Jherb350

iTrader: (1)

I walk out to my car after work today and a bird left a nice present on the hood of my nice new IS350. Now this wasn't your normal size bird dropping, this thing was huge, looked like the damn thing s*** it’s inside out (about 2 inch diameter). Car was parked in the shade and it was only in the 70’s today. So I get home and the first thing I do is wash my car, bird droppings gone right, wrong. As I'm drying off my car I can see the remnants of it still on the hood. So I get my clay bar out and start to clay the effected area, still not coming out, tried to use Meguiars scratch X and still nothing. Now it looks like I'm going to have to wet sand the nice new blemish I have but I've never done it before and I'm leaving town Thursday for a couple of days so I won’t have time to do it till Sunday. This is pissing me off, the s*** couldn’t have been on there that long because it wasn’t there at lunch, so what is up Lexus’ cheap as paint. My Acura never had this problem neither did any other automotive manufacture products I’ve encountered, sold use cars for 6 years seen them all.

Anyone have any suggestions? I really don’t want to wet sand on the car. Thanks.

RshaoKh

Another thing that I did notice is that the paint on my IS tends to develop water spots easily. When I used to wash my WRX I took my time to make sure I dried everything carefully and sometimes I was a little too slow and by the time I got to certain areas of the car they had already dried. No biggie since I just got a moist towel and whiped off the minor water spots. However, with my IS I can't even get the water spots off. The only way to get them off is to use distilled vinegar and quickly wash the vinegar off. Is this just me?

JamRWS6

Don't be so aggressive early on with the bird stain. Those bird stains have a tendency to subside as time passes to the point where you can polish it out more effectively.

BTW this isn't cheap lexus paint.....this happens on ANY car and is easier to see on darker colors.

Keep a detail spray and cloth with you to wipe it off ASAP in the future.

uschardcor

he's got ap oint. driving home and doing it then will cause it to just get colder harden and will be harder to remove. keeping a good cloth and detail spray in ur trunk or somethign is a good idea

05RollaXRS

I have seen many newer model Acura owners complaining about the problems they were getting with the paint, but it is not Acura's fault of any other manufacturer's fault.

In fact, in the last 3 years or so most of the vehicle manufacturers have been using thin paint on every one of their vehicles. The reason? Blame the environment protection associations that blamed the strong paint bad for the environment. Most of the environment conscious vehicle manufacturers reverted to thin paint. As a result, the paint on cars today is not nearly as strong and thick as it used to be in old cars.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I've said it many times in all these various rock chip posts that I think my Lexus paint is the least durable of any car I've own in the past of current. I had rock chips within the first week and I've said many times it appears that bird poop etches the paint much easier than my other cars. Yes, I know all manufacturers paint is now water based and less durable than years past, but none of my other current cars have as bad a problem as my Lexus. Nobody really seems to believe me before, but I guess I'm not alone.

mcfly

Trust me, it's nothing specific to Lexus. Everyone with a new car, regardless of the manufacturer, *****es about the paint. Go look on ANY forum. My WRX is only 3 years old, and the front end is a mess. My wife's 5 year old S2000 looks like it served as a target for every 8 year old with a BB gun on the east coast.

It also depends a lot on how you drive. If you spend all your time on the highway wedged underneath someone's rear bumper, you're going to get a lot more chips than if you spend all your time alone on back roads. But again, this isn't a Lexus specific problem.

Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

In the case of Acura, I'd have to agree. The 05, 06 RSX and 05 TL all have similar 'issues' when it comes to the paint, at least in my personal experiences.

Jherb350

iTrader: (1)

I normaly do carry a detail spray and a couple of microfiber towels, but I washed all my towels Monday and didn't put them back in the until this morning.

I did go back at it with the Scratch X last night and got it out, wasn't able to see it in the sun light this morning.

Bichon

Bird poop is full of nasty acids that etch the paint. I'll use just about anything, even resorting to wet paper towels from the men's room if I can't find something better, to get it off ASAP. To minimize damage from scratching, I'll lay a wet paper towel on the poop for a couple of minutes to soften it, and then blot, rather than wipe, the crap off with a bunch of moist ones. Believe me, any micromarring from this treatment is a lot easier to fix than the damage caused by letting the poop bake onto the finish until you get home.

Tony1

a few years back, an ex boss of mine, had his car parked otuside of his house
in the hamptons, and it got a combo of bird crap and tree sap all over the hood,
the whole hood was destroyed, even wet sanding didnt help, it needed to be painted over..
I always make sure to wipe it off asap, a couple of times i even had to spit on it,
then wipe it off, lol,, i know, gross, but hey, better than a burn hole on your paint..

is4me2

Thank God I didn't have this car a few years ago. My office was next door to a recycling center and Public Works garage. The birds hanging around there was unbelievable (much worse in season, kind of like the other kind of snowbirds we get down here ). Anyway, I'd have to go on "poop patrol" several times a day to keep my car clean. In addition to poop, I would find chicken bones and pieces of stuff that the birds would drop and scratch the car. I would complain to my boss that I needed a carport or something placed on the roof of the building to discourage the birds. Since he was at a different location I would interoffice the materials found so he could see what I was talking about. Finally when I saw that they had installed an aluminum type carport to protect/house new garbage bins I complained again and was allowed to get a carport built for my vehicle and a few others. Luckily I'm no longer working at that location.

NINEZeRO

use lime away, its not the paint, i had a some bird poop residue on my G35 before and it stayed there for a month or so. I thought I was screwed but it came right off with lime away.

pwndzzled

LOL Don't you realize that the need to start your comments by asking for trust is more reason to be skeptical of you? Silly.

I had an '02 BMW 325xi blk/blk for three years until I bought the IS 350, blk/blk. I could tell from the beginning that the paint was crap compared to the BMW. I also looked close at a friends 11-month old 5 series, and it's paint is still pristene with no special attention. Now, after several months my original assessment is only validated further. It is crap, and it's dissappointing. A lux car should have higher standards.

mcfly

First off, "trust me" is just an expression. I could really care less if you do or don't trust me, as I don't know you.
Secondly, German car manufacturers use a different paint process. Do some research, you can find plenty of references to the differences online. Here's one to get you started:
http://www.properautocare.com/aregepadi.html