If you’ve left your car beneath some trees, chances are the birds will have gone to work on it. And leaving their deposits over your paintwork could harm the value of your car.
To clean bird poo off is important
Bird poo is evil stuff. Most birds eat a lot of seeds, fruit and berries so their poo is very acidic with a PH of between three and five. The uric acid it contains acts as a corrosive on paintwork.
Car product maker Autoglym has found that in sunshine, the car’s clear coat finish (the paint’s top lacquer) warms up, softening and expanding. The bird poo meanwhile dries and hardens causing the two to mould together.
Then when you remove the poo, it leaves a dull patch where the acid from the poo has attacked the car’s paint.
Get to work quickly
If you can, as soon as you see the mark on your paintwork, get a cloth and clean bird poo off before it dries.
Product company Autoglym produces a pack of bird dropping wipes for £5.33. These are handy to keep in the car and mean you’re more likely to be able to get rid of the poo before it’s baked onto the paintwork.
Even if it dries out
You might not be able to remove the poo when it’s wet but it’s still important to get rid of it swiftly. The longer it’s on there, the greater the chance it will do permanent damage.
How to clean bird poo off
The best way is to rehydrate the poo. It should then just wipe off. To do this, soak a cloth in warm water and leave it on the poo (assuming it’s on a flat surface) for about 15 minutes. This should moisten the poo making it easier to wipe off. If it softens the outer layer but the inner layer is still hard, you may have to repeat the process.
Bird poo on window rubbers
If you get poo on the window rubbers, when you clean it off, it can leave a white residue. All you need is a black plastic or rubber restorer and it should return to its original colour.
Getting rid of marks
After a poo strike, even if you’ve cleaned it off your car, you might notice that the paintwork is marked. You can frequently rectify this with some easy-to-buy products. Use a dedicated car shampoo to thoroughly clean the car’s paintwork. Then use a paint restoring product such as T Cut. This will remove some micro layers of the car’s paintwork, exposing the fresh paint below for a better finish. Then apply some wax. This will make removing poo easier in the future.
I’ve been writing about cars and motoring for more than 25 years. My career started on a long-departed classic car weekly magazine called AutoClassic. I’ve since pitched up at Autosport, Auto Express, the News of the World, Sunday Times and most recently the Daily Telegraph. When I’m not writing about cars and motoring, I’m probably doing some kind of sport or working in my garden.
