Paint work: how’s it holding up?

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Warminster id
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Joined: Sun May 02, 2021 2:26 pm

Post by Warminster id »

I had a bird poo on my car the other day…
Last time I take her out for a drink! 😂
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monkeyhanger
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Post by monkeyhanger »

sausageroll wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:48 pm
monkeyhanger wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:41 pm
sausageroll wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:52 pm Corrosive bird poo.

Contains high levels of nitrogen so will have damaged the lacquer. Quite normal - you need to either have appropriate protection on the paint so that it can't "grab" easily, and/or remove it as soon as possible.

4 days is just way too late to not have damage.


Sometimes you can reflow the damaged layer with a heat gun or hairdryer (if you know what you're doing), otherwise it'd be corrected as any other paint damage.
Air has high levels of Nitrogen, but my lungs work just fine when breathing it in. The level of nitrogen has nothing to do with it - plenty of neutral compounds contain nitrogen. Mammalian poo (high in nitrates) is generally mildly alkaline, mammalian wee is very mildly acidic.

We pee a weak urea solution, urea isn't particularly soluble. Birds take on hardly any water, so they can't get rid of their waste as urea, they instead produce uric acid (which is very soluble in water, only needing a little to make the paste-like poos they drop everywhere), which is quite acidic. It etches the clear coat of your paintwork, turning it opaque if left on too long.

Sealant or wax will provide a barrier. I would go down the polishing route rather than using a heat gun if the paintwork is scarred.

If the etching is mild or only on your sealant, it might clear up on its own - I had very minor scarring from a recent poo and expected to polish it out at the weekend, but it had cleared up itself a few days later, my paintwork is sealed with G-Techniq C2V3.
Sorry but that's just pedantry. Bird poo is most definitely nitrogen rich, and nitrogen is a key element in Uric acid.

The thread didn't really need a passive aggressive elaboration on that, let's be honest.
What you wrote stated that it's high nitrogen content that will damage lacquer, which is simply untrue. Its the chemical structure of the functional end groups of uric acid that gives the bird poo its acidic nature, not it's overall Nitrogen content. Just correcting a half-truth, you may see that as pedantic.

I wouldn't take offense at something incorrect that I wrote being corrected.
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Deleted User 314

Post by Deleted User 314 »

We have pigeon issues, polish each week after a wash and I still have a few scars as I call them.

When outside, the car is in intense heat and I’m sure that doesn’t help the damage caused by the aerial bombardment.
DanWill
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2023 1:09 pm

Post by DanWill »

Not sure this is the correct place for this....
4000 miles in, is the paintwork and plastic to the front bumper and bonnet area made of cream cheese! Seems like everyday there is a new mark or chip.
Heard a stone hit on the M1 this morning, impact mark in the bumper, not just the paintwork. I think its really poor, had an A4 previously and the paintwork was bullet proof.
MotMot
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Post by MotMot »

Hmm - mine has been fine (12k in) its the dark metallic grey one. My previous ID3 was moonstone grey - and it got a few chips on the front (over 15k miles) but generally looked fine... Certainly no worse than previous motorway mile crunching cars I've had (V40, Mk6 golf, 320d)..
JohnEG
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Post by JohnEG »

I've been using Autoglym Bird Dropping Wipes for years.
They come in individual sealed sachets and work a treat.
Never had a problem removing droppings.
I suspect a rather better option than a heat gun!!
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