Bird Sh*t!

dchawk81 said:
Maybe. Under that wax and clearcoat though?
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Bird poop will etch the clear (or worse) in a heartbeat in this hot summer sun. Get it off as soon as possible (even if you have to use a paper towel :p ). Of course, there's no guarantee it will etch, all bird poops are different, it's just this is the worst time of year, the sun/heat. You know, all chemical reactions are accelerated by heat.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Bird poop will etch the clear (or worse) in a heartbeat in this hot summer sun. Get it off as soon as possible (even if you have to use a paper towel :p ). Of course, there's no guarantee it will etch, all bird poops are different, it's just this is the worst time of year, the sun/heat. You know, all chemical reactions are accelerated by heat.
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Yeah I was referring to the paper towel itself. It can't be THAT bad.

My car does have all sorts of other problems with the paint from the previous owner. Some of it is from not caring about bird shat to the point it's nearly clean through the paint. Shame really as it's a low mileage car.

Being a daily driver and not a show car though, I'm only OCD to the point where I want it to last as long as possible. I'm not really interested in having it absolutely 100% perfect all the time.
 
Don't worry about the paper towel, at least you cleaned it off, that's better than 95% of car owners right there.
 
Oh I'm not worried. I'm just questioning that guy freaking out.
 
Not to get off the original topic... But I would it be interesting to see a test of how well certain waxes hold up against paint etching. I am guessing other things such as tar and tree sap could be tested as well.

I was never one to keep QD on hand, but this site has taught me to do so!
 
I put bottles of water, a mini spray bottle of detail spray/QD, even if it's just ONR, at least 2 types of decent MF towels, another terry towel, and probably some spray wax in ALL my vehicles.

I literally DARE a family member to come home with bird sh!t on their car. :nomore:
They know when they walk up to it they better darned well clean it! :eek:

But seriously, if you keep it waxed / sealed occasional bombs shouldn't hurt anything. Just as long as you get them off soon as you can. However, you don't keep it protected and let that sh!t sit there and it'll etch both the clear and the basecoat within an hour! :(
 
dchawk81 said:
Yeah I was referring to the paper towel itself. It can't be THAT bad.

My car does have all sorts of other problems with the paint from the previous owner. Some of it is from not caring about bird shat to the point it's nearly clean through the paint. Shame really as it's a low mileage car.

Being a daily driver and not a show car though, I'm only OCD to the point where I want it to last as long as possible. I'm not really interested in having it absolutely 100% perfect all the time.
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As long as the paper towel is damp enough, and the car is waxed, a paper towel should be safe enough not to mar. Time is of the essence when removing bird droppings, so if a paper towel is what you have handy, and you wet it, I think that is better than running in the house for the "good stuff".

If you are somewhere in the boonies, and you have already used up the gallon of Spray and Wipe, or PD bird s remover getting rid of all the previous bird droppings, since it has been one of those days, a damp paper towel will prevent etching, and etching is worse than micro-marring.
 
Yeah I didn't have to wet the towel though as the roof was covered in dew and the poop was fresh.

The wax is Collinite 870, for what it's worth.
 
Here's where the bird poo was. I haven't rewaxed the area. I don't see micro abrasians though.

y3y7uma5.jpg
 
I always thought it was pretty clever how birds poo just as they are taking off. Its hard to show paint defects on photos, you are really the best judge of your paint.
 
geekdout said:
I always thought it was pretty clever how birds poo just as they are taking off. Its hard to show paint defects on photos, you are really the best judge of your paint.
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I agree. Maybe taking off makes them grunt.

It's not that hard to show defects. Not when you're a professional photographer anyway.
 
I think dchawk81 started a good discussion and there has much made of nothing in this thread, but it has been entertaining.
The paper towel seems to have been a controlled situation and damage has been minimized and certainly not permanent.
Bottom line, we need to get the poo off because (either in seconds or an hour depending on who you believe) the finish will be compromised.
 
Thanks.

I thought it would have been obvious due to my mention of dew, but this was fresh poo on a cool morning (55°F or thereabouts). It literally slid off the way a towel glides over wax. No scrubbing.

I wouldn't have taken a paper towel to hardened poo on a dry 100°F day at high noon.
 
I carry a small spray bottle (re-bottled) of "Meguiar's Ultimate Wash and Wax Anywhere" and a couple of MF towels just for bird poo.

The irony is that since I began doing this, I haven't been 'hit.' Maybe they know it's not worth their effort to poop on my vehicle(s). (LOL)

Bill
 
You paper towel-phobes must really have a canary when some of the members apply coatings like Opti-Coat with the foam applicator inside the nitrile glove wrapped with a shop paper towel technique.
 
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