Bird poo, bird s***, bird lime, bird droppings, whatever you want to call it, if you take pride in the appearance of your car, you can't ignore it.
Depending upon the weather, after a decent 'fall' the finish on your paint can be so badly damaged it's going to need a trip to the body shop.
If you haven't experienced it you are either very lucky, are extremely diligent, or don't take too much notice of your car's paintwork condition! The usual tell-tale is that when you wash your car you notice a dull patch on your pride and joy.
All the washing (and usually all the polishing) in the world and it's still there.
First of all, a little about what actually causes the damage.
Until fairly recently it was assumed that the lime itself within bird droppings was actually eating into the paintwork itself.
Recent studies by car polish experts Autoglym (whose products are approved by manufacturers such as Bentley, Jaguar and Aston Martin, so they know a thing or two) have carried out extensive tests that dispelled that myth.
The lacquer that covers your car paintwork expands and softens slightly as it warms, such as when parked in direct sunlight.
Those warm panels soon cause any 'deposit' to harden.
When things cool down again the lacquer moulds itself around the offending item and behold, the damage is done.
Tests were carried out with strongly alkali, neutral and strongly acidic 'bird dropping substitutes' (I know, the mind boggles doesn't it?) and negligible differences between the damage caused was seen.
It was noted that those 'deposits' with a 'higher grain to liquid content' caused a greater levels of dullness.
So, if your pride and joy has suffered, what can you do? Well, depending on the severity of the damage you have different options; Catch It Early Ideally of course you will spot the droppings quickly and be able to wipe them off carefully with a wet cloth.
If so, well done, no damage done.
Light Lacquer Damage If after a wash you see a dull patch (it's the light refracting badly through the damaged lacquer), you can try and gently polish the area and see what happens.
Don't do it if you're not comfortable with what you're doing.
If in any doubt, go see an expert.
You may just be very lucky and the lacquer damage is sufficiently minimal that an accommodating body shop may be able to 'flat and machine polish' the offending area with 100% success.
Or you may decide that the 'almost perfect' result is acceptable to you in the face of the alternative, which is...
Irretrievable lacquer and/or paint damage In a lot of the cases we see, the finish is too far gone for polishing.
The only alternative is to refinish the offending panel, which will invariably involve a visit to the bodyshop.
It's worth mentioning that the damage can be inflicted in hours, it needn't take days or weeks to happen.
If you are unlucky and it's necessary to repaint part of the panel, if the resultant repair ends up within around 150mm from an adjacent panel, it may also be necessary to 'blend' the new colour across the adjacent panel to avoid any colour mismatch.
In terms of costs, shop around to find a reputable bodyshop that will charge less than £200 for a single panel, plus around £110 per 'blend' if needed.
Bonnets (hood), bootlids (trunk) and roofs are of course very often the damaged panels and you can expect to pay a little more for those.
So, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
The fact is that untreated bird droppings very often causes damage that needs a bodyshop.
The only way to avoid it? Don't park outside (tricky) or carry some specialist wipes (Autoglym make some) and be extremely vigilant! Oh, and on a final positive note: Try imagining all those Autoglym testers mixing up a range of different 'bird dropping substitutes' without smiling to yourself...
Depending upon the weather, after a decent 'fall' the finish on your paint can be so badly damaged it's going to need a trip to the body shop.
If you haven't experienced it you are either very lucky, are extremely diligent, or don't take too much notice of your car's paintwork condition! The usual tell-tale is that when you wash your car you notice a dull patch on your pride and joy.
All the washing (and usually all the polishing) in the world and it's still there.
First of all, a little about what actually causes the damage.
Until fairly recently it was assumed that the lime itself within bird droppings was actually eating into the paintwork itself.
Recent studies by car polish experts Autoglym (whose products are approved by manufacturers such as Bentley, Jaguar and Aston Martin, so they know a thing or two) have carried out extensive tests that dispelled that myth.
The lacquer that covers your car paintwork expands and softens slightly as it warms, such as when parked in direct sunlight.
Those warm panels soon cause any 'deposit' to harden.
When things cool down again the lacquer moulds itself around the offending item and behold, the damage is done.
Tests were carried out with strongly alkali, neutral and strongly acidic 'bird dropping substitutes' (I know, the mind boggles doesn't it?) and negligible differences between the damage caused was seen.
It was noted that those 'deposits' with a 'higher grain to liquid content' caused a greater levels of dullness.
So, if your pride and joy has suffered, what can you do? Well, depending on the severity of the damage you have different options; Catch It Early Ideally of course you will spot the droppings quickly and be able to wipe them off carefully with a wet cloth.
If so, well done, no damage done.
Light Lacquer Damage If after a wash you see a dull patch (it's the light refracting badly through the damaged lacquer), you can try and gently polish the area and see what happens.
Don't do it if you're not comfortable with what you're doing.
If in any doubt, go see an expert.
You may just be very lucky and the lacquer damage is sufficiently minimal that an accommodating body shop may be able to 'flat and machine polish' the offending area with 100% success.
Or you may decide that the 'almost perfect' result is acceptable to you in the face of the alternative, which is...
Irretrievable lacquer and/or paint damage In a lot of the cases we see, the finish is too far gone for polishing.
The only alternative is to refinish the offending panel, which will invariably involve a visit to the bodyshop.
It's worth mentioning that the damage can be inflicted in hours, it needn't take days or weeks to happen.
If you are unlucky and it's necessary to repaint part of the panel, if the resultant repair ends up within around 150mm from an adjacent panel, it may also be necessary to 'blend' the new colour across the adjacent panel to avoid any colour mismatch.
In terms of costs, shop around to find a reputable bodyshop that will charge less than £200 for a single panel, plus around £110 per 'blend' if needed.
Bonnets (hood), bootlids (trunk) and roofs are of course very often the damaged panels and you can expect to pay a little more for those.
So, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
The fact is that untreated bird droppings very often causes damage that needs a bodyshop.
The only way to avoid it? Don't park outside (tricky) or carry some specialist wipes (Autoglym make some) and be extremely vigilant! Oh, and on a final positive note: Try imagining all those Autoglym testers mixing up a range of different 'bird dropping substitutes' without smiling to yourself...
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