Bird droppings - which product to protect the paintwork?

[oobster]

As above - i've had to take the car down to Stevie Walkers twice in the last few weeks to have marks polished off the roof & bonnet caused by bird crap eating into the paint. I know the birds will be eating the berries off the trees etc at this time of the year and it's this that causes the damage but can any of our resident detailers/valeters recommend a good product to use that would help protect the paint?

I had a mark on my car earlier today - I know the bird crap could only have been on the paint for a maximum of an hour and it was such that a t-cut wouldn't remove it.

Getting a bit fed up having to go check the car in the drive every hour.

I thought about buying a cover for it but they are £200+ and I don't have that kind of cash at the moment.

I already use Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection on it.  

[wagonwheels]

I had my own valet business for 4 years and worked for 5 years before that as a valeter .Having been to the autosmart and autoglym courses and used many different polishes over the years i still  say the a product called Diamond brite  is the best.I put six coats on my 1981 AUDI QUATTRO five years ago and its been left come rain and shine ever since without being washed( meant to be rebuilding it) and was power washed the other day.The mould and years of bird crap came straight off with only minimal paint fading!  I do know that your paint will not have lead in it and will be water based so it will need alot of tlc .If you cant get it then try  SILVERSEAL  .It can be bought with a warranty against bird lime damage for 1 year per application and is alot cheaper but not as good.There are very strong chemicals in the red berries that birds seem to eat this time of year too.Good luck

[scoobyiain]

The blackfire cannot be doing it's job if the bird droppings are marking your paint. Get any other type of wax that is in your budget to replace the blackfire. Even with nattys blue on my car bird droppings never ate thru it. A mild claybar should take away any marks on your paint. maybe worth investing in a machine polisher if you are paying someone else to do it for you.

[oobster]

Iain - i've got a tin of collonite 915 that I haven't got round to trying yet - do you have any experience of this product and if so is it likely to offer better paint protection AND a high gloss finish?

[gus the bus]

Andy,

Had the exact same thing 2 days after I got it back from Stevie. Bird shecht on the bonnet for less than 30 mins washed off and two marks remained/ Tried a few things to remove but to no avail. [:@]

Hopefully Blue Dragon wil be able to remove these for me on thursday[]

[scouk]

Dont mean to cut in on ScoobyIan's pro advice []

Since looking after the car properly I've never had too much trouble protecting the body against bird carp (front end stone chips on the other hand [:@])

I'm using Blackfire wax on my car just now, usually try and give it 2 coats top up every month or two.  Any bird poo that comes along seems to wipe off without a mark by using quik detailer ASAP.  When I bought the car it was a litte more difficult to remove and only really came out after using a claybar and polish, but since using the wax to seal and protect the finish, it's been much easier to keep it up to scratch.

Before the Blackfire I used some of the Collonite 915 you mentioned after someone recommended it to me. Really easy to apply (Perhaps blackfire is a little easier) Gives a really good protection, haven't seen any proper reports but claims to last much longer than most and is considered a "proper" wax as opposed to the synthetic type that makes up the blackfire.  However, you dont get the same gloss/shinyness that the blackfire provides..  Don't get me wrong the shine is good nice deep colour but the blackfire is a step above it for the WoW! factor.  I was considering using the collonite as a "Winter Wax" for longer/harder protection but I'll see how well the blackfire holds up against the winter weather this year.

[scoobyiain]

Andy. collonite is the muts for protection. will last you 4-6 months with just one coat of it. Will also give a good shine only for approx 2 months so just top it up.

Collonite 476 is the wax i put on alan-g and fab1's cars back in april so will see if they reply and back up how good collonite is. 915 will give you the same results as the 476 does for me.

[colzo]

No probs with Swissol/Swissvax Samurai wax, but its what you would expect paying around £40 a tub.

[the blue dragon]

Andy, ive got 476 if you want to borrow some, have also got  half a clay bar you can have. Let me know mate an i can drop it thru before i go my hols on saturday. [Y]

 

 

Cheers

 

Iain 

[the blue dragon]

Andy,

Had the exact same thing 2 days after I got it back from Stevie. Bird shecht on the bonnet for less than 30 mins washed off and two marks remained/ Tried a few things to remove but to no avail. [:@]

Hopefully Blue Dragon wil be able to remove these for me on thursday[]

Youre no supposed to use sandpaper gus [] lol. Im glad you have faith in my ability mate, but did have a top class instructor(scoobyiain [Y])

 

cheers

Iain 

[oobster]

I've got a brand-new claybar that i've never used, cheers Iain. [Y]

So a claybar would take these marks out then? I didn't think of that to be honest.

I'll give the 915 a try when I get the chance - hopefully that will provide the protection from the feckin birds.

Where are you off to on holiday Iain? Might give you a shout when your back & you can give Dawn's new car a clean up [Y] 

[gus the bus]

Andy,

Had the exact same thing 2 days after I got it back from Stevie. Bird shecht on the bonnet for less than 30 mins washed off and two marks remained/ Tried a few things to remove but to no avail. [:@]

Hopefully Blue Dragon wil be able to remove these for me on thursday[]

Youre no supposed to use sandpaper gus [] lol. Im glad you have faith in my ability mate, but did have a top class instructor(scoobyiain [Y])

 

cheers

Iain 

So thats where I went wrong [:S][]  I always have faith in your ability mate and if Scoobyiain has been your "instructor" then thats an added bonus[Y]

[the blue dragon]

I've got a brand-new claybar that i've never used, cheers Iain. [Y]

So a claybar would take these marks out then? I didn't think of that to be honest.

I'll give the 915 a try when I get the chance - hopefully that will provide the protection from the feckin birds.

Where are you off to on holiday Iain? Might give you a shout when your back & you can give Dawn's new car a clean up [Y] 

Off to Turkey mate, will be back to work august 1st, so let me know when you want it done. [Y]

 

cheers

Iain 

[gus the bus]

I've got a brand-new claybar that i've never used, cheers Iain. [Y]

So a claybar would take these marks out then? I didn't think of that to be honest.

I'll give the 915 a try when I get the chance - hopefully that will provide the protection from the feckin birds.

Where are you off to on holiday Iain? Might give you a shout when your back & you can give Dawn's new car a clean up [Y] 

Off to Turkey mate, will be back to work august 1st, so let me know when you want it done. [Y]

 

cheers

Iain 

and you can add the C1 to that list. It needs some of your TLC cos it gets heehaw fae me[:$]

 

[jae]

oobster, the guys on here are much more experienced than I on the old detailing and valeting side of things, but I just wanted to put my 2 pennies worth in too []

I used to valet cars for my local rover dealership and was introduced to autosmart stuff then, I have been using nothing else since, (this is where I will get jumped [] ) I wash my car with *cough* fairy liquid *cough* and polish it with autosmart polish about once every 6 weeks or so. I did my car last night and there was a whopping great streak doing the rear wing delivered from apon high when I started, after I was done not a mark of where it had been and it had sat for 2-3 days with it. I personally would never t-cut a metallic finish, it's just me I suppose, old habits dieing hard. I must admit to quite fancying a bash with a clay bar.

Anyway not sure what I am trying to say maybe I think that bird cr*p removal is more in the shampoo than anything else, unless it's a base paint, red,  white, some blues.... I am sure I may be wrong []

 

[jamesm]

I'd buy a rifle and solve the problem at source! []

[wheelchairscooby]

i like your thinking jamesm

[oobster]

I'd buy a rifle and solve the problem at source! []

Tempting - very tempting!

Thanks for all the advice folks - I'm going to try some of this collonite stuff next time we get a dry day (June 2008?) and see if that helps.