PSA: Clean up those bird droppings fast!

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Desertnate

Active member
I`ve always been one to clean up bird droppings as soon as I find them, but I learned an important lesson yesterday evening in how bad they can be.

TL/DR: Wipe those droppings off the INSTANT you see them! Don`t procrastinate.

Some of you probably remember I bought a new car back the end of January. Due to weather and family commitments I won`t have a chance to properly detail the car until Memorial Day weekend. This means I`ve been living off an application of Griots 3 in 1 and applications of a detail spray I got as a sample after every wash. Due to weather, those too haven`t been as frequent as I`d like.

Well, at some point while driving home yesterday afternoon from work my car got plastered on the passenger side roof by a bird(s). It was raining heavily at the time, so I didn`t notice the impact. Fast forward 2~3 hours to when I go back into the garage and I notice some white matter all over the roof of my car. Further examination shows a blast zone of about 18in long and 12in wide on the roof. Collateral damage could be seen on the passenger A pillar, passenger wiper arm, the cowling around the wipers, passenger door, and even a couple tiny spots on the passenger rocker panel! If I hadn`t been so ticked off, I would have been impressed!

A quick wipe of the areas with a QD spray and soft MF towel, removed the material, but to my surprise you could still see clearly see the outline of the spots. Needless to say, I panicked slightly. I had a bottle of Hyperpolish close by and a soft pad, so I did a little test. Fortunately, I could remove most marks with little effort by hand. I`m pretty confident the rest will polish out in a couple weeks when I hit the whole car with my DA.

I fully realized having a marginally protected car was part of the problem. However, I still wasn`t prepared for damage to happen so quickly even to an unprotected surface.

Bottom line: Don`t let bird droppings sit for any amount of time; remove them the first chance you get!
 
OR...use something like FK1000P for your LSP. I`ve still *NEVER* had any etching with that on the cars, even when I left the bird-bombs on for months. Heh heh, "famous last words!", huh? Hope I didn`t just jinx myself!
 
I think it all depends on what the bird eats; if it’s too acidic, hello paint damage. I remove any bird crap ASAP. I also use IPA to dry out the area so any left behind acids don’t reactivate.
 
Good point Bill. Lots of variables so YMMV! definitely applies.

Hmm...does IPA neutralize the acids? I never thought of that.
 
Years ago Ketch posted about using IPA to dry out the acid. I used a baking soda paste too to neutralize them. Thankfully it’s been a really long time since I had to deal with a bird bomb big enough to have to use all of that.
 
Accumulator said:
OR...use something like FK1000P for your LSP. I`ve still *NEVER* had any etching with that on the cars, even when I left the bird-bombs on for months. Heh heh, "famous last words!", huh? Hope I didn`t just jinx myself!
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This is very important! My cars typically wear a coating, and this one will also in about three weeks! So far, I`ve not seen bird droppings eat through a coating, but I have seen droppings eat through a sealant like 845 in a day or so.

I just need a free weekend at home, and I`ve already taken off time from work to get it done. Now comes the fun part of keeping the vehicle in reasonable condition long enough to get to the scheduled day!
 
This morning I went to the doctors around 8am. Got back home around 8:30am. Went outside randomly to take a break about an hour later and noticed my car was hit hard. I quickly grabbed some ONR and got most off. I have to try and do a wash later if I can find the time. Very annoying to say the least.
 
Also factor in the temperature of the panel, humidity as heat opens up the pores of the paint film, more moisture present in the air the deeper the acidic dropping may penetrate, etc. IPA works as a "drying agent" due to it`s evaporative abilities, so as it enters and then evaporates, aids in removing the acid content from the paint film.
 
Ron Ketcham said:
Also factor in the temperature of the panel, humidity as heat opens up the pores of the paint film, more moisture present in the air the deeper the acidic dropping may penetrate, etc. IPA works as a "drying agent" due to it`s evaporative abilities, so as it enters and then evaporates, aids in removing the acid content from the paint film.
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Never knew this! Does this mean the rain may have sped up the penetration of the droppings? It was pouring rain when I got hit. Temps were pretty cool, but the high humidity from the rain may have made it worse.
 
Cool temps, with flushing rain is good, as first the paint film is not expanded and the rain flushes the acidic content. still never a bad thing to handle as soon as humanly possible. I carry an alcohol based glass cleaner in my vehicles, when I see deposits, I flush with the glass cleaner to soften the deposits, then wipe off.
 
etch- Thanks for explaining about the IPA. Gee, I`m *still* learning stuff from you after all these years!
While we`re discussing this stuff, another Q: does IPA compromise FK1000P?

I`ve heard *so* much contradictory info on the "IPA vs. LSP" topic that I really don`t know what to think (so I just keep IPA away from LSPs that I`m trying to preserve).
 
Seagull droppings are the worst, in my opinion. Living in the Great Lakes these protected (from killing intentionally by hunting, baiting, or trapping) pesky birds can do more damage that is unimaginable. I have seen cars in parking lots at lakeside and bayside parks or rec areas COVERED in their white crap. Their dead fish scavenging diet makes their dropping very acidic.
Red Robins are next. Their diet of earth worms leave a distinctive ring on a car. But the worst time is when they eat red pin or choke cherries. That crap is nasty!
The dropping from Canadian Geese are almost as bad. It`s just the shear volume of crap they exude.

Ah, the joys of living next to large bodies of fresh water!!

I know that Poorboy`s World makes a special cleaner called Bird Sh*t Remover, as the name implies, just for that purpose. Has anyone tried this product???

Desernate:
I forgot that the acronym "PSA" stands for Public Service Announcement, not the medical term Prostate-Specific Antigen or my mechanical engineering experience with Pressure Sensitive Adhesive!
And the "TL/DR" I assume means; Too Long/Didn`t Read??
Darn it! Would someone update the Autopia Decoder Ring List?? YWI/YDI (You Want It? You Do IT!)
 
Lonnie said:
Seagull droppings are the worst, in my opinion. Living in the Great Lakes these protected (from killing intentionally by hunting, baiting, or trapping) pesky birds can do more damage that is unimaginable. I have seen cars in parking lots at lakeside and bayside parks or rec areas COVERED in their white crap. Their dead fish scavenging diet makes their dropping very acidic.
Red Robins are next. Their diet of earth worms leave a distinctive ring on a car. But the worst time is when they eat red pin or choke cherries. That crap is nasty!
The dropping from Canadian Geese are almost as bad. It`s just the shear volume of crap they exude.

Ah, the joys of living next to large bodies of fresh water!!
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I suspect I may have been hit by a seagull. I`m only about 20 miles from the Mississippi and about 10 from a very large landfill. Because of that you get one that will occasionally stray farther away in search of food. I see them here at work occasionally; no where near a body of fresh water.

Desernate:
I forgot that the acronym "PSA" stands for Public Service Announcement, not the medical term Prostate-Specific Antigen or my mechanical engineering experience with Pressure Sensitive Adhesive!
And the "TL/DR" I assume means; Too Long/Didn`t Read??
Darn it! Would someone update the Autopia Decoder Ring List?? YWI/YDI (You Want It? You Do IT!)
Click to expand...

Yes! PSA = Publich Service Announcement. No prostate`s were harmed in the making of this post and nothing was glued together. You are right on "TL/DR" too. That`s what I get for trying to be clever!
 
Lonnie said:
Seagull droppings are the worst, in my opinion.
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When they got the Crown Vic something awful (while I was in NJ) I rinsed it off with a gazillion bottles of water, that was all I had available and I wasn`t gonna trust my FK1000P to hold up against *that*.

I know that Poorboy`s World makes a special cleaner called Bird Sh*t Remover, as the name implies, just for that purpose. Has anyone tried this product???
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You can probably anticipate my Q on that one...("does it strip LSP?") ;)

Lonnie & Desertnate- Heh heh, I got a good chuckle out of your takes on PSA :D
 
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