ISFC6

Well, my MRM ISF was recently detailed with Zaino ( clayed with Z18, then a couple of coats of Z2, Z5, and Clear Seal with some Z8). I then added another coat of Clear Seal, Z6, and Z8. I drove my car yesterday, and noticed some bird poop on my trunk lid after only around 30 minutes, at the most. I removed the crap from my trunk lid, and noticed that it left a mark on the paint. It was hot yesterday, around mid 90's. Shouldn't the Zaino and sealer had protected the paint and clear coat?

Lst but not least, how can I easily remove the mark left by the crap? Can it be done with one product, versus having to use an orbital with several pads, and all, or could it be a DIY project?

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Any organic matter like that will eat into the clear no matter what you have on there. It will even eat through a clear bra. Zaino, Meguiars, Zymol, etc are all the same thing to it. You should remove it asap next time.

Most likely if it etched in you'll have to buff it out. A single orange + polish should be able to do it just fine. I like to use the 4in pads with Menzerna SIP for spot buffing :thumbsup:

ISFC6

I have never seen that happen though, after such a short period of time. It happened when I was driving from one location to the other, in a matter of minutes. I hae removed bird poop from my wife's car after only noticing after DAYS, and it never left a mark on the paint.

bigbwb

For minor imperfections on my wifes 2008 IS350, I use Zaino's ZPC which removes swirls and light scratches and is very safe. I would imagine this would work fine for bird droppings as well, plus it can be done by hand rather easily.

Good luck!

gengar

Unfortunately, my experience is that it just depends on the circumstances. I've had bird crap that left nothing on my IS-F even after days of not washing, but recently - actually, it was on the long drive to Joliet for the LFA event at Autobahn CC - my car got tons of crud on it, both bird crap and smashed bugs. The car was in the sun all day at the event which may have contributed to the severity, but even though I washed it the day after, I already had a couple etchings.

Claying didn't help - I'm no professional, but I think claying is recommended first (in fact, a friend of mine who had some pesky water spots / mineral deposits on his car removed them just with clay bar). I wasn't very happy with ScratchX, the first etching I tried to polish out (by hand) was still visible from up close even after 3 applications - so switched to M105 and 1 application of that was enough to get rid of all the other etchings. Of course, I assume M105 is much more aggressive. The Meguiar's stuff is just what a friend had in his garage; I don't know if the regulars or vendors on this forum can recommend other products for you.

I'm pretty paranoid about the organic crud now, especially since I frequently take long drives. I read that some people just carry around a certain type of disposable cleaning wipe in the trunk so they are always ready for it. I might start doing that.

jfelbab

A couple observations. First, Zaino and other sealants don't seem to protect from bird droppings as well as carnauba. Second, no two birds have the same diet and hence their droppings are not the same. Some are highly acidic and others are not so much.

I keep a bottle of QD and a few microfibers in my vehicles and remove droppings as soon after they occur as possible.

As I mentioned, carnauba seems to offer marginally better protection from this etching so I typically top my sealant with carnauba for added insurance.

UDel

I was just going to say one thing I noticed was different species of birds produce different degrees of damage from their droppings. Most of the small pure white droppings from smaller birds don't seem to do much damage even if left on for a few days but then their are larger birds with bigger droppings that are often more clear or with red in them and they will eat right into your paint very quickly. I remember noticing a big dropping that had a reddish clear appearance with partially undigested seeds and berries in it that etched my spoiler pretty bad and it was only on there for a few hours and my car had a 2 week old layer of Collinite 476(pretty much the best protection available). That stuff was just too acidic for anything to protect against it.

As for the Zaino issue from the OP. Did you apply ZAIO or some kind of Zaino base layer before you applied the Z2 and did you do a alcohol wipe down to the finish so it was completely clean before applying the Zaino? From my understanding you need some kind of base coat like ZAIO on your car first in order for Z2 or the other Zaino sealants to adhere properly and the finish needs to be completely clean of any remnant oils from polishes/waxes. If Zaino can't stop the etching I doubt there is anything else out there that could stop it as Zaino is at the tops when it comes to protection.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

There is no miracle wax or sealant bud. Chemists are working on nanoskins but even that will eventually be eaten if left long enough