Bird crap damage to paintwork

Many car handbooks advise that such deposits are removed immediately; if this is the case with yours, I'm doubtful any claim would succeed.

Modern cars use non-solvent based paints for environmental reasons. These paints are much more delicate than those formerly used; they will also scratch much more easily, as a quick look around any parking place will show.

Chris

Once you've removed the crap, a cutting compound should restore the finish. T-Cut is readily available, although something like Farecla is less hard work. After doing this, a good and regular waxing will help prevent it happening again.

Don't use normal T-cut on a metallic finish. It just makes the lacquer dull, and the damage more obvious.

Compounds specifically for metallic finishes are available, but had no effect at all on the bird crap marks I had on the roof of my last car.

On a car with significant value like the OP's I would strongly either leaving it alone, or getting a professional repair done.

Chris

With respect, rubbish. I've used it on my BMW - metallic with clear coat, both water based, without problems. Plain ol' ordinary T-Cut - not one of the fancy varieties.

Yet, strangely, CarPlan make two varieties of T-cut; Original and Metallic. Oh, and warn against using Original on lacquered finishes.

I've seen two vehicles with metallic paint where the dulling effect of using T-cut has been significant to the degree that I suspect respraying would be the only way to recover the finish. Both these vehicles were Fords; perhaps BMW paint is different?

Either way, if it was my less-than-three years old BMW, I wouldn't chance it!

Chris

+AD4- With respect, rubbish. I've used it on my BMW - metallic with clear coat, +AD4- both water based, without problems. Plain ol' ordinary T-Cut - not one of +AD4- the fancy varieties.

I swear by +ACI-vanilla+ACI- T-cut on solid and metallic, as long as there's still a layer of laquer it's fine. BTW Dave, if you're running low it's available from ASDA at 150ml for +AKM-6.50 or from Tesco petrol stations 500ml for +AKM-1.24. I spent a fiver on a lifetimes supply from Tesco last week +ADs-)

=A0 London SW

I've also used T-Cut on my clear coated / mica metalic car.. looks dull until you wax it.. then was OK again.

I'd need to know more than that. They might just be trying to prise more money out of you. Like what is in it which could damage the paint? But only 'lacquered' finishes?

So whatever it is goes all the way through the lacquer? Must be a powerful chemical. ;-) Did waxing with a decent cleaner/polish leave it dull?

Well, if the option is paying for a respray...

Almost any polish will eventually cut through anything. The only differrence is that T-cut metallic is a finer abrasive.

Well unless they've actually been dumb enough to cut through the laquer, polishing it with anything finer will solve it.

So takes longer to do what's needed? It will take a *very* long time to wear away the top coat with T-Cut - most would be knackered long before that. (except on a sharp edge, of course) I recently polished out a scratch on the BMW bonnet - probably keyed - using a power buff and Farecla - and that took ages. But did work. I wasn't worried about going through the top coat - if it didn't work I'd have had it re-sprayed.

If ordinary T-cut is too coarse, move on to something finer after you've shifted the mark. Exactly as you'd do with any abrasive.

Which is the point everyone else was making, t-cuts coarser than most lacquer finishes.

Indeed.

I had some light marks on the tailgate of my Focus, left after removal of a GB sticker. I grabbed the T-cut, and it removed the marks, but left the whole area dull. I then researched it on the 'net, and found lots of sites that advise against normal T-cut on metallics.

I tried to get rid of the dull effect by using T-cut metallic, but the damage had been done.

I tried a number of different polishes to no effect; coloured ones lessened the dullness, but it returned after a couple of washes.

A friend did exactly the same thing with a door on his Mondeo recently.

Perhaps it is a Ford thing?

Chris

And the point I was making is if you use something finer it will take much longer to remove the blemish. However, I assumed anyone who's bothered about the paint finish would use a wax after T-cut. And in my case ordinary T-Cut followed by my usual wax worked just fine. Regrettably, the car hadn't been waxed for some time which might account for the bird crap damage I suffered.

As an aside, there really is the most awful rubbish talked about the various cutting compounds. If a mark or dead paint has to be removed by the use of one, a very fine type simply increases the time and effort.

Well, it means the solvent or whatever is causing a chemical change in the topcoat. If it were dull because the 'grit' was too coarse, a finer one would restore it. But it doesn't make sense to use a cutting compound of any sort to remove residual adhesive like this - a suitable solvent like a label remover would be better. Or even (petrol) lighter fuel which is pretty good for most contact adhesives. And you'd hope the paint finish would be ok with that. ;-)

Soapy hot water or gentle heating with a hair drier

With modern water based finishes many of the older methods dont work to well the chemicals are not compatable

[...]

Indeed. And had I been removing adhesive, I would have used a solvent.

However, I was attempting to remove some light scratches...

Chris

For some reason people seem to object to the idea of using progressively finer ones, personally I start with wet & dry :-0

If you're not going to rewax it then try a finer polish afte

In an idle moment today, I wandered in to my local Halfords.

The Original T-cut has a warning on the label which says it should not be used "where the lacquer coat is damaged", which kind of rules out its use on any modern finish!

It also says "On Metallic or Pearlescent finishes, use T-cut Metallic".

Chris