Bird Dropping = Paint Etch within 2 Hours?

[vtrader]

I finished detailing a new Audi A3 last week and was able to eliminate all the dealer installed halograms and swirl marks. I used #83 followed by #80 and then used #66 wax.

On Saturday, I ran some errands and about two hours later I noticed the car had a small bird dropping on it on the hood. I used some quick detailer to remove the dropping. I noticed that the paint was already etched!

Did I miss a step somewhere? Is there anything I can use to get at least several hour of potection from bird droppings?

[zr123]

My cousin drives a Black Nissan Pathfinder and something similar happened to her about a month ago.

She just finished washing her truck, and about 2 hours later a bird decided to go doo-doo... now imagine this, she wiped it off in about 10 minutes and the paint was etched!

We tried our best to remove/fix what we could with scratch-x, but the etching was pretty deep.

You have to factor in heat, what the bird had the day before and the protection on your car's paint...

Just one of those things we can't control

[Mike Phillips]

The acids in bird droppings are pretty strong. Think about this, if the acids in the bird dropping are strong enough to eat into, etch or disfigure the urethane clear coat finish from the factory, they're strong enough to eat through a microscopic thin layer of wax on the finish also.

Besides not driving your car and keeping it parked under cover away from any birds, the most you can do is to remove the bird dropping as fast as you can with either a quick detailer or with soap and water.

[RamAirV1]

If you can still find it, get some MPPC and try it. I was able to remove bird dropping etchings that Scratch X and even #83 had no effect on. Why did the MPPC, applied by hand, work better than #83 by machine? I have no idea. Just proves you have to experiment.

Normally, the #83 applied with the PC will remove bird dropping etchings. Scratch X can remove the etchings too, but it just takes a long time with many applications to do so.

Also, never park near trees if you can avoid it. Park in a parking garage if you can do it. It is well worth the extra cost.

RamAirV1