Several layers of wax (carnauba + poly), nailed by bird, STILL permanent damage???

[bast525]

I`m am so ticked off right now it`s not even funny.



I JUST waxed my car a few weeks ago. Washed and then one layer of carnauba, then repeated a week later, then washed a week later and hit it with Duragloss Aquawax, twice. You`d think it`d be pretty well protected right?



Well, I got nailed by a bird today... not sure how long it was on there but couldn`t have been more than eight hours. Came out to the car and saw it and got it off right away with a microfiber and Meg`s QD spray.



To my dismay, after getting it off I see an `imprint` stained into the paint... it looks sort of rough and pitted.



So, I hit it with more QD... nope, nada... not making a difference. So then I get the Meg`s clay bar and go over it for like 10 minutes, then use the Meg`s cleaner wax and DG AW again. No difference at all.



How the hell is it that several layers of both carnauba and polymer waxes could not protect my car from a bird bomb for even eight hours? I am so mad.... brand new car too, not like it`s old paint or worn away clear coat.



By the look of it, i don`t even think buffing it would get it out... it almost looks like the `bubbling` you would see if you got brake/clutch fluid on the paint, but with a rougher texture. But it looks like it`s all the way down to and into the paint, not just the clearcoat.





Any advice????

[mikebai1990]

I highly doubt that the bird bomb could have etched past your clearcoat. If you take some pictures, we can figure out what to do.

[awahl63]

Sometimes birds can eat bad things and in a matter of minutes it can etch the clear coat.

[JasonD]

Sounds like that bird got you pretty good. I`ve seen the very same thing happen on my own vehicles, and there really isn`t anything you can do past what you`ve done already.....sorry.

[imported_paradigm]

sorry to hear of the evil bird bomb incident. :(



to answer your question of how could it etched the paint...even with multiple applications of product...you just need to put it into perspective. regardless of how many coats you put on, there will still only be microscopic amounts of a product on the paint. we`re talking molecules thick. now, a bird bomb drops on it that is, oh, an ounce or more of goo? that is a lot of acidic or alkaline "product" for those few molecules of protection to hold out against.



add in if it is warm/sunny out...any chemical reaction can work faster on the paint...easily degrading the wax on there and then it`s clear coat etching time.

[Tocoma40]

Birds are the worse. They are like your worse night mare added with night sweats.. My wife has this awsome bright blue color volvo cross country wagon E/A and same thing, she has this stain in the paint that I know I don`t want to mess with. Its a toxic site.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!:wall

[bast525]

Wow... so I`m screwed :( I had my last car for almost two years, parked outside 24/7 everyday, nailed by birds tons of times. Even better, I had NEVER waxed that car. But I religiously cleaned off any bird droppings or tree sap as soon as I saw them, every day. Not once did I ever have any permanent damage after cleaning it off. The only problems that car had with the paint by the time I got rid of it were a few rock chips on the nose from when I first got to VA and didn`t realise how bad the roads were and how far back you need to stay from the car in front of you.



This car I have for a couple months, and have made a big deal about waxing it to keep it safe and wanting to take care of it, and already it is damaged.



It get`s better too. I`ve been parking in the same spot for over a year now. I would say, over the last year up until about a month ago, that I`ve gotten nailed by birds all of six or seven times. Well apparently, about a month ago some new bird has moved into town that must have a problem with the color red. Because now, my car and/or my wife`s car (both bright red), get nailed almost EVERY DAY. Unfortunately, I don`t really have the option of parking in another spot where I live.





So... what about buffing? By the look of it, I would guess that no amount of buffing would fix it, because again, it really does look like it ate all the way to the paint. I don`t know if it makes a difference, but the stain is on the rear spoiler, which is made of plastic. I have a feeling this might limit my options.



I may try to take a picture of it, though I have a feeling it would be very hard to see in any pic.

[Anthony O.]

Yes bird poo can etch your clear in under 30 minutes. My clients I had by the beach had it real bad with the seagulls (when I lived in Calif.).



Also you didn`t have multiple layers of wax on your car, you had one layer. It doesn`t matter how many times you think you can layer it. Your best line of defense is a polymer topped with a carnauba, putting a polymer on a carnauba means that it bonds to the wax more so than the paint and as the wax degrades so does your polymer.



In the future clay will do nothing for your bird poo stains nor will QD. Your option now, to completely remove it, is to get a repaint. Your other option is to have it wet sanded and polished out. This will reduce its appearance but not totally remove it.....without seriously thinning out your clear.



Could it be that certain paint products accelerate the etching of bird poo?? That would be an interesting study eh?



Anthony





Edit* Also being that the material attacked is plastic is a contributor. Plastics on cars are more susceptible to environmental damage such as fall out and stains.

[Scottwax]

It may be possible to polish it out, you won`t know until you try.



I think bird bomb etching is often more dependent on what the bird ate vs what is protecting your paint. I`ve found that generally speaking, a couple coats of carnauba protect a little better than sealants but if the bird has eaten a lot of berries and nails you on a hot day in the full sun, not much will protect the paint.

[Setec Astronomy]

Also being that the material attacked is plastic is a contributor. Plastics on cars are more susceptible to environmental damage such as fall out and stains.



One theory for this that we have kicked around here is that plastic has poorer thermal conductivity than metal, meaning that the paint will get hotter in the sun on plastic parts than on metal ones.

[bast525]

someone mentioned on another forum that the paint on plastic parts is different than the paint on the main body, formulated to be softer so it can flex without cracking since the part itself can flex.



Sounded feasible to me... I know that other bird droppings that I`ve cleaned off this car (this is the first one that hit a plastic part that I recall) never did damage like this even if they`d been sitting there for a while.

[Setec Astronomy]

Oops...yeah, that was the other reason, the plasticizer that used to be used in the paint on the flexible urethane parts. I don`t know if that is still true or not, or whether it would be true on a "hard" plastic part like your FRP spoiler or mirror housings, for instance. It just dawned on me that we don`t really seem to have any body shop guys on here to set us straight on this--how about MorBid? You out there?

[bast525]

I ended up making it worse too. I didn`t do anything additional, don`t get me wrong. But I just noticed yesterday after having another look at it in the sun, that apparently I did something wrong when I was clay barring (rubbing too hard even though I didn`t feel I was really using any pressure), because now there are a LOT of very small swirl marks all around the area that I was using the clay bar. Which is why I`ve been worried about clay barring my car... I have the propensity to over-do things :)



So... I will definately be trying to polish the area... even if I can`t get the stain out, I`d really like to get rid of all the cobwebs.

[mikebai1990]

Best of luck to you!