Bird Shit

Hi all,

I had a bird shit on my bedside a week ago (passenger side so I didn't notice) and after washing my truck yesterday, it seems as though the bird shit residue is like "etched" into the coat. It has an almost shiny acidic appearance and using the following has not worked:

1) regular wash
2) quick detailer
3) claybar
4) all-purpose soap
5) dish soap

I'm kinda getting at my wits end as this stupid stain won't go away it's still very much visible. Are there anything I haven't tried yet short of wet sanding?
Sorry if this has been answered before but I tried the things I found in the search.

 

I have own a mobile auto paint repair business in KCMO, Mo. since 89 and Yeah I see that a lot at the dealerships I service..
The acid in the bird shit and bug guts can sometimes eat though the clear and stain the base coat in a day when it's really hot, mostly on medium dark black color paint.
As for making it go away really not going to happen unless you repaint it .. One process I've done for customers is to touch up with the base color then reply with clear w/activator let it cure and wet sand with 2000-3000 wet/dry sand paper and polish out …. does it work all the time, no but makes it's less noticeable .

 

Shoot...I was hoping this wasn't the case but here in hawaii it gets pretty hot (90's) and I kinda figured it ate through.

How much do you charge for that touch up work? The area is probably about the size of a pen/pencil.

 

In my experience, the damage is done. I’ve had some luck with polish or complete compound to reduce the appearance. The only way to prevent this from happening again is to make sure it has a quality coat of wax at all times. Also keep a spray detailer and micro fiber cloth on hand to wipe off as soon as possible. **side note** don’t ever use dish soap or any soap not marked as car wash. It will do more damage than good in the long run.

 

My base charge is 75+ .. It takes time for clear to cure to wet sand, so I tell customers to bring it back in couple of days so I can wet sand and polish out ...
Go to a major dealership and ask them who they use for their paint touch-up repairs, that willo get you going in the right way ..
If it's a discolored spot and not damage you may not be able to do anything about it except to repaint it..
Take a pic's if your able so I can see what your talking and I'll be able to get you in the correct direction on the repair ..

 

Sounds good, when I get home I'll snap a few pics of the area. I really appreciate your help!

 

I'd try something like meguiars scratchX (or any polish, really) on a foam or microfiber pad. It might get it back to a tolerable state. ScratchX is always available locally.

 

Just wanted to update - a quick detailer with a clay bar + scratchX on a foam pad got out 95% of the etching. thanks everyone!

 

Good news. ScratchX is great for this kind of thing. Marring, stains, etc. It's basically Comet for cars. It's a super-micro-abrasive, as opposed to a diminishing abrasive, so you can stop anywhere in the buffing cycle.

I always start with foam, as it's not as abrasive as microfiber and won't mar the surface. If foam doesn't get it, use microfiber, and then finish with foam to remove any residual cloudiness. And if you have cloudiness with foam, lighten up the pressure to clean it up.

 

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Never, ever use dish soap on a car! X2 From my friend and body man!

 

Not to rain on your parade, but here's a few words of caution. If the bird crap did indeed etch your paint - as it usually does - that means it removed a significant portion of your paint. (Probably mostly clear coat.) In "fixing" it, you have removed even more paint, but leveled the area. (That's why it looks better.) Be careful about removing too much clear coat because it opens you up to clear coat failure down the line. And trust me, that kind of failure is much worse than a spot of etched paint.

And no matter what you did to repair the are, make sure to wax / seal / coat the area with an appropriate product to protect it.

 

+1

Having protection on the paint may have prevented the etching to begin with but definitely need to protect the paint now. Especially if you spot fixed it and rubbed one area like crazy until it was gone. So the clear in the panel is uneven.


Scratch X isn’t too horrible but not sure what color pad was used and how much correction was done.

Keep a protective coating on the paint and inspect it regularly.

 

After claybar + scratchX, I ended up using more quick detailer then a coat of OptiSeal. Is that correct or should I put down another layer of OptiSeal or even my Collinite?

 

Then you did it correctly. A wax / sealant / coating is the very last step. That's why some folks call them LSP's - for Last Step Product.

 

You're fine. In my experience, collinite holds up a little better than opti-seal. Id throw some collinite on top.

ScratchX is pretty safe. As long as you don't use finger tip pressure and really go to town in a straight line, you probably didn't wear a "valley" in your paint. Always best to use even pressure across the pad rather than finger tips. But it would take some intention to blow through clear with ScratchX.

It's a great product. I see it more as a "deep cleaner" than a scratch remover. Especially by hand.

 

perfect, I'm pretty glad I got a new product in my cabinet for things. Thanks again for all the help guys

 

Another good one to have on hand is Meguiars PlastX. Apply to head and taillights with an applicator pad and it really cleans them up nicely.

It's a diminishing abrasive so you work it in until it pretty much disappears. Then a final wipe with a towel and your lights will look like new. Might take a couple applications. It really cleans up the swirls. Finish with some collinite.

This process is for lenses in relatively good condition already; not foggy ones.

 

I’ve had the same thing happen as well