Classic Car Care Tip – Removing Bird Droppings

Source: By Tony and Michele Hamer, About.com Guides – classiccars.about.com

A shady place to protect the paint is the preferred parking for classic car owners.   If the shade is created by our oxygen producing friend, the tree, remember it is also the preferred parking place for our not-so-favorite friend, the bird.

A bird can create one of the most damaging “natural disasters” to a car’s paint – its droppings.  Bird’s ka ka (as its spelled in the Urban Dictionary), is highly acidic, and the longer you leave it on your paint, the more damage it will cause.  If you try to wipe a bird’s ka ka off, even with a wet towel, you can scratch the paint.  You see our friend the bird, uses gravel to digest their food, and this grit is one of the major components of what you will be wiping into your paint.  Ouch!

That’s why we carry a fresh bottle of no salt seltzer water in the trunk, or boot, of all of our classic cars.  No salt seltzer water is just water and carbon dioxide, which will not harm your paint.  What it will do – if you take the lid off, and put your thumb over the spout, and shake it up real well – is create a blast of water to wash off the acidic, paint wrecking substance some bird left on your car.

If you didn’t catch the “bird bomb” right away, any good paint polish can be used to fix the damage it’s caused with a fair amount of rubbing.  It’s better to start with a fine polishing compound or scratch remover, followed by a good coat of wax.