Last night I made the mistake of parking my car under a tree, this morning when I was ready to go to the office I found my hood full of bird ****! I couldn't believe it, what do these birds eat in Florida? Well, I drove to the office and at noon I tried to clean it up with water, but it didn't work out right, it was too dry already. As soon as I got off the office in the afternoon I took the car to a hand car wash, and to my surprise the bird drops left marks on my hood!!! After a closer look with the car wash manager we found that the drops ate the clear coat and went all the way to the paint. How is this possible? Is the clear coat on the IS-F that thin? I've never seen anything like this before, especially after less than a day! I've had bird drops like this one on my previous cars and after a car wash they all were gone without paint problems. What should I do? I mean I want to go to the dealer and show them this problem, this car should have a better/stronger paint process than the standard car, but apparently it doesn't. Do you guys think I can get the hood fixed/painted under warranty? How should be my approach?

Any input is highly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

just polish it out with wax

 

I tried that myself after the car wash, but as I said the clear coat is gone on all those drop spots, so the polishing didn't work.

 

yup, bird poop + sunlight is disaster to the paint, no matter what it is. i have seen bimmer and even audi with that. lexus paint is always on the soft side so that doesn't help. unfortunately at this point there isn't much you can do (if it gets too deep)

 

you need to make sure u have a good layer of wax on always ... its protected my car's paint for bird dropping before...
It obviously will not be covered under warranty.

 

Welcome to "environmentally friendly" paint. It doesn't stand up to much at all.

 

Im pretty sure you can still buff it out, the paints not that thin, not possible to be ruined in 1 day, I dunno if you left it there for a week though..

 

Take it to a professional.

A little off topic, but...
Why doesn't anyone use a paint coat? I have all my cars professionaly coated and I have never had any problems that you guys are seeing. It is a bit costly at about $1,500 US for a small car and $2K US for a big car, but it is well worth it IMO.

 

don't panic. a good professional shop should be able to buff it off.
i had the same thing happened to my new F even before i sign my contract. my sales rep promised me the detail guy would be able to buff it out. i took his word and took the F home that day. a week later, the detail guy buffed it out and it was practically impossible to see. over the last few months, i checked on the spot every few weeks and i could not even find it.

 

I highly doubt that it ate through the entire clear coat in a day, unless some mutant nuclear toxic birds are involved ha ha. Maybe it just looks that way. Do you have pix of the damage? As others said, polishing will take it off if it's etched onto the clear coat.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I have to agree that on my Obsidian, it's the thinnest clear coat I've ever encountered. It's sad that my black 05 GMC Denali Truck has more durable black paint than my Lexus. Even my buddy who is a service manager at a Lexus dealership says he doesn't understand why Lexus has such tempermental paint. He says he will see people come in with LS's all the time with this issue (as generally those owners don't hand wash their cars or pay as much attention) and sometimes they can't be buffed out. Good luck though and I'm sure after only a day a pro will get you back in good shape.

 

i thought i read that obsidian has no clear coat

 

Could that be the reason why? Mine is obsidian black!

It looks like these birds have tabasco sauce as part of their daily diet! I work for a outdoor/hunting company, and I'm tempted to get one of these airguns and start shooting at these birds.

I'll try to take some pics later today when I get home, but it looks (and feels to the finger) like the clear coat (if there is one) is cracked.

EDIT: The bird poop was on the car for less than a day, but in sunny (extremely hot) Miami weather.

 

my roof have one similar spot too, my car is also obsidian. it's in there very deep, i think if i cut a lot of paint maybe i can get it fixed but could be risky imho

i have seen both saying about obsidian, some say it has clear some says it doesn't. personally, i tend to think it doesn't coz' when i use my rotary, the pad gets pretty dark

oh and you better believe bird poop + a hot day under bright sun will be MORE than enough to eat into the paint

 

+1.....but if it isn't too deep, you need to claybar the affected surfaces which should take off the stained paint. Talk to a detailing expert if you've never claybar-ed.
Treating quickly after staining is most important ...

After removing the stain, a few coats of high quality wax will help reduce any future damage.

G/L Juan.

Colin.