Buffing out the artifacts of animal waste.

[SeanP]

Hi everyone! As you know, my car was living in a barn for several years before I rescued her. Only in addition to the car, this barn was host to many woodland creatures. Some of them (many of them, I suspect, of the flying variety) would often drop their waste on the poor girl. It would then linger on the paint for some time before she would finally get a wipe down.

As such, there are numerous splotches of discolouration over every horizontal surface of the car (and some of the vertical surfaces too!). I managed to revive the vinyl top with some cleaner/conditioner (worked awesome!). But the paint is concerning me.

I have some photos posted here to show you the examples of the damage (sorry for the darkness and my poor photography skills):



My father-in-law thinks we should be able to compound buff it out. I'd appreciate some more opinions as well in case that doesn't work. Idealy I would like to avoid a repaint!

Any and all tips and tricks are appreciated.

Oh! Some of the shiny plastic trim exhibits the same stains. Any tips to getting them off of that would be appreciated as well. I suspect much of that will need replacing though, as I fear these stains are perminent since I imagine the chemistry of the plastic or its coating was messed with by the acid in the poop.

Cheers!

[miamibob]

Those are difficult issues. I would start with something like Megiuar's Ultimate Compound and get stronger, if needed.

[Mainemantom]

I would take it to a good detailing shop. They are the pros. You can spend time and money on stuff that may or may not work.

[87gtVIC]

Before trying anything on the paint I would first start out by washing the vehicle down well and then claybar the surface. Washing gets all of the loose contaminants off and the claybar gets out all of the sandpaper roughness of the paint. By doing a wash and claybar first you lessen the risk of embedding debris deeper into the paint.

Next up would be the experimental stages....i.e. trial and error. Now when I saw trial and error we first would try the least intrusive method like a simple Meguiars Ultimate compound or similar If results are not happening with the least intrusive methods then step it up to a more aggressive compound and potentially even color sanding.

Now with any type of compound you do use this cannot be done my hand. You need moar power to create some heat. This is the only way to get results. There are many types of buffers and polishers out there in the world and some can be quite damaging to your paint if you are not well versed in using it like a high speed buffer. That sucker will quickly burn through your paint if you are running it over edges incorrectly. Youtube has many videos on how to properly use a high speed orbital buffer.

Now myself, I use a cheapie Ryobi 18v and 115 6" randon orbital buffer and polisher. I will tell you right off the bat that they would not serve well in your endeavor. I do simple color sanding on my vehicles and it just struggles getting out the 2000grit scratches I leave in the paint.

If you do end up needing to color sand to get any results be aware that your vehicle may very well have NO clearcoat....You would have actually already found that out after buffing as all of the buffing residue would have been blue, but anyways make sure to use a sanding block with PLENTY of water and start out with as high of a grit as possible. Like 3000 grit and work your way down if results are not happening. Once you do get out your imperfections then you must buff again to remove all of your scratches.

[piranah]

If the bird poop sat for longer than a year, its in the paint and you won't get it out without some paint repair. Especially if it is a single stage paint.

[SeanP]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll get into this stuff in the spring since the car went into storage last weekend. I'll keep everyone posted as to my progress.

[SeanP]

Hey, just to follow up on this, I actually never got around to cleaning up the paint... yet. I would like to know though, if anyone here knows what kind of paint was typically used on these cars in the mid-80s? Is it a lacquer paint? I'm not too sure... my uncle thought it was but then my father-in-law disagreed. We concluded that it would be something I have to research... any recommended ways of figuring this out?

Thanks guys!

[DerekTheGreat]

Depends if it was repaired or not. My '85 had clearcoat on the driver's side fender & door, was painted sometime before I got it. Any type of road crap would leave spots anywhere else though. Only the mequires canned wax would make it like new again. Must've been the factory stuff, most likely a lacquer. Other stuff was probably polyurethane. As far as trying to repair the damage I'd follow what 87gtVIC said.