Bird Poop Stain.

[Bounce75]

Hi guys, just after a bit of advice.

I was down at the coast today & came back to the car this afternoon a there was a big lump of dried bird poop on the roof, I removed it with a micro fibre & water that I carry in the car.

When I put the car away this evening in the garage I could still see the blemish under the flourecent lights  so I put some Autoglym resin polish on it, it seems to have smoothed it off, but I can still see the blemish.😬

Does anyone have any advice about removing it other that having a clear coat respray?

[NemesisUK]

A good detailer should be able to polish it out. I had a couple on my RC that the dealer sorted for me using their detailing guy. Perfect job and no sign of etching.

 

[rayaans]

Don't need no polish.

Hairdryer. Hit it hard for a few minutes. It'll disappear. Do this within a week 

[Bounce75]

25 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Don't need no polish.

Hairdryer. Hit it hard for a few minutes. It'll disappear. Do this within a week 

I am not sure I am confident to use a hairdryer on it in case I damage the paintwork.

[NemesisUK]

Must admit if it were that simple why wouldn't the dealership or detailer use the hair dryer method?

BTW my 'repair' was done FOC 

[Linas.P]

Hair dryer method may work if it was left overnight maybe (the poop I mean).

Depending on the paint and depending on how long the poop was left there even polishing may not be enough. It may even depend on what bloody flying rat was eating, because different stains requires different methods to remove.

For example my old IS was left under the tree by new owner for whole year because of covid and there were literally year old crap on it. I thought bonnet was shot and will need repainting, but to my surprise it was just a matter or removing previous ceramic coating (basically it only stained the coating), however there was long shot going from the mirror down the door and I had to wet sand the paint to get it out.

As in all car detailing work - start from least aggressive method and work your way up... was the car with pressure, contact wash the car, cleanse the pain either chemically or with say cay bar (although I consider that car must be polished if clay bar is used), if the stain still there then next step machine polishing using finest compound/pad... still not coming out - harder pad + courser compound... if polishing does not help - final step is sanding. And after that ... well repainting. If you not doing detailing yourself, then I guess all the steps after contact wash will require detailer.

Now I would not expect bird etching to require repainting, but as I said I seen stains bad enough, that wet sanding was the only way. Finally, sometimes there are defect in the paint which are simply not worth getting out if they compromise rest of the panel too much. For that reason best stain prevention is preventative - keep car waxed, sealed or coated and clean. Mine always had ceramic coating and it never got stained as long as I washed the crap in few days... although bird shots I always tried to remove asap, if not for the panel... at least to protect the coating.

[-Error-]

Bird droppings are a one big nightmare, however I always carry a bottle of No Rinse Shampoo around with me and have dealt with a few dropping this way whilst away with no issues. Another great product to have on you is Gtechniq W8 bug remover.

Essentially what you need to do is soak the affected area and let the liquid emulsify it, there are many products that will work better than just water. Let it really soak for longer until you think about removing it abrasively. Depending on what the ***** has eaten this may require compounding later but depending on the condition of your paintwork you might be better off leaving it as it will become less noticeable with every wash.

[paulrnx]

A T-Cut product will get rid of it. Follow the instructions and don’t go too mad and it will work. I had a dark blue NX which was particularly prone to  this problem even when bird crap was left on for a very short period of time. T-Cut worked best for me.

[rich1068]

10 hours ago, rayaans said:

Don't need no polish.

Hairdryer. Hit it hard for a few minutes. It'll disappear. Do this within a week 

That's an interesting one. Never come across that before. I'll try that next time!

[rayaans]

22 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

That's an interesting one. Never come across that before. I'll try that next time!

It works up to a week after the bird droppings have been laid. Did work on a golf which had bird poo etchings from previous owner. 

Worked on my RX with no issue. Takes a bit of time but it's safe. What happens is that bird poo causes the clear coat to contract as it dries causing the etching. Heat simply realigns the clear coat back to its normal position 

There's too many references to compounding in this thread. There's no need to reduce the amount of clear coat unless it doesn't work with heat 

The best method is always hairdryer, doesn't work? Then heat gun. Still doesn't work? Then compound. Not compound first or even polish for that matter

[Linas.P]

Again really depends... I assume you had your car coated or at least sealed, so whatever little etching you get may be taken out with heat gun/hairdryer. Golf has hard clear so maybe that helps as well.

Lexus in particular is known for having soft clear, so it is much easier to scratch and etch - bit of nightmare to get paint work perfect and keep it that way. Although theory is that softer clear should not chip as much. 

[Mr Vlad]

Yes it's a bummer when ones car is used as a toilet by birds. Steve you almost did well when you spotted the poop. You wiped it off with a wet microfiber cloth. The trick with poop is to soak a cloth/rag etc with water. Place that sodden cloth on the poop. Go have a coffee. Come back to your car and 99% chance when you gently wipe your cloth away from the spot there will be nothing left. The 1% chance of residue is always there but gentle to hard rubbing with very wet cloth will get rid of the 1%. Sounds to me when you used a polish you actually inadvertently sealed the residue. I'd suggest use a compound like ultimate compound to remove the polish and deal with the etched area.

[rich1068]

4 hours ago, rayaans said:

 

There's too many references to compounding in this thread. There's no need to reduce the amount of clear coat unless it doesn't work with heat 

 

Agreed. I certainly wouldn't be applying T Cut to anything.

[Linas.P]

6 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

Agreed. I certainly wouldn't be applying T Cut to anything.

Especially not allowed near cars... almost as bad as bird poo itself 😄 

[NemesisUK]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Lexus in particular is known for having soft clear, so it is much easier to scratch and etch - bit of nightmare to get paint work perfect and keep it that way. Although theory is that softer clear should not chip as much.

Lexus is supposed to have 'self-healing' top coat (or so it says in my handbook) that, when exposed to  ambient heat, will lessen the effects of minor scratches and swirls (they mention specifically those that one might get from using an automated car wash). From the handbook..

Self-restoring coat

The vehicle body has a self-restoring coating that is resistant to small surface scratches caused in a car wash etc.

●The coating lasts for 5 to 8 years from when the vehicle is delivered from the plant.

●The restoration time differs depending on the depth of the scratch and outside temperature. The restoration time may become shorter when the coating is warmed by applying warm water.

●Deep scratches caused by keys, coins, etc. cannot be restored.

●Do not use wax that contains abrasives

That all said my car sits in the full sunlight and at times the paint surface is almost too hot touch. I remove bird lime as soon as I see it, using bird lime remover or hot water if I'm at home. Not all droppings result in etching but when they do nothing but buffing out will remove it. (That goes for the Mercs I had before as well)

[Linas.P]

I think only select models have this "self-healing" top coat, it is certainly fairly new thing (I would say ~ last 5 year).

[Rabbers]

To safely remove any droppings that have crusted or simply look too serious to respond to plain water I keep an applicator with a small quantity of Dodo Juice Lime Prime cleaner, specifically the non-abrasive Lite formulation, in my glove compartment.  Works quickly and effectively every time.  

[NemesisUK]

Using the Lexus supplied bird lime remover and even just plain warm water, the droppings come away easily enough, no rubbing, just let it soak a while.

Sometimes leaves etched paint, sometimes not. I guess, as already said, it depends on what the b*ggers have eaten!

[Bounce75]

19 hours ago, rayaans said:

Don't need no polish.

Hairdryer. Hit it hard for a few minutes. It'll disappear. Do this within a week 

I am not sure I am confident to use a hairdryer on it in case I damage the paintwork.

How hot can I let it get before I damage the paintwork?

[rayaans]

6 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Again really depends... I assume you had your car coated or at least sealed, so whatever little etching you get may be taken out with heat gun/hairdryer. Golf has hard clear so maybe that helps as well.

Lexus in particular is known for having soft clear, so it is much easier to scratch and etch - bit of nightmare to get paint work perfect and keep it that way. Although theory is that softer clear should not chip as much. 

Works on any car with any clear coat. Doesn't work on single stage paint 

I've done it on loads

45 minutes ago, Bounce75 said:

I am not sure I am confident to use a hairdryer on it in case I damage the paintwork.

How hot can I let it get before I damage the paintwork?

You won't damage anything with a hairdryer. It won't get hot enough to burn through paint. I think with the Golf it took about 10 minutes of continuous heat but that'd been there for months  On my RX it took less than 5 mins as it  was on there for maybe 4 hours

Just focus on a 15 X 15cm area. You should see it and then suddenly it'll just disappear. Almost like magic. Give it a go. 

[rich1068]

A hairdryer won't do any damage. 

[rich1068]

1 minute ago, rayaans said:

Works on any car with any clear coat. Doesn't work on single stage paint 

I've done it on loads

You won't damage anything with a hairdryer. It won't get hot enough to burn through paint. I think with the Golf it took about 10 minutes of continuous heat but that'd been there for months  On my RX it took less than 5 mins as it  was on there for maybe 4 hours

Just focus on a 15 X 15cm area. You should see it and then suddenly it'll just disappear. Almost like magic. Give it a go. 

I'm *almost* wanting bird poop on my car now just so I can try it.

 

[Bounce75]

Well, thanks for all the advice guys, I have just been in the garage for 10 mins with a hairdryer, I am not sure it has really made much difference, but the roof was bloody hot.

Perhaps my next step is to speak to a body shop & see what they suggest? Maybe a polish with a D/A?

[NemesisUK]

3 minutes ago, Bounce75 said:

Maybe a polish with a D/A?

Yup, this ^^^^^^

[Linas.P]

I admit I am keen to try hair dryer next time, because if it works then it will be 100 times easier to remove stains - "just hold hair dryer for a bit and it is gone"... sound a lot easier than polishing at very least entire panel on the car... because let's face it - if you just polish the place where the poop was, then there will be one shiny spot on the panel and it will stand out as well.

Other idea which came into my mind - if hair dryer works, then in theory just driving the car in summer should be enough to remove stains or at very least reduce them significantly, because sun get's the panels really hot as well. Cannot say I have noticed this effect much...