know before you commit to a bigger area
So start with the small test spot, right use pure magic cleaner pure magic cleaner is my acid-based cleaner
It has a whole host of uses if you're familiar with the channel you're familiar with the product
I don't need to go in every single use case of the product
But you could look up the product page and it'll tell you every single use case, but
Water-spot removal is really where it shines. So how I like to do it after I try my test spot
Then I will usually do a light mist even spray over the whole
Maybe a panel maybe an affected area being aware of overspray
I don't want it to go anywhere that I don't want it to go
Let it dwell for 20 to 30 seconds, and then I will usually gently wipe it off
You don't need a lot of pressure
But because you are letting the chemical do the work you're letting the chemistry do the work, right?
You don't really need to use force
The again let the product do the work now pure magic cleaner
This is important to know comes in two different versions the 16 ounce bottle comes in a pre diluted ready to use version
Okay, so
That in some cases is not strong enough depending upon how long the water spots have been there
So I do offer it in a gallon concentrated form
I do this very intentionally
Most people don't need a gallon to concentrate a pure magic cleaner. They simply just don't have that many water spots, right?
However, they would just like to buy a bottle and spray
That's why I have the 16 ounce bottle that is diluted four to one that is well
Handle most use cases right if you need something more concentrated more heavy-duty that is why I have the gallon, right?
Yes, it is a better value for you to get the gallon, right?
But a lot of people don't need it, but after you do this you may need to polish the section
You won't need to polish the section because of pure magic cleaner. You will need to polish the section
Because it didn't remove all the water spots. So sometimes in very very severe cases. I had one on a
Glass on the front windshield of a car that I did. It was very very severe
I used pure magic cleaner to kind of remove some of them and then I ended up polishing out the rest of them
It was a very good one-two combo and then after you remove them
I would really highly suggest you add some sort of protection back. So
Water spots can really really weaken strip
Completely remove any paint protection that is on the car even ceramic coatings can really take a big hit
So I definitely recommend
Quickly applying tough a shell right and it's gonna restore the slickness. It's gonna boost gloss
It's gonna make future drying easier and it's gonna help prevent the mineral deposits from sticking even in the first place, right?
And that's why just paint protection in general isn't just about shine or slickness
It's about making maintenance easier. That's why you're at the car wash
That's why you had the dealership because you're looking for kind of an easier solution, right? So
if you are
Trying to prevent this all together like I said take the two minutes after you wash the car
A better option even yet would be drying that or washing at home with a deionized water system
Obviously, that's a little bit, you know more in-depth got to be a little bit more in the weeds for that
But if you're taking it to a tunnel car wash, I'd recommend maybe a massive drying towel
Which I will link below definitely a bottle of toughest shell. I would definitely recommend just a 60 ounce bottle pure magic cleaner
And I would recommend as soon as you run it through that tunnel car wash
some of the places have like free vacuums that you can use and so before you vacuum just pull into the stall take your
Massive drying towel or your softers and soft microfiber towels smaller ones and just buzz over the whole car very quickly
Again one spray per panel or one spray in your towel per panel buzz around the whole car
Your car is gonna look amazing. It's gonna look like you just waxed it, but you're also protecting your car as well, right? So
Definitely definitely do that. So I totally understand if you know Daryl's positioning
Taking it to the dealership. I personally don't have the dealerships wash my car
In fact, I don't have anyone wash my car
My son even asked to wash my car and I told him no, but I need to start training him on how to properly wash my car
No one washes my car, but because I'm deep in the weeds of this stuff obviously, right?
And so if you are too welcome to the to the fun
But for the rest of you and the rest of the world who just wants the dirt knocked off
Definitely, this is a good safe way to do it
and in fact this too and lets you enjoy the process of kind of
You know carrying for your car as well without being fully committed to it
So a lot of people a lot of customers and what I recommend if you are using the tunnel washes
Just take the two minutes after the tunnel wash and it will really save you not only a lot of money
It'll save you a lot of anguish a lot of grief later down the line
And it's a it's kind of the hack. It's the cheat code to kind of have the best of both worlds
And so yeah, but hope you enjoyed that one
Hopefully Daryl you're listening and this gave you a much deeper explanation of what I was trying to say
I think I got the gist of it through an email, but obviously audio can help a lot more
so if you have water spots and
Stuff like that. That is how you can handle it. I will link all the products below
They're also available on Amazon. I try to make them as easy as possible
For you to get a hold of but I really appreciate the support support the brand. I like making good products
I like obviously being in the weeds for this stuff and so with that. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening
I appreciate the support for my product brand. It is my baby my heart and soul. I love it. I dedicate all
My time to it every day
So with that I will catch you guys on the next one again. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. See ya
About this episode
A black Audi Q5 owner gets a dealership ceramic coating, then returns for the first service and gets washed—only to come back with heavy water spots. The host explains why tunnel and dealership washes often cause this: recycled hard water, higher-pH soaps, weak drying, and dirty brushes all leave mineral deposits that bond to clear coat and can even degrade ceramic coatings. He also argues car washes prioritize speed over protection, then offers a simple “two-minute” routine after any tunnel wash plus guidance for safely removing existing water spots without abrasive scrubbing.
Just bought a new car… and after ONE wash it's covered in water spots?
That's exactly what happened to one of my customers with a brand new Audi Q5—and the crazy part is, it already had a ceramic coating on it.
In this episode, I break down what REALLY causes water spots, why dealership washes and tunnel car washes are doing more harm than good, and how to safely fix the problem without scratching your paint.
Because here's the truth… It's not the car. It's not even the coating. It's the process.
We'll cover:
Why water spots happen (and why they're NOT just dirt)
The hidden problems with dealership washes
What tunnel car washes actually do to your paint
The biggest mistake people make trying to remove water spots
How to safely remove water spots without swirl marks
Why protection and drying are the most important steps
How to prevent this from happening again
If you've ever used a tunnel wash, dealership wash, or let your car air dry… this episode is for you.
car detailing, water spots car, remove water spots car, tunnel car wash damage, dealership car wash problems, ceramic coating water spots, how to remove water spots, black car swirl marks, car wash mistakes, paint correction tips, auto detailing tips, car care tips, jimbo detailing, how to wash car properly, avoid swirl marks
