Bird 'strikes' on the bonnet...

[azaman]

So it seems the local birds have been eating battery acid and pooped it out on my bonnet. The offending articles were in contact with the paint for a couple of days. On removing the waste, the patches of paint that were hit have gone dull and are not smooth to the touch.

Any tips on how to fix this? I was going to try a good scratch removing paste to try and polish out the damage.

 

[Rashman]

So it seems the local birds have been eating battery acid and pooped it out on my bonnet. The offending articles were in contact with the paint for a couple of days. On removing the waste, the patches of paint that were hit have gone dull and are not smooth to the touch.

Any tips on how to fix this? I was going to try a good scratch removing paste to try and polish out the damage.

Sounds like the projectiles have eaten into the laquer alittle.

Polish should work. Just go gentle until you have a smooth finish left. Don't go to mad otherwise you will take more laquer off than is necessary.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

Is Mercedes paint so thin? I have marks from birds drops (removed quite quickly) and from something else unexplained. It looked like a big drop of water on a dust but after washing the car there are marks similar to the ones from bird drops. I'm a bit disappointed.

I will have polishing session today but if doesn't work I may need some professional advice.

 

[grober]

Birds actually excrete uric acid [ the white bit] rather than urea so their droppings are highly acidic. Modern paint finishes are water based and more susceptible to attack. If left in contact for some time the acid will eat its way through the clear lacquer and react with the pigmented layer underneath- then its probably respray time. Clear lacquer clouding should polish out if not left too long.
A protective layer of wax may help.

 

[Rashman]

Is Mercedes paint so thin? I have marks from birds drops (removed quite quickly) and from something else unexplained. It looked like a big drop of water on a dust but after washing the car there are marks similar to the ones from bird drops. I'm a bit disappointed.

I will have polishing session today but if doesn't work I may need some professional advice.

Mercedes paint is actually very good compared to other manufacturers. It's hard too.

But remember that bird crap sits on and attacks the clear coat first, not the paint.

I suspect all that needs to be done is a alittle polishing to work the surface of the clear coat down abit, thus removing the staining.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

Never had such problem on other cars and sometimes I wasn't cleaning the "drops" straight away. I have no idea what's the source of other stains and that's what is worrying me.

 

[jotter22]

the other stain could just be a water mark that you have not spotted before? I would tend to polish a bigger area than just localised to the poop spot so you get a less concentrated work patch.
Tony.

 

[mikec32]

Wool pads and good quality compounds can take most of the bird lime away, without generating to much heat. But most of the time you need to level the lacquer with 3000. This will need compounding and the refining to get that part of the lacquer back to new. Sometimes I have had to go as far as 2000 to remove limes completely.

Cheers
Michael

 

[b1g1an]

Be careful of snails too, I had one crawling about on the roof of our Volvo and didn't think much of it until the next time I washed it. You could see exactly where it had been and it was was quite deep into the laquer, ended up just filling it with glaze before flogging it as hand compounds didn't do much to it.

 

[azaman]

So I tried G3 Scratch Removing Paste (Halfords sell G3 products) and I have managed to cut away the damaged lacquer to leave a nice clean finish. I have to say I am very impressed with this product. I had some other scratches around the car and went to work on them as well. Light marks are completely removed, the deeper scratches are a lot less visible now. Best £8 I have spent in a long time.

 

[grober]

Farecla G3 is what the pros use its good stuff!

 

[dipzv]

Try using paint cleaner and wax.. meguiars step 1 & 3