- Timeline depends on how long the spots have been sitting and how severe the etching is. Light water spots (fresh, sitting for weeks) take 1-3 hours at your Lake Norman dock or driveway in Cornelius, Mooresville, or Huntersville because we can remove them with specialty cleaners and light polish. Severe water spots (sitting for months or years, etched deep) take 4-6 hours because we're compounding and possibly wet sanding to remove the damaged layer underneath the mineral deposits.
- You'll see us treating spots with acid-based removers first, then measuring gloss to determine if etching penetrated the surface. Fresh spots wipe off with cleaner (the minerals haven't bonded yet). Etched spots require compound and polish because the minerals ate into the gelcoat or clear coat (we're removing material to get under the damage). We use our laser gloss meter to measure before and after so you know if spots are truly gone or just hidden.
- Lake Norman boats get destroyed by water spots from May through September. Boats sitting in the water at Peninsula Yacht Club, Morningstar Marina, and LNYC get splashed constantly, and when that water dries in North Carolina summer heat, minerals bond to gelcoat within hours. Cars parked outside get spotted from sprinkler overspray, rain drying in the sun, and automatic car washes using hard Lake Norman water.

