Parking your car under direct sunlight especially during extreme summers isn’t a better idea after all. So most of us prefer to park our vehicles under some shade, such as the trees.
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Well, parking under a tree brings a problem that you may not have thought about – bird poop on car! It’s an annoying problem, and the damages from bird droppings can be unsightly if not timely taken care of.
Understanding Bird Poop
Of course we all know what bird poop is, but not many people know how dangerous they can be. Bird poops are a combination of their urine and feces.
Unlike mammals, birds don’t excrete urine and feces separately. Their excrement is a mixture of their solid and liquid waste matter because they don’t have a bladder. Thus, the acidity of their droppings is relatively high. Because of the high acidity of their excrement, bird poops have the ability to break down the finish of a car.
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The heat cycling of the sun in the daytime, the cooling in the night, further worsened by the extended period that you left the bird excrement on there, contribute to the etching of the bird’s uric acid into your car’s finish.
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Remember, heat causes expansion, while cold causes contraction. This thermodynamic action applies to paint and clear coat as well. So in the heat of the sun, the clear coat and paint expands allowing the uric acid to seep into the finish. Then when it cools down at night, the affected area will contract around the uric acid that seeped in during the daytime, breaking down the finish. So if you don’t remove the bird poop immediately, this happens over and over again, day in and day out, with the acid seeping deeper and deeper into your car’s finish.
If you can wipe it off immediately, that would be best. But, if you really don’t have time, just visit a service station and have your car washed once every week. A couple of days old bird poop should be easy to remove. However, there will be a level of damage already sustained if you allow it to remain there.
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Remember the bird excrement is only part of the problem. What you have to be careful about is to not allow your car with bird poops to be exposed under direct sunlight for a longer period of time.
It’s nearly impossible to protect a car from bird droppings. However you can limit the occurrences by covering your car with car cover. Another way is to wax the vehicle frequently, obviously it won’t keep the birds away but will make the cleaning process a lot easier.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
