Well. I was just washing my car this afternoon. (I'll just say right now that I don't take very good care of it.) I haven't hand washed it for at least 6 months, but it has been to a touchless car wash several times. So I realized today that's very dirty, and needs to be clay bared, but I've never done that before.

Even worse though, is this:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/valeriej/SErFCmwUQSI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/tLJSiI1Gvxw/IMG_1465.JPG?imgmax=576

http://lh5.ggpht.com/valeriej/SErFCOe2RfI/AAAAAAAAAQs/v_un9UIhIgg/IMG_1461.JPG?imgmax=720

The results of a friendly bird from a few months ago. I did wash the poop off as soon as I noticed it (I don't see the car every day), but obviously it had been sitting on the car for way too long.

So I'm pretty sure that that's the clear coat peeling off.

Any advice on how to minimize damage? Should I just leave it alone? Try scratchX? Wax it? ...put some duct tape over it?

I just wanted to share these pictures in case anyone doesn't believe all the warnings about how bad bird poop is. It's bad.
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acid poop ftl :(
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can you clay bar it off? I would try to clay bar as much of it off as possible then try some abrasive polish on it. ScratchX may help a little bit, but it probably won't make a big difference
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Bird crap is pretty nasty stuff. This article made me realize how bad it really is.
http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-detailing/80224-paint-clinic.html
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Yup.

**** happens.

Subaru paint + poop = fail.

Subaru paint + bugs = fail.



Subaru drivetrain FTW > Subaru paint FTL.


SOTC
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Probably wont buff or clay out. When/if my car gets bird poop on it I clean it immediately....

As someone else said, bird poop can be highly acidic and damage clearcoats. If you left it on there for a few days or weeks, it might now be unrepairable damage
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Secretly birds around the world assign one brave soul to drink a bottle of brake fluid and crap on as many cars as he can before they honor him by placing his dead carcass in your chimney so the next time to fire it up your whole damn house fills with smoke ...damn birds.
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clay+polish (if polish doesn't work go for compound) if that doesn't work (it should at least minimize it) nothing to do. Here the only thing you re looking for is if the bird dropings have eaten through all the clearcoat or not if not it is repearable. I see you re in maine, do you have a rotary or DA? if not let me know I am in MA
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Man I have the same problem on my trunk. The droppings were only there for a little while when it made a mark
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I really want to meet the marketing people for scratch-X and steal their ideas. EVERY single newb that has a question about paint is like "should i use scratch-X?"
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I really want to meet the marketing people for scratch-X and steal their ideas. EVERY single newb that has a question about paint is like "should i use scratch-X?"

Every single thread that someone says they have a problem with their paint, you can guarantee that there will be at least 2 of the first 10 responses who tell them to clay it.

I find it humorous that people think clay fixes everything.
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This just shows how retarded some people really are.... next time u should should wash it every so often.

you deserved this.
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I dont think anyone deserves that, but c'mon, clean that crap up. Not a lot of people really think about the destructive power of bird crap until this happens.
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Try some SIP followed up with PO106ff and a nice glaze and wax. If that doesn't minimize it to your liking you might want to consider a body shop.
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I would try claying, and then try to get your hands on a random orbital buffer and try to polish it out and finish with a high quality wax.
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clay will not get rid of damaged clear coat.

a random orbit will not do the trick for that either. the paint needs to be metered, and a rotary with compound is the only thing that may clear that out.
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same thing happened on my car, but before i bought it. the size of a dime on the hood. i can tell you now, there is no product to fix that. repaint. sorry
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Lot of opinions here BirlyFive. How bout one more ;) Obviously without touching it myself its hard to say how severe. But by looking, and I have seen this before on a suby, I think it can be fixed. With suby paint it only takes a day in the sun to do this kind of damage. Six months or a day if an acid bug or bird bomb sits on suby paint you will get this damage. As we all know "suby paint FTL". But I have corrected these by hand with polish or paint cleaners, corrected them with an oribtal (not a cheap wally world one, but a qulity unit such as the PC), and some have required the use of a rotary. Someone stated that claying will not work and this is correct. I'm guessing you don't have an arsenal of products and equipment? Try picking up some scratchX and a MF applicator pad. Or one of the 3M polishes you can find at an auto parts store or wal-mart. Results will just depend on the severity of the bomb. If you don't get the results you want your best bet is to contact a pro detailer. I have a reference for you if you want it. But keep in mind most pros probably aren't going to come out just to fix a bird bomb for you. Probably will have to purchase a package deal that will include taking care of that for you. PM me if you want a contact. And let me know what area of ME.

Good luck.
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Can we talk about how huge of a bird dump that is?Or at least it looks huge. I'm about to go wash my car right now, this was good motivation.
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you could try to wet sand the paint with 2000+ paper and then buff it out. i really doubt that stain will come out completely, but a wet sand might clean it up a good bit.

you could also end up sanding through the clear and into the basecoat. be careful if you use this type of remedy. the oem base/clear is very thin.

i had the same type of issue with tree sap. i buffed, claybarred, waxed and the marks are still there
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