Lacquer loss?

monaymadlol

Hi so I stupidly went at a very stubborn patch of bird poo on the roof of my car, 4 x 4cm which hadn't come off in car wash, with a household sponge and a drop of soap 😮‍💨
The area is left a bit faded and not looking too brilliant. 
Is this something that can be sorted myself with some laquer or a body shop job? If the former, which brand and how should I go about it?
Thanks 

Desmond_Hume

It’ll just need a machine polish. You’ve just scratched it to hell (assuming household sponge isn’t code for wire wool). Get on your local Facebook page and find a local valeter. 

You could do it yourself but, by the time you’ve bought all the gear you’d be better getting someone who knows what they are doing to correct it. 

Oh and before it’s suggested, T-Cut won’t fix it. 

monaymadlol

Desmond_Hume said:

It’ll just need a machine polish. You’ve just scratched it to hell (assuming household sponge isn’t code for wire wool). Get on your local Facebook page and find a local valeter. 

You could do it yourself but, by the time you’ve bought all the gear you’d be better getting someone who knows what they are doing to correct it. 

Oh and before it’s suggested, T-Cut won’t fix it. 

Hi yes it was a very very old/blunt green/yellow sponge unfortunately. I just applied too much pressure.

So it's a job for a detailer/valeter not bodyshop? It's about 5cm diameter I think. How much would it cost do you think? And is it a quick job? Would it be worth doing the whole vehicle?

Thanks 

Goudy

If it's pulled the lacquer off try a local SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technology) repairer.
They should be able to feather in lacquer in just that spot and polish it back to look like normal.

They are usually good value as they are only working on a smaller areas, materials and labour are less.

Bird poo isn't just pure poo.
Birds don't pee, so excrete all their waste as one as it help retain water but this waste is high in Uric acid and that is fairly corrosive.

It'll attack wax, lacquer, paint and metal so you need to get the stuff off asap.
I live in a fairly high load area and keep a spray bottle of soapy water and some kitchen roll in the boot and get it off as soon as I can.

GrahamLM52

Lots of gulls where I live and my metallic black car gets a lot of bird poo on it. I found the best way to get dried-on bird poo off is to soak a handful of toilet paper and put it on top of the bird poo. Leave it for a while (re-wetting if it's a warm day) then carefully wipe off. Repeat if it does not all come off the first time. Do not, under any circumstances, scrub at it. Let the toilet tissue and water do the work. Also, be careful if using kitchen towel instead of toilet tissue as it can sometimes contain wood fibres which scratches paintwork.

monaymadlol

Goudy said:

If it's pulled the lacquer off try a local SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technology) repairer.
They should be able to feather in lacquer in just that spot and polish it back to look like normal.

They are usually good value as they are only working on a smaller areas, materials and labour are less.

Bird poo isn't just pure poo.
Birds don't pee, so excrete all their waste as one as it help retain water but this waste is high in Uric acid and that is fairly corrosive.

It'll attack wax, lacquer, paint and metal so you need to get the stuff off asap.
I live in a fairly high load area and keep a spray bottle of soapy water and some kitchen roll in the boot and get it off as soon as I can.

Hi thanks, I already got it off, by scrubbing too hard!

I'll check that recommendation 

monaymadlol

So I decided to have my car valeted inside and out and to see if he could machine polish the area. There was another area it looked like I had done the same thing previously, what an idiot I am, less learnt. There's also a weird perfectly triangle dryer patch on the opposite side of the roof which was there when I bought it so not sure if previous work had been carried out.

The valet was ok. 

He said he'd machine polish the areas affected.

He used those mits for the exterior, using products like autoglym.

The two patches I did, they look better than before but still visible in certain lights, the Second one looks very hair line scratches potentially but I need to recheck today.

But bizarrely, there's many light scratches all over the roof that I'm sure (but obviously can't guarantee) weren't there before. He's adamant it's not him. I didn't observe him cleaning the car but popped down a couple times when he was doing it.

The patches I can accept as they were my fault but not these scratches. They're not deep, there are plenty, mainly visible in certain lights. I haven't been under tree branches, haven't seen cats jump on my car, would usually use a car wash or jet wash.

It's pretty frustrating. Is there another solution (for the whole roof area). or am I paying £300 for a respray? It's frustrating as it's 10 years old I've only had it a year but these things make me quickly fall out as I've already spent money maintaining and had bonnet resprayed as there was a patch there when I bought it and servicing, radiator etc

Desmond_Hume

All paint will have minor scratches on it. That’s just a fact of contact washing. 

monaymadlol

Is it due to the mits? Had I known, I wouldn't have bothered and just done a jet wash or car washed the exterior. There's quite a lot of scratches and they weren't there before.

Desmond_Hume

It’s due to touching the paint when washing. Noddle mitts are better than sponges and those jet wash things at garages. And infinitely better than your £5 hand wash scratch and shine. 

You can’t avoid scratches, or swirl marks. You can certainly minimise them. To do that you need to pre-wash (snow foam, a good one like Bilt Hamber) which lifts a lot of the dirt off, then rinse, then hand wash. Going in one direction and not swirling the mitt all over the place. 

WRT if the scratches were there before? I mean, how are you going to prove otherwise. The guy was already there as you took a pot scourer to the paint. It’s pretty easy for him to lay the blame at your door IMO. 

monaymadlol

Desmond_Hume said:

It’s due to touching the paint when washing. Noddle mitts are better than sponges and those jet wash things at garages. And infinitely better than your £5 hand wash scratch and shine. 

You can’t avoid scratches, or swirl marks. You can certainly minimise them. To do that you need to pre-wash (snow foam, a good one like Bilt Hamber) which lifts a lot of the dirt off, then rinse, then hand wash. Going in one direction and not swirling the mitt all over the place. 

WRT if the scratches were there before? I mean, how are you going to prove otherwise. The guy was already there as you took a pot scourer to the paint. It’s pretty easy for him to lay the blame at your door IMO. 

Thanks for the info.

Fyi - the scratches were centrally on the roof and widespread no where near the small patch that was attempted by me.

As you say, I can't tell who or how it happened but it's ok now.