[jakeru]

Optimum no rinse works well, smells amazing, definitely will feel strange way to wash the car at first if you're used to using a traditional car wash shampoo and hose water. You will need lots of towels and launder them. Works best if the car isn't completely "filthy dirty." But I do find it hard to "really" clean the wheels well (including inside the barrels and behind the spokes) without hose water. Since on my area we have very decent quality watershed originating water (not pulled from an underground well), I use hose water most of the time and traditional shampoo. But I still use optimum no rinse for clay bar lubricant and for the occasional spot cleanings (works great on things like bird bombs, door jambs, etc.) It is possible to wash where there isn't a hose, using it too. It's not "sudsy" like traditional car wash shampoo is. But it pulls off all the dirt from the paint and onto the soaked microfiber cloths like a champ. Leaves the car feeling nice and smooth and smelling good, too. Done right, it also will not scratch the paint any more than hand washing gently with a sudsy shampoo solution would.

But to the op, I'd say regardless of your washing technique, do find a spot, and time of day to wash your car that's completely out of the direct sun. If you pull your car to that spot in the middle of the day, make sure the paint has had a good chance to cool down (paint should not feel hot or warm to the touch, or the water applied will evaporate off it more quickly). I have a big microfiber drying towel that sucks the water off really quickly.

Really bad water spots can be seriously etched into the paint, and there is nothing but a serious 2-stage polish that will get rid of them. Hopefully yours are more "sitting on the surface" and you will find a way they can be removed much press dramatically than that. Best of luck!