GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: eatontrifles on 21 June 2017, 12:07
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This weekend just gone, I was away from home and unfortunately the car got bombed by a bird with a dietary problem - presumably on Saturday afternoon. This morning (three days later) I got an opportunity to wash the car and unfortunately the paint has marked.
- How do I fix it? Last time I had a bad etch I bought this; http://www.g3pro.com/product/g3-permanent-scratch-remover/ which helped but didn't get rid of it, even when applied with an attachment on a cordless drill.
- Is this a common thing with VW paint? (I've had bird sh*t on car paint previously for a few days and it hasn't damaged it)
- Is there anything I can do to stop it happening again?
(http://thumbsnap.com/i/86BfeJrJ.jpg)
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[/li][li]Is there anything I can do to stop it happening again?
Buy one of these for your garden:
(https://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/spar_sr_tcm9-93709.jpg?width=768&crop=(0,280,4672,2908))
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You'll need to get your hands on a DA (Dual action) polisher with a light-medium pad. 30 seconds and that will be gone. Anything else is a waste of time.
If bird crap is left on your paint in the current warm/sunny spell it will do that damage in a matter of minutes unfortunately.
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You'll need to get your hands on a DA (Dual action) polisher with a light-medium pad. 30 seconds and that will be gone. Anything else is a waste of time.
If bird crap is left on your paint in the current warm/sunny spell it will do that damage in a matter of minutes unfortunately.
Yes, a DA with the right combination of polish and pad will sort that out easily.
I had a similarly impressive bird poo deposited on my previous car (mk6 GTD) in hot sunny weather in pretty much the same location - offside C pillar. It was only on the car for about 1/2 hr but etched the paintwork to the same degree that yours is.
A few minutes effort with my DA removed it completely.
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Have same issue on our NB one had a similar issue on our Mk5 due to a child with suncream on their hands
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I've got one of those kits which attaches 125mm pads to a drill, can I use that?
If so, what products/pads will I need?
As much as I'd love a Sparrowhawk, I suspect - what with the car being parked at a National Trust property when it got bombed -
there were plenty of them around already.
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Ive had mine ceramic coated and had a big splat of bird poo which was on the car for approx a few hours has marked that up, the old peugeot 306 with the good old fashioned laquer finish still looks as good today as out did in 1999.
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Ive had mine ceramic coated and had a big splat of bird poo which was on the car for approx a few hours has marked that up, the old peugeot 306 with the good old fashioned laquer finish still looks as good today as out did in 1999.
Coatings / wax don't help (very much) imo - other than maybe making it easier to wash it off quickly. If it damages the hard lacquer that VW's are known to have, it'll make light work of any coating/wax.
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A recommendation from VWROC forum: https://youtu.be/guk5m6lcGRc (https://youtu.be/guk5m6lcGRc)
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I've got one of those kits which attaches 125mm pads to a drill, can I use that?
If so, what products/pads will I need?
As much as I'd love a Sparrowhawk, I suspect - what with the car being parked at a National Trust property when it got bombed -
there were plenty of them around already.
I'm not familiar with the polishing kit that attaches to a drill but I'd have thought this would be OK to use but with care as it is likely to perform and behave differently to - and not be as controllable as a DA polisher. If you've not used a machine polisher before, It might be worth getting an old scrap panel to practice on first before using your drill kit on your car, to get a feel for how it behaves.
I'm assuming with this kit, the pad rotates in a circular motion like a rotary machine polisher, rather than a random orbital oscillating motion like a dual action polisher. If so, then I've read that rotary polishing machines are less forgiving in inexperienced hands and generate more heat than a dual action polisher, so it would be important to keep the pad moving over the area being polished at all times rather than holding it in the same place, and don't apply too much pressure, otherwise there could be a risk of removing too much clear coat or heat build-up and burn-through of the clear coat.
I can't remember exactly what products I used to remove the bird poo etching from my car - it was 2-3 years ago. However I cleaned the area thoroughly and clayed it first before polishing. I used a polish for light-moderate imperfections; it may have been Poorboys SSR 2 Super Swirl Remover that I have in my collection (sorry, can't remember!), starting off with a 'low cut' pad. I use Shinemate waffle pads - the white one, which is a low cut finishing pad. I seem to remember that this combination didn't remove all of the etching, so I changed the pad to a Shinemate orange waffle pad, which has more cutting action and this combination worked.
Once removed, I re-applied a couple of coats of wax to add protection.
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Yeah I'd be very careful of using any sort of drill attachment, anything with a rotary action, you could do a lot more harm than good. A decent DA is not that expensive and its a really worthwhile tool to have... makes very easy work of occasional bird crap / swirls removal.
Or you could try finding someone local who has one...
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SNIPPED EXCELLENT ADVICE
Good stuff, thanks. And yes, the drill kit is effectively a rotary 125mm pad attachment.
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A recommendation from VWROC forum: https://youtu.be/guk5m6lcGRc (https://youtu.be/guk5m6lcGRc)
Oh, that's very interesting! Obviously you have to be mega careful and keep moving the heat gun.
It makes sense that it'd work as based on what I read (here (https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/parts-and-accessories/2011-04/bird-droppings/)), the etching is actually down to the lacquer heating and the grain under the sh*t leaving a mark when it cools. The car was left in hot direct sunlight on Saturday, Sunday and Monday before I could get it cleaned.
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I know it's not about bird poo but I thought this was a novel way to get rid of a dented roof, and they didn't even dent it in the first place.
https://youtu.be/QbBKEBwdByQ
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I've got the gtechnic ceramic stuff on mine and bird droppings don't stick, leave marks or anything and mines in a work car park all day in the baking sun.
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A DA is your best bet, unless you are brave enough to try the heat gun method, which has been posted a few times on VWROC but I don't know anyone who has actually done it themselves, they just post the video but never try it, lol. Even with a DA it can require something with a decent bit of cut depending on the level of etching, it doesn't always come out with a finishing pad and polish. When I polished my car at Easter some of the bird poo etching required a good going over with a cutting pad and compound, before refining down with finishing polish and pad. You can try hand polishing but it will probably give limited results. As Joe has said, I'd be wary of drill attachment backing plates and pads as the level of control is not the same as with a DA and nor do you have the random orbit of a DA which prevents burning through paint as the heat is dissipated via the random action as opposed to a rotary motion whereby heat can build up in one spot.
A medium cutting pad and medium cut compound will bring it out, and preferably followed up with a finishing pad and finishing compound to refine. Meguiars 105 (cut) and 205 (finishing) is a good combo for this and many other polishing jobs, such as B Pillars, bodywork etc.
Sealants, waxes will not stop it happening, and even glass or ceramic coatings offer limited resistance depending on which coating it is.
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I have seen the heat gun application before never tried it but we'll worth a go being carefull to keep it moving around :whistle:
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Imagine my delight to come back to bird shiit on my rear door, just below the window line on my black Amarok this afternoon. Not even one week out of the detailers yet. I soaked some cotton wool in qd and held it on for a good long while before dabbing the caked on crap off, only too find that it too had etched the paint.
Not wanting to get the DA out for such a small area, I tried all of my Menzerna and Poorboys potions, but nothing would shift it. As a last resort I reached for a very old bottle of AG Paint Renovator. That shifted it on no time at all, but did leave behind some faint hazing. A clean MF, Poorboys SSR1 and 5 minutes later, all as good as new. I've not sealed the area as I intend to do a maintenance wash and get another layer of wax on at the weekend.
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I have this issue on the NB R on the C pillar which is coated (all be it a few years old) so will be sorted by the detailer.
Our mk5 which was black also suffered when i child put his hands on the car with sun cream
I am a fan of VW white these days as far less stressful
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I have this issue on the NB R on the C pillar which is coated (all be it a few years old) so will be sorted by the detailer.
Our mk5 which was black also suffered when i child put his hands on the car with sun cream
I am a fan of VW white these days as far less stressful
Sun cream is lethal stuff on car paintwork.
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- Is this a common thing with VW paint? (I've had bird sh*t on car paint previously for a few days and it hasn't damaged it)
- Is there anything I can do to stop it happening again?
(http://thumbsnap.com/i/86BfeJrJ.jpg)
It's not just VW paint, it happens with other manufacturers as well. The main reason is the water based paints that they use on cars these days. To prevent it from happening the best thing to do is PPF the car although a bit expensive or apply a ceramic coating.
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As per previous comments - coatings - ceramic or otherwise - do not prevent it. Anyone that says it does is either very lucky or doesn't have the same breed of birds that fly over my house. I've paid ££ for coatings (never again tbh). Also, it is definitely is worse on darker colours.
@Rebecca - what's in suncream that leaves those awful marks do you know? Does a DA remove them? I've had a few people ask me about it recently!
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As per previous comments - coatings - ceramic or otherwise - do not prevent it. Anyone that says it does is either very lucky or doesn't have the same breed of birds that fly over my house. I've paid ££ for coatings (never again tbh). Also, it is definitely is worse on darker colours.
@Rebecca - what's in suncream that leaves those awful marks do you know? Does a DA remove them? I've had a few people ask me about it recently!
Joe, I don't what it is that causes it to damage the paint/clearcoat (have delved into it, yet), just know from personal experience (bloody kids!) that whatever it is can get into the clearcoat. The suncream stains I had (on door of my mk6) polished out fine.
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Well I'm reporting that the gtechnic ceramic stuff I've got on mine stops the bird 💩 from damaging the paintwork. All I do is pour warm water on the mess and then leave kitchen roll to soak on top for about 15 minutes. Then just hose it off. No marks, no damage, nothing.
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As per previous comments - coatings - ceramic or otherwise - do not prevent it. Anyone that says it does is either very lucky or doesn't have the same breed of birds that fly over my house. I've paid ££ for coatings (never again tbh). Also, it is definitely is worse on darker colours.
@Rebecca - what's in suncream that leaves those awful marks do you know? Does a DA remove them? I've had a few people ask me about it recently!
Joe, I don't what it is that causes it to damage the paint/clearcoat (have delved into it, yet), just know from personal experience (bloody kids!) that whatever it is can get into the clearcoat. The suncream stains I had (on door of my mk6) polished out fine.
I know of a guy who had panels resprayed for this! I'm sure they'd have polished out so I could not believe it when he told me he actually had the car painted for it...
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I had a ceramic coating on my second mk5 (in 2008) and it did nothing to stop bird etching at all. In the end it the coating got removed with a DA, and I've never been tempted to have another ceramic coating since. But, to be fair, coatings have come on since then and a very durable one such as Crystal Serum might resist it to a degree, but I am sceptical that it prevents etching completely.
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Well I'm reporting that the gtechnic ceramic stuff I've got on mine stops the bird 💩 from damaging the paintwork. All I do is pour warm water on the mess and then leave kitchen roll to soak on top for about 15 minutes. Then just hose it off. No marks, no damage, nothing.
You've no real way of knowing if its the coating or just plain luck / timing. Your car is silver (?) too I think and the lighter colours are definitely less prone to it.
Generally I think you'll get away with it 9 days out of 10 in our typical UK/Irish climate. But put your hand on your car's bonnet/roof in the mid-day sun in the weather we've been having this week... you'd fry an egg on it. A bird drops its load on that, it'll harden and bake on within minutes. I'd love to see the coating that will shield that!
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As per previous comments - coatings - ceramic or otherwise - do not prevent it. Anyone that says it does is either very lucky or doesn't have the same breed of birds that fly over my house. I've paid ££ for coatings (never again tbh). Also, it is definitely is worse on darker colours.
@Rebecca - what's in suncream that leaves those awful marks do you know? Does a DA remove them? I've had a few people ask me about it recently!
Joe, I don't what it is that causes it to damage the paint/clearcoat (have delved into it, yet), just know from personal experience (bloody kids!) that whatever it is can get into the clearcoat. The suncream stains I had (on door of my mk6) polished out fine.
I know of a guy who had panels resprayed for this! I'm sure they'd have polished out so I could not believe it when he told me he actually had the car painted for it...
That's a bit of an extreme reaction. Always try polishing first, lol. Last year I had a dead worm stick itself to my front wing, and morbid curiosity of how long it would stay on the paintwork outweighed my normal 'get it off pronto' philosophy. It was over winter and the car didn't get washed for weeks and the worm stayed stuck, until I caved and washed it off. Sure enough the paint underneath was etched - not like bird poo etching, but hazed and faded where the secretions from the worm had pervaded the clearcoat, it came off with DA no problem, much like the greasy sun cream stains. Sometimes you have to experiment!
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As per previous comments - coatings - ceramic or otherwise - do not prevent it. Anyone that says it does is either very lucky or doesn't have the same breed of birds that fly over my house. I've paid ££ for coatings (never again tbh). Also, it is definitely is worse on darker colours.
@Rebecca - what's in suncream that leaves those awful marks do you know? Does a DA remove them? I've had a few people ask me about it recently!
Joe, I don't what it is that causes it to damage the paint/clearcoat (have delved into it, yet), just know from personal experience (bloody kids!) that whatever it is can get into the clearcoat. The suncream stains I had (on door of my mk6) polished out fine.
I know of a guy who had panels resprayed for this! I'm sure they'd have polished out so I could not believe it when he told me he actually had the car painted for it...
That's a bit of an extreme reaction. Always try polishing first, lol. Last year I had a dead worm stick itself to my front wing, and morbid curiosity of how long it would stay on the paintwork outweighed my normal 'get it off pronto' philosophy. It was over winter and the car didn't get washed for weeks and the worm stayed stuck, until I caved and washed it off. Sure enough the paint underneath was etched - not like bird poo etching, but hazed and faded where the secretions from the worm had pervaded the clearcoat, it came off with DA no problem, much like the greasy sun cream stains. Sometimes you have to experiment!
ha ha!
As for the repaint job - I think it was a case of not knowing any better (on his own behalf as well as the bodyshop).
A good few years ago, I had recently gotten a new car and was about to go on holiday. So rather than park my new wheels at the airport, I parked it at my parents house... In mid April... and they have a couple of "Cherry blossom" trees in the garden that were in full bloom... I came home and the roof of the car had loads of petals on it. Every one of them had etched the paint :sick:
Modern water based paints are just so bad at resisting this stuff and I just don't believe (from expensive experience) that coatings/sealants/waxes do anything much to prevent it.
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That's a bit of an extreme reaction. Always try polishing first, lol. Last year I had a dead worm stick itself to my front wing, and morbid curiosity of how long it would stay on the paintwork outweighed my normal 'get it off pronto' philosophy. It was over winter and the car didn't get washed for weeks and the worm stayed stuck, until I caved and washed it off. Sure enough the paint underneath was etched - not like bird poo etching, but hazed and faded where the secretions from the worm had pervaded the clearcoat, it came off with DA no problem, much like the greasy sun cream stains. Sometimes you have to experiment!
ha ha!
As for the repaint job - I think it was a case of not knowing any better (on his own behalf as well as the bodyshop).
A good few years ago, I had recently gotten a new car and was about to go on holiday. So rather than park my new wheels at the airport, I parked it at my parents house... In mid April... and they have a couple of "Cherry blossom" trees in the garden that were in full bloom... I came home and the roof of the car had loads of petals on it. Every one of them had etched the paint :sick:
Modern water based paints are just so bad at resisting this stuff and I just don't believe (from expensive experience) that coatings/sealants/waxes do anything much to prevent it.
I've seen pics similar to what you describe with the blossom, so pretty and yet so destructive! Modern water based paints are awful and not just automotive - house paint is crap now. My other half owns a painting contracting company and he has seen the changes over the years. Being a big fan of eggshell paint for woodwork, I remember how durable it used to be when it was oil based, since it became water based, even the pricy stuff is just not up to the job, one hard knock and it's off the wood, no matter how well prepped and primed and no matter how many coats.
I'm not doubting mcmaddy's experience, but I have to agree that I do not believe any coatings can stop etching completely. As for sealants and wax, not a chance. The degree of etching can also depend on the diet of the offending bird. Seaside gulls that eat all manner of crap seem to have very toxic sh!t! I live 7 miles from the coast and we get lots of seagulls and if one of them targets the car, and on a sunny day, it etches in minutes!
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The bird poo isn't actually touching the paint or even the lacquer. People can argue all they want I'm just saying that in my experience I haven't had any crazing or dull paintwork from bird mess.
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Living in Cornwall I have had plenty of sea gull (aka beach chicken) poo on my car. By the size of the offending poo you would be forgiven for think some of the guls were ostriches or prehistroric teradactyls. However I have had many occasions where ther has been massive gul splats on my car baking in very hot sunshine for a long period of time as we enjoy the beach. I have to say I have not experienced any etching yet to my knowledge. My current and 2x previous car were white, and the cars before that were black. But I cannot remember anytime where I have found a etch mark from gul or other bird poo. However what I did find one was a bad scour mark which went right through the paint from bones in gul poo as I tried to remove it from the roof of my old Type-R many years ago. I would say if bird does etch paint. Just a musing thought, maybe it is a locale related affair dependent on the diet of the birds in the area?
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I live 7 miles from the coast and we get lots of seagulls and if one of them targets the car, and on a sunny day, it etches in minutes!
Have you considered getting some clear sides for your forensic tent, fashioning some sort of frame to attach it to the car and driving round in that? A bit like Clarksons mobile hide when TG did the disability scooter thing.
There are so many advantages to doing this. One being avoiding car park dents, but that's another thread.
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I live 7 miles from the coast and we get lots of seagulls and if one of them targets the car, and on a sunny day, it etches in minutes!
Have you considered getting some clear sides for your forensic tent, fashioning some sort of frame to attach it to the car and driving round in that? A bit like Clarksons mobile hide when TG did the disability scooter thing.
There are so many advantages to doing this. One being avoiding car park dents, but that's another thread.
Or I could just get PPF and not look a complete prat. :kiss:
Or I could just DA the etching out every now and then and have a proper car and not a plastic coated one. Oh I already do that. :laugh:
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OK. So maybe driving around with it on is a step too far, but when parked...
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OK. So maybe driving around with it on is a step too far, but when parked...
.....on my driveway, when carry out a full detail, yes. Any other car park....no...except....maybe when parking at Gatwick at holiday time, hmm.