View Poll Results: Best car wax?
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71.43%
Mother's
2
28.57%
Turtle
0
0%
3M
0
0%
Voters: 7. You may not vote on this poll
Bird Poop!
02-07-03, 11:04 AM
#1
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Bird Crap!
I left my new 03' IS 300 out for a little while when I was on vacation. While I was gone a bird crapped on my trunk. By the time I got back it made a permanent mark on my trunk. I tried waxing it but nothing worked. Does anyone have any ideas of what happened or what to do?
02-07-03, 11:33 AM
#3
Lexus Champion
Bird crap contains acidity and the sun baked it through the clear coat and into the paints finish. Not much you can do once the damage is done, you can try wet sanding it down with fine grit sand paper but doubt you will be able to completely make it unnoticeable. I know you couldn’t help it but clean it up a.s.a.p. next time with water.
02-07-03, 06:41 PM
#4
My story and some info
I'm a detailer, and it's a common problem that not everyone fully understands. This is a copy/paste from another carsite where I moderate a car care forum. I wrote this to illustrate the need to neutralize the acids in the dropping, and not just assume that wiping it away will always suffice.
FWIW, a seagull dropping can eat completely through clearcoat in as little as 45 minutes! Other birds are similar though it varies depending on their diet. Either way, you're dealing with only hours, not days, before damage is done, sometimes irreversibly.
This exact thing happened to me circa 1998 on my black Thunderbird SC, about 1 year after I painted the car myself (more on that later). My wife had gone shopping at a mall. She parked the car under lighting stanchions, thinking it would be a theft deterrent if the car was lit up well at night. Bad idea. We live 2 miles from the ocean here, and seagulls of course love to sit atop lighting posts anywhere. She came out after a 2 hour shopping spree, saw the bird droppings on the car, and drove home hurriedly. Also remember, I'm a pro detailer, so there was PLENTY of wax on the car at the time.
There were about 4 sizable droppings, 3 of which I removed with some Q/D and a cotton rag, a bit of polish was needed to remove their outline, whew. The last very large dropping on the pass. side front fender, I was not so lucky.
When I removed the dropping, I could see it had already etched the paint badly. This is about 2 1/2 hours or less (hard to know exactly when the birds had their "fun") after the fact, and it wasn't looking good for my fender. I broke out my wet sanding kit, and went to work. About a half-hour later, I buffed it out to a shine again, and...the etch was GONE! I was a happy camper. I shut the lights in my garage off and called it a night, quite content.
Now here's where the moral of the story comes in;
Next day I go out to the garage, look at my pristine car fender ...NOT!!! The etch had reappeared and eaten FURTHER into the clear! This after I had seen perfection the night before!
Ladies and gentleman, when I say to spray the dropping with alcohol and water, I MEAN IT!. If I had neutralized the acid on the paint, I could have avoided having to wetsand the area again, and remove even more paint. Yes, I was again able to remove it, because of the extra paint I applied, but I got hold of a detailing mentor and found out why this happened first. Although I felt quick detailing, wet sanding and polishing the spot was enough to remove the acids, I was wrong. It was from that day forth that I learned acid neutralization is a must, first.
I was only fortunate in that, when I sprayed my car ( DuPont Chroma paint) with 4 coats of clear, I gave myself enough headroom to make this etch removal possible. Trust me, on OEM paint, I would've been S.O.L. . and would have had to do a repaint of the fender. It's as simple as that. OEM paint has about 1.7 mils of clearcoat, ( or about the thickness of a clear cigarette wrapper folded over itself) my car had 2.5 to 3, about 2x that . Today the car looks perfect in that spot, but I learned why bird droppings are the "gift that keeps on giving" if you don't act fast and smart.
Sorry for the novel, but...if it saves any of you the price of a repaint, I've not wasted your time.
FWIW, a seagull dropping can eat completely through clearcoat in as little as 45 minutes! Other birds are similar though it varies depending on their diet. Either way, you're dealing with only hours, not days, before damage is done, sometimes irreversibly.
This exact thing happened to me circa 1998 on my black Thunderbird SC, about 1 year after I painted the car myself (more on that later). My wife had gone shopping at a mall. She parked the car under lighting stanchions, thinking it would be a theft deterrent if the car was lit up well at night. Bad idea. We live 2 miles from the ocean here, and seagulls of course love to sit atop lighting posts anywhere. She came out after a 2 hour shopping spree, saw the bird droppings on the car, and drove home hurriedly. Also remember, I'm a pro detailer, so there was PLENTY of wax on the car at the time.
There were about 4 sizable droppings, 3 of which I removed with some Q/D and a cotton rag, a bit of polish was needed to remove their outline, whew. The last very large dropping on the pass. side front fender, I was not so lucky.
When I removed the dropping, I could see it had already etched the paint badly. This is about 2 1/2 hours or less (hard to know exactly when the birds had their "fun") after the fact, and it wasn't looking good for my fender. I broke out my wet sanding kit, and went to work. About a half-hour later, I buffed it out to a shine again, and...the etch was GONE! I was a happy camper. I shut the lights in my garage off and called it a night, quite content.
Now here's where the moral of the story comes in;
Next day I go out to the garage, look at my pristine car fender ...NOT!!! The etch had reappeared and eaten FURTHER into the clear! This after I had seen perfection the night before!
Ladies and gentleman, when I say to spray the dropping with alcohol and water, I MEAN IT!. If I had neutralized the acid on the paint, I could have avoided having to wetsand the area again, and remove even more paint. Yes, I was again able to remove it, because of the extra paint I applied, but I got hold of a detailing mentor and found out why this happened first. Although I felt quick detailing, wet sanding and polishing the spot was enough to remove the acids, I was wrong. It was from that day forth that I learned acid neutralization is a must, first.
I was only fortunate in that, when I sprayed my car ( DuPont Chroma paint) with 4 coats of clear, I gave myself enough headroom to make this etch removal possible. Trust me, on OEM paint, I would've been S.O.L. . and would have had to do a repaint of the fender. It's as simple as that. OEM paint has about 1.7 mils of clearcoat, ( or about the thickness of a clear cigarette wrapper folded over itself) my car had 2.5 to 3, about 2x that . Today the car looks perfect in that spot, but I learned why bird droppings are the "gift that keeps on giving" if you don't act fast and smart.
Sorry for the novel, but...if it saves any of you the price of a repaint, I've not wasted your time.
02-25-03, 04:08 PM
#5
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Re: Bird Crap!
Originally posted by Slver19
I left my new 03' IS 300 out for a little while when I was on vacation. While I was gone a bird crapped on my trunk. By the time I got back it made a permanent mark on my trunk. I tried waxing it but nothing worked. Does anyone have any ideas of what happened or what to do?
I left my new 03' IS 300 out for a little while when I was on vacation. While I was gone a bird crapped on my trunk. By the time I got back it made a permanent mark on my trunk. I tried waxing it but nothing worked. Does anyone have any ideas of what happened or what to do?
02-28-03, 12:45 AM
#6
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Re: My story and some info
Originally posted by Guitarman
I'm a detailer, and it's a common problem that not everyone fully understands. This is a copy/paste from another carsite where I moderate a car care forum. I wrote this to illustrate the need to neutralize the acids in the dropping, and not just assume that wiping it away will always suffice.
FWIW, a seagull dropping can eat completely through clearcoat in as little as 45 minutes! Other birds are similar though it varies depending on their diet. Either way, you're dealing with only hours, not days, before damage is done, sometimes irreversibly.
This exact thing happened to me circa 1998 on my black Thunderbird SC, about 1 year after I painted the car myself (more on that later). My wife had gone shopping at a mall. She parked the car under lighting stanchions, thinking it would be a theft deterrent if the car was lit up well at night. Bad idea. We live 2 miles from the ocean here, and seagulls of course love to sit atop lighting posts anywhere. She came out after a 2 hour shopping spree, saw the bird droppings on the car, and drove home hurriedly. Also remember, I'm a pro detailer, so there was PLENTY of wax on the car at the time.
There were about 4 sizable droppings, 3 of which I removed with some Q/D and a cotton rag, a bit of polish was needed to remove their outline, whew. The last very large dropping on the pass. side front fender, I was not so lucky.
When I removed the dropping, I could see it had already etched the paint badly. This is about 2 1/2 hours or less (hard to know exactly when the birds had their "fun") after the fact, and it wasn't looking good for my fender. I broke out my wet sanding kit, and went to work. About a half-hour later, I buffed it out to a shine again, and...the etch was GONE! I was a happy camper. I shut the lights in my garage off and called it a night, quite content.
Now here's where the moral of the story comes in;
Next day I go out to the garage, look at my pristine car fender ...NOT!!! The etch had reappeared and eaten FURTHER into the clear! This after I had seen perfection the night before!
Ladies and gentleman, when I say to spray the dropping with alcohol and water, I MEAN IT!. If I had neutralized the acid on the paint, I could have avoided having to wetsand the area again, and remove even more paint. Yes, I was again able to remove it, because of the extra paint I applied, but I got hold of a detailing mentor and found out why this happened first. Although I felt quick detailing, wet sanding and polishing the spot was enough to remove the acids, I was wrong. It was from that day forth that I learned acid neutralization is a must, first.
I was only fortunate in that, when I sprayed my car ( DuPont Chroma paint) with 4 coats of clear, I gave myself enough headroom to make this etch removal possible. Trust me, on OEM paint, I would've been S.O.L. . and would have had to do a repaint of the fender. It's as simple as that. OEM paint has about 1.7 mils of clearcoat, ( or about the thickness of a clear cigarette wrapper folded over itself) my car had 2.5 to 3, about 2x that . Today the car looks perfect in that spot, but I learned why bird droppings are the "gift that keeps on giving" if you don't act fast and smart.
Sorry for the novel, but...if it saves any of you the price of a repaint, I've not wasted your time.
I'm a detailer, and it's a common problem that not everyone fully understands. This is a copy/paste from another carsite where I moderate a car care forum. I wrote this to illustrate the need to neutralize the acids in the dropping, and not just assume that wiping it away will always suffice.
FWIW, a seagull dropping can eat completely through clearcoat in as little as 45 minutes! Other birds are similar though it varies depending on their diet. Either way, you're dealing with only hours, not days, before damage is done, sometimes irreversibly.
This exact thing happened to me circa 1998 on my black Thunderbird SC, about 1 year after I painted the car myself (more on that later). My wife had gone shopping at a mall. She parked the car under lighting stanchions, thinking it would be a theft deterrent if the car was lit up well at night. Bad idea. We live 2 miles from the ocean here, and seagulls of course love to sit atop lighting posts anywhere. She came out after a 2 hour shopping spree, saw the bird droppings on the car, and drove home hurriedly. Also remember, I'm a pro detailer, so there was PLENTY of wax on the car at the time.
There were about 4 sizable droppings, 3 of which I removed with some Q/D and a cotton rag, a bit of polish was needed to remove their outline, whew. The last very large dropping on the pass. side front fender, I was not so lucky.
When I removed the dropping, I could see it had already etched the paint badly. This is about 2 1/2 hours or less (hard to know exactly when the birds had their "fun") after the fact, and it wasn't looking good for my fender. I broke out my wet sanding kit, and went to work. About a half-hour later, I buffed it out to a shine again, and...the etch was GONE! I was a happy camper. I shut the lights in my garage off and called it a night, quite content.
Now here's where the moral of the story comes in;
Next day I go out to the garage, look at my pristine car fender ...NOT!!! The etch had reappeared and eaten FURTHER into the clear! This after I had seen perfection the night before!
Ladies and gentleman, when I say to spray the dropping with alcohol and water, I MEAN IT!. If I had neutralized the acid on the paint, I could have avoided having to wetsand the area again, and remove even more paint. Yes, I was again able to remove it, because of the extra paint I applied, but I got hold of a detailing mentor and found out why this happened first. Although I felt quick detailing, wet sanding and polishing the spot was enough to remove the acids, I was wrong. It was from that day forth that I learned acid neutralization is a must, first.
I was only fortunate in that, when I sprayed my car ( DuPont Chroma paint) with 4 coats of clear, I gave myself enough headroom to make this etch removal possible. Trust me, on OEM paint, I would've been S.O.L. . and would have had to do a repaint of the fender. It's as simple as that. OEM paint has about 1.7 mils of clearcoat, ( or about the thickness of a clear cigarette wrapper folded over itself) my car had 2.5 to 3, about 2x that . Today the car looks perfect in that spot, but I learned why bird droppings are the "gift that keeps on giving" if you don't act fast and smart.
Sorry for the novel, but...if it saves any of you the price of a repaint, I've not wasted your time.
Trending Topics
02-28-03, 09:24 AM
#8
They're articles from web sites
I'm a car care moderator on a couple sites, they are from those sites. I wrote them to answer general questions like the ones you have, so It's easier to just point people to that info, instead of typing out the same info, since that's what it's there for. I was actually asked by the Webmaster of the T-Bird site to write up some FAQ's on these topics, so I obliged.
They took a while to write- I type slow, but I can copy/paste pretty fast!
They took a while to write- I type slow, but I can copy/paste pretty fast!
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