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  1. #1

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    I desperately need to make my car look worse

    For the last couple of months, my car and some of my neighbors’ cars have been under attack by one or more wild turkeys that live in the vicinity and wander through the neighborhood. The bird or birds see its/their reflection in the painted surfaces and peck at it very forcefully, thinking it’s a rival turkey. (From what I’ve read online, it’s just certain male turkeys that do this – to assert their dominance.) The damage is bad: the typical peck causes a vertical scratch about an inch and a half long.
    I witnessed one attack on a neighbor’s car – a brand-new dark gray Honda Accord – that lasted 65 minutes. The bird just kept circling the car, pecking every five seconds or so. Needless to say, the scarring was horrible. The attack ended only because I went outside and chased the bird off. (I had been on the phone – a very important call that I couldn’t cut short; otherwise I would have gone out sooner.) The owner of the car was away on vacation for several weeks. I shudder to think how many times her car was attacked during that time. The birds seem to mosey through on an almost daily basis.
    My car, a 2004 Acura TSX that I’ve owned since it was new, is black (Nighthawk Black Pearl, to be precise), and because it’s been well taken care of, it still reflects very well – much too well for its own good now that this turkey problem has developed. I’ve had to do corrective work on the paint every weekend since mid-July. The total number of hours must be into the double digits. Primarily, I’m using my trusty Porter-Cable polisher and Meguiars Ultimate Compound. In certain light, some of the scratches are still faintly visible even after those areas have been worked on repeatedly. (The scratches on the plastic rear bumper cover seem especially hard to remove, undoubtedly because of the material’s relative softness.)
    It occurs to me that all of this corrective work has probably made the paint even more reflective than it was before the turkey attacks began.
    I work at night and sleep during the day, and these turkey attacks seem to occur between mid-morning and late afternoon – when I need to be asleep. I live in an apartment-and-condo complex, and the owner of the property says he’s called the town and the state and been told, basically, that the turkeys can’t be killed or even trapped and moved. His "helpful" suggestion: get a cheap car cover. Obviously, he’s not aware that car covers aren’t meant for use on daily drivers.
    What it comes down to is this, I think: Somehow, I need to make my car much less reflective – in a temporary, benign way. The idea I’ve come up with is applying wax to the car and not buffing it off until it’s safe – turkey-wise – to do so. (I figure that a wax will create a better haze than a sealant. The only wax I have on hand is a 30-year-old tin of Mother’s Carnauba Paste Wax with Cleaner.) That might mean having unbuffed wax on the car for a week. (I’ve got plenty of reservations about resorting to this, but I’ve just got to do something. The thought of polishing out another huge batch of scratches has me feeling desperate.)
    My dream is finding out that someone here knows of a product I could use instead of wax – one that would effectively obscure the paint’s shininess AND could removed easily and without causing marring. And if trying wax idea seems as good an idea as any, how would you remove wax that`s been on the car for days (and probably in direct sunlight for some of the time)? Obviously, the goal is to do no harm to the paint. Use a quick detailer before starting to buff, perhaps?
    I’m very much in need of help here, so, please, let me know what you think. And if you can suggest what you think is a better approach, great.

  2. #2
    My name is Mike mjlinane's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    While I`m generally not a fan of car covers....
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  3. #3
    Oneheadlite's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    What about some matte black vinyl applied to help break up the reflection? Not necessarily whole panel coverage; you could try to find a middle ground that leaves you an aesthetic you like but helps cut down the attacks?

  4. #4
    trashmanssd's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    I had them attack my black Camaro when I left it at work for a weekend while i was having stuff done in my house garage. I had it at work for 6 weeks and most time I pulled it in our shop but over one weekend we had shop full of trucks that were broken down and the *&%*&%*(&^()*& covered every panel with multiple scratches some looked like claw marks up on the hood and high on fenders and there were peck marks that were from upper and lower beak right through the clear and the paint down to primer (like a rock chip). I never leave my car out anymore those things are pure evil. For you I think best option would be car cover as mjlinane
    suggested.

  5. #5
    trashmanssd's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Sorry for my messed up font and size in last post cut and pasted something and it messed it up and I could not fix it.

  6. #6
    trashmanssd's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Likes Dan liked this post

  7. #7

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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Troublesome turkeys in Wisconsin end up dying from "lead poisoning" . However turkeys will cannibalize the dead ones, so leaving them lie by your car will NOT act as a deterrent.
    Sounds like you need to tie up a big dog near your car. Tied-up little dogs just attract them like bait. Just sayin`....
    (OK, SPCA will be all over this.. it`s a joke about the dogs.. (but not about the troublesome wild turkeys))

    OR, you could put up REAL mirrors on your property away from your car and let them fight those reflections. Turkeys are (supposedly) very intelligent birds, so maybe after a few run-ins (literally) with themselves, they will realize it`s not real, but an image and not waste their natural instincts on such and leave your vehicle alone.

    This is the SAME scenario for the Farmer`s Car Insurance commercial about the ram/goat that head-butts the very reflective black-colored door on a car to protect/assert his territory. "Yup, we covered that!"
    GB detailer

  8. #8
    Dan's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Car cover is the answer. The minor marring that might occur is minuscule compared to damage from the birds.
    Likes trashmanssd liked this post

  9. #9
    Super Moderator Pats300zx's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    BB gun !!!
    Only Z Best Detailing-Automotive Concours Detailing Services
    http://ozbdetailing.com
    https://www.facebook.com/ozbautodetailing
    Likes trashmanssd, Angus liked this post

  10. #10
    Oneheadlite's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonnie View Post
    OR, you could put up REAL mirrors on your property away from your car and let them fight those reflections. Turkeys are (supposedly) very intelligent birds, so maybe after a few run-ins (literally) with themselves, they will realize it`s not real, but an image and not waste their natural instincts on such and leave your vehicle alone.
    Great Idea!!

  11. #11
    Detailers Workshop The Driver's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Paintball gun, those dummy owls and natural mosquito repellant (Cedar oil). Those 3 should keep them away!
    Rupes 21 MK II, Rupes 15 MK II, Rupes 21, Rupes LHR75e, Rupes Duetto, Rupes Ibrid-L, Rupes LH18ENS, Flex PE-14-2, Dodo Juice V1

    Quote Originally Posted by rlmccarty2000 View Post
    At $21.99 it will remain a secret to me.

  12. #12

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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    I`m the person who started this thread (earlier today). Since then I`ve gotten my original user name and password (from 2005) revived.
    I`ve read the responses with great interest. I had heard the mirror idea once before. I don`t doubt that putting a mirror out there would get the attention of the peck-happy birds, BUT the fact is that they always mosey on eventually. And I have to think that if they were to mosey over my car, no matter much time they had recently spent at the mirror, their own reflection in my car`s paint would induce another attack.
    As for people saying "go with a car cover," let me point out how difficult and inconvenient it would be. I typically get home from work at 2 or 3 in the morning. Can you see me outside at that hour trying to put a car cover on? What if it`s raining at that hour but is going to stop in a few hours? Do I set my alarm so I can wake up after a few hours of sleep in order to go outside and put the car cover on? (Obviously the car SHOULD be washed and dried before the cover is put on.) And what if I just need to go do an errand or two? Take the car cover off and put it back on an hour later? Leaving the car unprotected for just a brief period could be disastrous, because you never know when the birds will show up and how long they`ll hang around.
    One of the maintenance guys who works here told me about a woman whose brand-new Prius got attacked and was so badly scarred that she was told it needed to be repainted. After getting the paint job done, she got a car cover and started using it. One day she decided she just didn`t want to deal with it, so she took a chance and left the cover off. Well, you know what happened: disaster.
    I`m still hoping that some Autopians will weigh in on my idea of using wax or some other product to greatly mute the shine on a temporary basis.
    (And I`ll comment on The Driver`s suggestions (directly above) as soon as I get the chance. Right now, I`ve got to get ready to go to work.)

  13. #13
    NLove's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    I wonder if you could rig something up using strong suction cups. The suction cups could secure to your windows, you could have a V bracket horizontal to the ground coming off the cups and have some type of light weight fence panels attached to the brackets. The fencing could sit on the ground and with a V type bracket wouldn`t allow the fencing to touch the paint on your car. If it was a panel type design it could all be done in manageable sections. That way you could simply remove the suction assemblies and simply drive away.

    It might sound like a funky idea, but it could possibly work.

  14. #14
    512detail's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    Quote Originally Posted by mjlinane View Post
    While I`m generally not a fan of car covers....
    my thoughts exactly

    you know what else is not for daily drivers? turkey`s pecking your paint!


    Brandt K.
    Likes trashmanssd, upon3 liked this post

  15. #15
    skibik's Avatar
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    Re: I desperately need to make my car look worse

    If you are talking wax either try the cleaner wax you have or go buy another OTC one. There is no magic wax that you need to buy for this purpose. As far as I know there should be no ill affects leaving it on. Paste wax will likely turn white. If you have been compounding your paint every weekend since mid-July I would really be concerned over exactly how much clear coat you have left on the paint.

    So no car cover. My suggestion would be is to get 4 orange traffic cones with weighted bases. Get some flags on a rope, triangle plastic ones colored or otherwise. Place a cone at each corner of the vehicle, find a way to fasten the flags/streamers to the cones, a stick in the hole on top or something to that affect and run it around the car making one corner easy to remove. when you want to leave either remove the corner and leave open or grab everything and toss into you trunk. My thinking is that the streamers/flags should keep the turkeys at bay. This is the only thing that comes to my mind whether it will work.
    Dean.

 

 
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