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Major brain fart

2K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  TOGWT 
#1 ·
Hi guys, first post.

Had a look at the FAQ's and used the search button, however found nothing.... Let me start with a little story..............

Took ownership if my first Porsche last Friday. 09 cayman s, black and I just love it.

Anyway, yesterday I had a major brain fart by removing some bird droppings from the left door handle area with a normal tissue. You can guess what happened as I rubbed away at the offending animal dropping..... Yep, I scratched the **** out of the car. Very faint scratches, but scratches all the same. My question is what can I use to remove/reduce my foolishness? I've seen on eBay some Porsche oem touch up paint which is meant to remove small scratches, but I don't want to waste money on something that could potentially make it worse!


Does anyone have any advice? I get the feeling the cayman isn't best please with me right now (let alone the Misses) who looks at my with some disstain (quite rightly too).

Many thanks - Adrian
 
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#3 ·
Black will show everything unfortunately.

The first step is to try rubbing it with a mild polish like P21s or 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. Use a good microfiber towel.

Touch up paint is normally used to cover areas of the paint that have been gouged out due to rock chips or worse, not for clearcoat scratches.
 
#4 ·
Exactly as Pete says.

On top of your paint you have a clear layer called clear coat and so generally when you lightly scratch your paintwork then all you do is slightly damage the clear coat, so touch-up paint would be the wrong thing to do.

I expect even some cheap polish would fix your issue without major work ;)

For bird ****, the best thing is to soak it with water and some soap and then hose it off, before then cleaning and polishing the area to restore the protection the **** has removed.
 
#5 ·
Yes, it can be polished out per the previous notes.

While I NEVER let any dealer (or anyone else for that matter) wash my car, if you bought if from a Porsche dealer, my bet is their detail guy could fix it for you in 5 minutes (and I would expect it to be free since you just got it....).

I keep a small bottle of Griots Speed Shine and a couple of micro fiber towels in a small bag in the car at all times for such emergencies. Bird doo can be very gritty, so as Dunebasher noted, let the detailing spray do all the work (soak it and resoak the doo) and use very minimal rubbing.

Regards and welcome to the sometimes neurotic world of Porsche ownership!
 
#6 · (Edited)
Let the detailing spray do all the work (soak it and resoak the doo) and use very minimal rubbing.
That's the key! Soften it up first!!

Here's another trick. (It also works well for bug guts on the front of your car.) Dampen a towel with lukewarm (not hot) water. Lay the towel over the bird poo or bug guts and wait a few minutes. Remove the towel and gently wipe away the problem. (This also works great for bugs on a motorcycle's plastic windscreen.)
 
#7 ·
Coming from the abrasives in guano you should not have too much work to do. Pistol Pete has pretty much covered it.

Some species of birds will eat sand and small rocks to aid in digestion - these are then passed through the system. I found this out the same way you did...on a black car.

As Dunebasher says you have to soak or hose it off. For a single dropping, I'll use QD like Zaino Z6 or Dodo Juice Red Mist (as In2Esses has suggested), saturate the spot and carefully dab it off then buff. For several hits....you just need to wash the whole thing as soon as possible - guano will etch the clear coat which is very visible on a black car (like hard water spots).
 
#8 ·
Birds hate Porsches, I'm convinced. My body shop guy suggests soaking a microfiber towel in warm water and let it sit on the dropping, in about 10 minutes it's softened and easily wiped off. If the scratches are quite noticeable you can clay, polish, then wax and the scratches should be history.
 
#9 ·
Instead of soaking and dirtying a microfiber towel, I found that wet toilet paper works just as well and you can toss it after softening the poop. Isn't that what it's made for anyway?

I'm sure everyone has a roll of it stashed in the glovebox for those roadside emergencies...
 
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