Bird poo damage is caused by paint expansion and receeding around the poo

[WaxAddict]

According to Autoglym, there`s not much we can do but get the poop off ASAP.

The real reason why bird droppings damage your car - Telegraph

[LEDetailng]

Great article. Only true 100% protection is PPF or vinyl wrap or never taking your car outdoors.

[Poorboy]

not sure where they are getting their information .. there are hardly any lacquer paints used in the US ..and this is for many years ..

old lacquers and enamels etc(single stage) .. used to breath and react but clear coats do not...

[Accumulator]

Eh, I haven`t experienced etching on anything LSPed with FK1000P or heavily layered KSG...YMMV/etc. etc. but I don`t even bother cleaning it off between washes any more, and that can mean it sits there for ages. Come to think of it, I can`t remember the last time it etched through Collinite either.

[WaxAddict]

not sure where they are getting their information .. there are hardly any lacquer paints used in the US ..and this is for many years ..
old lacquers and enamels etc(single stage) .. used to breath and react but clear coats do not...

Steve, my take is that over the pond, or at least that one guy, they call it lacquer even though it`s paint. I thought the same as you did. If he IS just talking about lacquer (single stage), then the article is very misleading. Then again, if you say modern clears don`t breathe, then I believe that. Hard to say. It could be definitively measured with a strain gauge.

Eh, I haven`t experienced etching on anything LSPed with FK1000P or heavily layered KSG...YMMV/etc. etc. but I don`t even bother cleaning it off between washes any more, and that can mean it sits there for ages. Come to think of it, I can`t remember the last time it etched through Collinite either.

I`ve seen, and currently have, bird poo etching with Collinite 845 and 915. My black car has a bad etch on the hood that M205 did not fix - it was LSP`d with WGDGPS + Blacklight and PA Presto. Maybe not the best against etching. However, I`ve alawys beleived that it`s the bird species and diet. I I know from fact that the droppings with purple berries in them definitely etch. I`m down here in Florida, so my birds are different than your birds.

I totally need to do a test... How can I simulate bird poo? IF the Autoglym guy is right - that the dropping is simply a benign mass that the paint expansion/recession is working around, then I could test his theory with something like toothpaste .. something non-Newtonian that starts as a wet blob and dries. Ideas? I`m willing to risk my Volvo.

[rlmccarty2000]

I always thought since birds don`t urinate it was the Uric acid portion of the poop that caused the damage. My wife`s car is subjected to bird poop more than mine are and poop sometimes will stay for 2-3 days without removal. I usually keep Hydro2 fresh on my wife`s car and have not noticed any etching. I`m sure if I left it on the car for 5 or more days I would see etching. Luckily, even the sloppiest of individuals wash the bird poop off of their cars (yes, there are exceptions). My wife keeps a bottle of PBs Bird Sh#t remover and a baggie with a clean microfiber towel for those unfortunate moments.

[donbeezy]

not sure where they are getting their information .. there are hardly any lacquer paints used in the US ..and this is for many years ..

old lacquers and enamels etc(single stage) .. used to breath and react but clear coats do not...

they call lacquers as clear coats. weird terms they have. boot for trunk. bonner for hood. wings for fenders etc..

[Poorboy]

they call lacquers as clear coats. weird terms they have. boot for trunk. bonner for hood. wings for fenders etc..

but if that is true why would they say it breathes?

[NLove]

I am glad I am seeing some different responses. I always thought it was the acid in the poo, I remove it asap. The same goes for bugs, I live in MN and unlike the south we don`t have love bugs. I personally haven`t seen any etchings from bugs up here. I would like to see the bird poo theory tested in a controlled environment.

[Accumulator]

There have been lacquer factory clearcoats; the first ones MB used were lacquer (and very thin/fragile too). Slightly different tech (the details of which I dunno..) compared to simply "putting on coats of clear lacquer" the way guys had been doing since forever and the diffs solved the cracking issue and got rid of that "old-school lacquer never really dries" factor.

WaxAddict- Yeah, the differing experiences with this Re Collinite don`t surprise me, and I was only thinking 476S (not that *that* probably matters).

Leaving it on the paint the way I do is pretty foolhardy, but I`ll probably keep pushing things until I get bitten