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Bird Droppings: More Dangerous to Cars Than You Realize

websitebuilder • Dec 20, 2018

When a flock of birds uses a car for target practice, their droppings do more than create an ugly appearance. Bird droppings are quite acidic, with a pH level from between 3.5 to 4.5, and that level is more than enough to start working away the paint on the surface of a car. Therefore, individuals who suffer from excessive bird droppings on their vehicle need to fully understand the patterns of bird droppings that can affect their car and how to clean them.

Types of Bird Dropping Damage

The least dangerous bird droppings a car may experience is a topical stain etching. These types of droppings occur when a vehicle is hit by a small amount of a bird's droppings or if the droppings were washed away in the rain. Most of the time, these types of droppings are straightforward to clean off the surface of a car without more than little water and a sponge.

Fractured or wrinkled etching droppings can be very hard to clean. Typically, these droppings occur when a large amount of waste was left on the vehicle's paint for an extended period. If the droppings were allowed to break through the surface of the paint, they cause fractures and wrinkles in the paint surface.

At this point, the droppings on the vehicle are going to be very hard to remove because they have settled into the car's metal. Just as problematically, if the vehicle was left in the sunlight, that could make the situation much worse.

Factors for Serious Damage

Bird droppings, though acidic, typically don't cause fast-acting damage to a car's paint. That kind of damage only develops with exposure to direct sunlight. As the metal surface of the vehicle absorbs the sunshine, the metal particles increase their movement and help the bird droppings cause severe damage.

Though this type of change may only appear on a microscopic level - and is likely invisible to the naked eye - the changes will be enough to make the situation much worse. As a result, anybody who is affected by bird droppings on their car needs to get their vehicle out of the sun and take direct steps to ensure that the problem is managed

Tips for Managing Bird Droppings

First of all, car owners need to find a place to store their vehicle that doesn't make it a target for birds. A small and portable garage may be a good choice because owners can move the garage where they go and protect their vehicle. If you don't have a covering where you can park your car, try to keep it away from trees and other areas where birds might gather.

Secondly, you must clean off any bird droppings on the vehicle in an area that is out of the direct rays of the sun. Specialized wipes remove bird droppings from vehicles very effectively. These wipes break apart both surface-level and complex stains and help to minimize the spread of damage across the paint.

Most individuals should avoid scraping bird droppings off of a vehicle because this action is more likely to damage the paint while removing the droppings. Instead of rubbing the droppings off, car owners can soften them up with a rag soaked in cleaning fluid.

In this way, you can quickly remove the droppings without causing more damage to the paint. But if professional help seems necessary for this process, please don't hesitate to contact Coats Auto Body & Paint to avoid damaging your car's paint and to keep it in great shape and looking great. Call us today for assistance with any auto body issue you may face.

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