Volkswagen ID.3 Forum

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.

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.

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.