Bird poo etched my paint in 10mins

[mcmaddy]

I've got gtechnic stuff on mine and bird poo doesn't leave any marks at all.

[Booth11]

It's lethal stuff and the acidity of it (whether it etches or not) can very much depend on what crap the birds have been eating.  Lots of seagulls round my way whose diet means that it etches within minutes of hitting the paintwork.  I came out of work on Thurs to see two seagulls stood on the roof of my car in works car park - they patrol the place worse than traffic wardens, lol - and had sought out the cleanest car in the entire car park, lol.  Fortunately they hadn't left their calling card this time, phew!

[Brenbo]

Lets start a petition to cull seagulls...  Oh and pigeons as well!   They seem to artex my car more often than sea gulls lately.

[JoeGTI]

The bonnet / roof of a car can get baking "fry an egg on it" hot even on a moderately sunny day. Bird crap left baking on that surface will make very light work of whatever magical sealant you've on the car. The heat is the big factor, as the crap really bakes on and hardens. You'll generally get away with it on a cooler / damp day. And the etching will be much more visible on darker colours and on the flat horizontal surfaces (bonnet / roof).

A DA is a really useful tool to have in the shed for this type of thing (and the usual dreaded swirls, etc). It's easy to use and makes very light work of correcting these issues. For the last few cars I've bought, I've brought them to pro detailers when new to get ceramic sealants applied. TBH I don't think I'd do it again as I'm very skeptical as to it's benefits beyond the first few weeks it was applied. Purchasing my own DA has been a far more worthwhile expenditure.

[SRGTD]

I keep some quick detailer and microfibre cloths in the car to deal with any bird poo that gets deposited on my car. You still need to get it off the paintwork sharp-ish to stop it etching the paint, but by soaking the poo with QD and when softened, wiping it off carefully, it's not left to bake on the paintwork to do it's damage.

When I had my mk6 GTD, it got dive-bombed in a restaurant car park on a warm sunny by what must have been a flying elephant. By the time I came out, the elephant poo had baked on hard and was more than my QD and microfibres would've been able to handle. I washed it off as soon as I got home and the paintwork was badly etched . Fortunately, a bit of effort with my DA polisher sorted it.

Not cheap, but my DA was one of the best investments I've made for keeping swirls and etching at bay on my car. My brother was really impressed recently when I sorted out some etching on his car that was caused by water dripping from a concrete multi-story roof. Looked as if it was beyond correction, but the DA soon had it sorted!

[JoeGTI]

They're not that expensive tbh. I've a decent one that cost less than £200.... it's a tool that should last years and pay for itself over and over.

[SRGTD]

They're not that expensive tbh. I've a decent one that cost less than £200.... it's a tool that should last years and pay for itself over and over.

I suppose it's all relative Joe. £200 isn't a vast sum of money, but it's a fair bit more then I've paid for anything else in my detailing arsenal. Having said that, I wouldn't be without it, and I agree it should last years. In the 3 years I've had mine, it has already paid for itself .

[hog_hedge]

I managed to get a Das6 pro for £99 on a DW group buy and it was an excellent purchase.

[greencode]

I've got gtechnic stuff on mine and bird poo doesn't leave any marks at all.

Gtechniq C2v3?

[linc-dub]

I've got gtechnic stuff on mine and bird poo doesn't leave any marks at all.

Gtechniq C2v3?

I use that - its good stuff, easy and quick to apply to a clean car.