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Hi all. I don't know what else to call it, but the ghost of bird poop. You know - you clean off the bird poop and are left with this stubborn thing on your paint. And suggestions for easy removal?
I use something that I bought many years ago at the LA car show, but don't recall the name. I have also used it to polish chrome finish and restored faded headlight lenses.
I have not tried Goo Gone, but looks like it is worth a shot for fresh droppings.
Believe it or not, I think rubbing alcohol removes bird poop and tree sap. You can use the standard 70% isopropyl alcohol or if you happen to have some alcohol pads, those also do fine. They do not damage your paint, but of course you have to start out with clean paint. (In other words, the actual alcohol will not mar the paint, but if you have a dirty car and are rubbing on the alcohol, you will get paint damage from the dirt.) I have used it on tree sap and it has worked. Why don't you give it a try on the bird poop and let us know?
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover is wax based ( in case you couldn't guess ) and will do no harm unless you're silly enough to scrub on grit, as previously noted.
Next step would be a "cleaner wax" that has very fine abrasives mixed with the wax. But do it by hand and take your time.
A new car isn't the place to experiment with power buffers, IMO. It's easy to get carried away and go right through the paint, especially on sharp edges.
bird poop is acidic and it actually etched into the clear coat......
to prevent that from happening again, one needs to be vigilant and clean the poop right away! if left in the sun to bake, it will eat through your clear coat and then paint....
which is the problem here. it has etched into the clear coat.
one can get rid of most of the etching with a detail...the detailer will wash the car and correct the paint. if the detailer cant get it out, then it will need to be wet sanded out.
prevention is the best medicine.
Last edited by justnspace; Jun 14, 2019 at 09:53 PM.
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover is wax based ( in case you couldn't guess ) and will do no harm unless you're silly enough to scrub on grit, as previously noted.
Next step would be a "cleaner wax" that has very fine abrasives mixed with the wax. But do it by hand and take your time.
A new car isn't the place to experiment with power buffers, IMO. It's easy to get carried away and go right through the paint, especially on sharp edges.
thats why one wouldnt use a power buffer....
one would use a random orbital polisher, which is basically fool proof.
OK, so I had some bird poop on my car and it had been there for almost a week. The helpful part was that it had rained off and on over that time, so probably that helped a little. I hadn't washed my car for two reasons. One, I don't know how you can wash your car every time a bird poops on it or tree sap falls on it. I've read places that say that even pollen "etches" into the clear coat and pollen is on your car like one second after you're done washing. Two, I still can't wash my car if I know it's going to rain. I'm sure a bunch of you guys are real enthusiasts and don't mind, but I can't do that. So, bottom line is I had just let the bird poop sit on my car. This morning, I went out with some hot water and sprayed down the area. The dried poop just washed away. Once the water dried off, I could see the outlines of where the poop was. So I figured I'd try out the alcohol. This will probably give people a heart attack, but I just wiped down the area with an alcohol pad without washing the car, other than using the water I sprayed on. The reason was because it was on my bumper just below the trunk and, like I said, it was a small area (like the tip of my finger). So, again, I wasn't going to wash my entire car for that. But keep in mind that I'm not recommending this to anyone else unless you want to take the risk of scratching your paint. I heavily lubricated the area with more hot water and then, while the car was still wet, I rubbed the area with the alcohol pad. Then I sprayed more hot water on it and rubbed it a little more with alcohol. Then a final rinse. I then let it dry off so that I could see the results and it appears to have cleared up. So it looks like alcohol may work, at least for smaller areas.
spot treating is usually frowned upon, it's best to wash the full car... however; if one cant wash the car... leave a wet soapy microfiber towel on the offending poop. this will soften up the poop, which then you can wipe it off.
wiping a car down without some lubricity; ie soap, is how you get fine micro-marring from dust.
Of course, i'm obsessive over paint...and I understand others might not take it to the obsessive point
Yeah, when I got my RDX, I wanted to treat it perfectly. But I don't have a garage and it's a daily driver, as I bet it is for most people. So at a certain point, you have to let things slide. It's pollen season where I am and it got to one day where I had to open my gas tank to fill up and there was pollen on it and I was frozen like "OMG, but ...but I can't touch the paint ...but ...I'm out of gas ...maybe I could run to the car wash and ..." then I was like "screw it" and opened the gas tank. I mean, what are you gonna do?
lmao, as long as you arent running/dragging your finger across the paint, touching pollen wont harm it.
like when people draw stuff in the dust/pollen...that's harmful!
merely touching the gas cap wont really damage anything, plus it is a touching point. like you said, yOU have to touch it
If you watch YouTube videos on washing cars, they all make it seem like any human contact with paint causes immediate and permanent damage. BTW, I gave you a like for using the word "lubricity."
I traded in a car I had had for only a year and bought used. Unbeknownst to me, it must have had a fendabenda that was well fixed. Except for the paint. Well, I traded it in for other reasons. Anyhow in between the deal and the pickup, I got a serious bird crap on it, which I left there, since, what the hell, it wasn’t mine anymore. The day of transfer I cleaned it and lo and behold, the acid shit ate into it. I checked the weather, and the next day they had scheduled a huge rainstorm. I called the salesman up and put the transfer off for a day, and did the switch in the pouring rain.
Ugh, bad news to report. I wandered out to my car to test out the auxiliary sound with a USB (side note: sounds awesome, way better off my audio files than from non-HD radio) and then gave my car a once-over. The area from this morning still looked fine, so I was happy with that. Then I noticed there was bird poop in other placed. I have the Fathom Blue and the poop was actually black with seeds -- so, apparently, the birds had been eating that weird fruit that falls from trees and gets squashed on sidewalks and stains it purple and black. I didn't know if it had been there earlier and I just missed it or if it was new. Anyways, I tried doing the same thing as I had this morning. Water with isopropyl alcohol. It worked for most of the areas, but one spot under my B pillar got a ghost stain that wouldn't come out. Scrubbing with the alcohol did help, but it didn't entirely get rid of the stain. It's supposed to rain tonight, so I'm not bothering to wash it and the damage is already done anyways. But I'll wash it maybe Sunday or Monday and report back. I may also go out to the local Auto Zone to see if there are any other products to use.
I just washed my apex blue baby and had the same issue with ghost poop and some bug ghosts. No amount of soap and wash/rinse (I use a foam cannon) was getting rid of these spots. So I broke down and used a dab or swirl mark remover and voila, gone! The person who said it’s in the clear coat is absolutely correct. You need to “move” a little clear with some swirl mark remover or light polisher. I used less than a pinky fingernail amount and light touch.
On a sad note, I found that I have a few rock chips in the hood. Not gonna be able to do much about those though. That’s what 21,000 highway miles in 10 months will get ya. It’s just a car....deep breaths. 😂
I had a branch fall on my roof. It fortunately missed my sun roof, but it dinged the rear part of my roof. I actually ordered a PDR kit off Amazon and then after I calmed down I realized it was so small a ding that I probably wouldn't be able to lift it out without professional assistance and removing my head liner. So I just stopped worrying about it. Can't win them all.
Thanks, I'll look for it. I also went onto Meguiar's website and they say for mild scratches or blemishes to use Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. So I may try that first. I'll keep people updated.
OK, so this morning, I tried to get a photo of the "poop ghost" and I wasn't able to do it. It clearly shows up, but you have to have the sun hit it at exactly the right angle and it's an overcast day, so all of my photos looked like there was nothing there. I went to the Auto Zone and got some Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish. Of the available products on the shelf, this had the lightest "cut" and is advertised as being able to remove "light defects and swirls." Since it's supposed to rain every day for the next 2-3 days, I won't wash my car until mid-week, but I'll give that a try then and see how it works.
Oh, shoot, the one I got has a "4" on their "cut scale" on the label and Dizzyg12's product is listed as a "3." I wish they had that at my Auto Zone because I want to start as gentle as possible. Argh.
Oh, shoot, the one I got has a "4" on their "cut scale" on the label and Dizzyg12's product is listed as a "3." I wish they had that at my Auto Zone because I want to start as gentle as possible. Argh.
OK, so this morning, I tried to get a photo of the "poop ghost" and I wasn't able to do it. It clearly shows up, but you have to have the sun hit it at exactly the right angle and it's an overcast day, so all of my photos looked like there was nothing there. I went to the Auto Zone and got some Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish. Of the available products on the shelf, this had the lightest "cut" and is advertised as being able to remove "light defects and swirls." Since it's supposed to rain every day for the next 2-3 days, I won't wash my car until mid-week, but I'll give that a try then and see how it works.
You can always use this product 'Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine' to just clean the hood if that is what you are going for. It has lubricants in it and won't scratch. I use it all the time.
Hi all. I don't know what else to call it, but the ghost of bird poop. You know - you clean off the bird poop and are left with this stubborn thing on your paint. And suggestions for easy removal?
Update... I actually didn't do anything anything about my bird poop ghost. After 3-4 weeks and cleaning my car weekly, it disappeared on it's own.
Update... I actually didn't do anything anything about my bird poop ghost. After 3-4 weeks and cleaning my car weekly, it disappeared on it's own.
I have the same issue currently. I had autoarmor applied when I bought the vehicle. Today I brought it in to a good paint/body shop who gave me a quote to detail the dozen spots out, which will be covered by autoarmor. He did a little buffing, and took one out, and said, yeah, the autoarmor stuff is working. It did not eat through the clear coat.
I have the same issue currently. I had autoarmor applied when I bought the vehicle. Today I brought it in to a good paint/body shop who gave me a quote to detail the dozen spots out, which will be covered by autoarmor. He did a little buffing, and took one out, and said, yeah, the autoarmor stuff is working. It did not eat through the clear coat.
to add to this, I had autoarmor pay $350 for a complete buff and reapply of the hood, which ended up as a complete detail of the vehicle from a nearby MB place. there was no problem with them paying, even a rental car for the day.
