Well, cleaned the car this morning, and it?s clearly burnt the lacquer.
I've had my A3 3 weeks, and this happens... I mean why oh why can't manufacturers find a way of toughening up the paint! I cleaned it off in less than a day, I consider myself a perfectionist with paintwork, and still it killed the lacquer. How many people will leave the poo mark on for days or weeks!!?? Their car must look a right state. Makes me sooo angry, I could shoot every bird I see and hear!!
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Sorry to hear that and the warning in the other post above (or below by now !)
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If that's what it does to the car, what does it do to the bird's stomach? What on earth do they eat? It can't be worms. I always used to think it was acidic fruit berries, but you don't get them in spring.
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a friends Focus had a similar problem when she went away for 2 weeks and the birds (near lime trees) poo'd a lot and the sun baked it on and the paint (silver) lifted off the bonnet like bits of tin foil! We took it to Ford thinking warranty claim and they refused because Bird Poo is a result of "External Influences"
I think it is down to the enviromentally friendly/Bird unfriendly paints they use these days so look out for acid rain or hot sun!
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Before changing my A3 I had it fully valeted. Two days later it received a right load to send it off! It was left for a few days as I needed to jet wash it as it had dried out. I don't know if colour makes a difference, but mine was Moro (dark) Blue and I could not see where the 'present' had laid once it was clean.
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"Makes me sooo angry, I could shoot every bird I see and hear!!"
Hey its only bird poo! I guess i fall into that group of car owners who don't care too much about minor imperfections. Have a modest but growing collection of scuffs, dings and guano stains on my C-Max. but a long as its reliable I don't fret too much. I guess its how you see these things
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I have a silver seven-year-old car and bird droppings may be left for a day or two (or even longer) without being washed away, but it's never done any harm to date.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Bird poo is not acidic. In fact acids have relatively little effect on car paintwork. Ok., Ok., so battery acids will have an effect and so may tree sap.
Alkali, or bases, however can have disastrous effects on paintwork. Bird poo is alkaline. Allied with the requirement for the car paints to be environmentally friendly, i.e., water based, then their resistance to alkaline substances goes down even more. Alkalis are an extremely good solvent as far as some polymers are concerned. They break the bonds of the coating leaving it crazed and pitted in appearance.
T-cut is the only solution, followed by polish.
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Commiserations, Sony. How about 1) using a clay bar, then 2) using Scratch-X (or even T-Cut), then 3) using a good polish and finaly 4) a coat or two or three of good wax? Failing that, get a professional detailer - or a bodyshop - to get rid of the blemish.
IMO it's important to maintain a good coating of wax to protect against contaminants like bird poo - which I am religious about getting rid of asap.
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Tried scratch X again and again it just won't shift. Leave it to dry for 5 mns hoping it'll shift it, but no it just won't.
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>I could shoot every bird I see and hear!!
I know that's hyperbole born of frustration but we do get awfully precious about our cars. I live in a road lined with lime trees; my car lives outside (Mrs dB's gets the garage) and yes, the sticky stuff is annoying, especially in August when the wasps find it. But it only takes three minutes a couple of times a week with some warm water and a sponge to get rid of it, and the paint seems in good order after four summers of this. Some of our neighbours tried to persuade the council to cut the trees down, but I'm happy to report some local government common sense in this case.
On the original point, my Volvo is a dark colour too, has had its share of bird splashes and seems none the worse for them.
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Autoglym Super Resin Polish does the job - Tis what dealers call Supagard!
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Autoglym Super Resin Polish does the job - Tis what dealers call Supagard!>>
Perhaps explains why my car's bodywork never suffers...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Bird poo damaged the lacque on my Mazda. I used Maguiars body scrub on the affected area. It didn't remove it completely but now barely noticable.
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It seems that none of you are unfortunate enough to be living on the coast. I am at the end of my tether here in Ramsgate - not only have I got that dust always covering the car (see different recent thread about Sahara dust etc), but also the Seagulls drop their loads very single day at least 3 or 4 times. Worse still, it appears that the birds certainly prefer clean cars (blue especially). I wonder whether anyone has done any research on this?
I find that in the end, I have to leave the bird poo, because it is too time consuming otherwise.
Autoglym Super Resin Polish seems to remove the shadow in the paint after the poo has gone (at least it does on my blue Volvo and Saab).
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Interesting I have a blue car and it gets poo'd on all the time, I also have a dark red car and if I leave its cover off it gets the POO if I put the outdoor cover on (Grey) no POO.
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Had SWMBO's Golf a week, heavily pood on twice I don't belive it, costing more to wash than to fuel !
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Has anybody mentioned baby wipes so you can remove the poo as soon as you see it?
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Bird poo or guano is pretty toxic stuff - take a look at the kit the professionals use!
www.gullstop.co.uk/shop.asp?category=guano%20clear...e
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