Bird droppings/paintwork

S

steve184

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I'm still having serious problems with my paint marking badly very quickly - and after spending £21,650 on a car i really wanna do something about it because i don't think it is accepatable.

Anybody who feels strongly about this please reply - perhaps if enough people agree with me (im not only one surely?) then we could put some sort of petition together.

Also need to work out a pattern - does certain colours get damaged easier or is it mettalics - perhaps solids arn't as bad - or perhaps entire production lines arnt as bad, ie, A4 paint is beter than A3 paint ( probably made on seperate production lines)

Need to gather as much info as possible.

cheers
 
Have only had my A3 for a couple of weeks, so fortunately not suffered and poo stains yet.

My previous car was a Pug 206 (GTi 180) which was metallic black, and I had major problems with the paintwork. A seagull just had to fart on the bonnet to leave a permanent momento of its visit. It was suggested because it was black it would get a lot hotter than reds, silvers, greys etc which would only exacerbate the problem.

I think paintwork on cars has gone downhill, partly due to new legislations on paint, but I'm hopeful that the paint finish on my A3 will prove more resiliant than my Pug appeared to be. This is the 21st century after all, we should have the technology to resist a spot of birdsh*t afterall!!
 
audi upgrades
Misano red - is that a solid colour?
 
Right well this is what i want to clarify as I reckon it could be possible that solid colours arn't affected as badly. If this is the case it should be made clear to you before you buy a car and choose its colour that mettalics/pearlescents are more sensitive to damage than solid colours
 
My car is Silver and an A4 but I cant say I have had any issues, (and where I park in work she gets a few direct hits from gulls /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif)

Although the paintwork was AutoGlym'd from new and I tend to lay the Meg's on everyother week, with a regular strip back and re Autoglym 2-monthly, so I guess its well protected. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
You need to put pressure on trading standards or speak to The Association of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Auto Express featured someone with an A3 with problems in their consumer complaints section, but if my memory serves me correctly, Audi just brushed it under the carpet.
 
yeh it was me in that article!! (not the guy pictured about bugs marking paint). Trading standards can't do anything without evidence that the paint is faulty - this is difficult to prove and audi know it - which is why they play on it and brush it under the carpet. They think they are invincible, which they will get away with unless more people speak up!
 
I haven't had any 'hits' on my Silver Sportback yet so no marks yet (and hopefully it will stay that way).

More than happy to sign a petition though as it clearly appears to be a problem.
 
Always used Jewlbrite Diamond Bright on my cars and never had any problems. I think most dealer offer it as an option.
 
speak to watchdog (BBC) nothing like some prime time power.
 
...oh don't you worry i'm currently writing a letter to audi and should they carry on 'ignoring me' that is my very next line of attack.
 
Bird cack marked my Ebony black A3 too.. you had to really look up close at the spot but it marked it and I wash my cars often so not as if it was sitting on the paint for days.
 
Duck and Seagull pooh are worst I believe has it has some sort of acidic content.
 
It all has acidic content, but maybe a strict diet of fish has something to do with that.
 
I dont have any trouble with this on my A4 at all - but like sregorap I keep mine polished on a regular basis..helps with avoids bugstains as well as birdsh1t..

Though I am on your side on this - Id be mad if I did have a problem with it!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
It all has acidic content, but maybe a strict diet of fish has something to do with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ducks don't eat fish....
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It all has acidic content, but maybe a strict diet of fish has something to do with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ducks don't eat fish....

[/ QUOTE ]

He's right you know!
 
[ QUOTE ]
They veggies?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what The Birder's Handbook says about mallard feeding:
DIET: Seeds and shoots of sedge, grass, and aquatic vegetation, grain,
acorns; insects, aquatic invertebrates.
 
AND what's more my cars are regularly coated in fairly high end wax which cost me a fortune so I can't say the paint wasn't as protected as best it could've been.
 
ok... so far all the problems seem to be on A3's mettalic or solid - perhaps this is the case and A4's etc are not affected in the same way? Anyone who has or has had an A4, A6 A8 blah blah with this problem?
 
[ QUOTE ]
ok... so far all the problems seem to be on A3's mettalic or solid - perhaps this is the case and A4's etc are not affected in the same way? Anyone who has or has had an A4, A6 A8 blah blah with this problem?

[/ QUOTE ]

Bear in mind you have posted the original in the A3 forum - this may explain why most of the replies are A3 biased....
 
I've got it on my A4, bird crap on the roof. I've even got slight discolouration down the passenger door where some kind soul gobbed on my car!
It's a combination of type of bird poo (some are more acidic than others), length of time on the car and whether the car has been recently waxed or not.
A well waxed car won't suffer. I just use Mer on mine and it works a treat.
You've got very little chance of getting anywhere with Audi or watchdog as this is a result of something happening to the car i.e. a bird shat on it, not the paintwork failing of its own accord.
Otherwise where do you draw the line on what is considered acceptable? Paintstripper?
 
hmmm yes very good point! not sure if it would be acceptable to duplicate the post in other sections now though! thought people still read these whatever car they have
 
Steve,

You could post a thread asking on the A4, A6, A8 and TT forums on here? Same question, just paste into each forum, that'd cover it.
 
sorry im not having that - waxing is not the be-all and end-all. I polished waxed my car full on in summer and i mean properly not a quick 1 day job - took me weeks one panel at a time - and bird crap still marks it. I'm not sayin it doesn't help but it certainly does not stop it. If bird crap is chemically strong enough to attack paint it can certainly attack a tiny layer of wax simply laid on the outside of the paint. My arguement is that bird crap is as common as rain and you wouldn't accept a car that wasn't waterproof would you? When was the last time nature dropped paint stripper on your car?
 
I agree with you Steve, bird doo is a fact of life as is rain and road grime. The paint should therefore be able to withstand it.

They can't say 'remove it as soon as it happens or the paint will be marked' - what are you meant to do, leave the office every 15 minutes to check?
 
My A3 (1 and a half years old) is solid black and it marks very easily. I try to wash any bird droppings off immediately, but it leaves a mottled effect on the paintwork which seems to be deep down, under the laquer! I completely ruined one panel soon after I got the car by thoroughly washing the bird muck off and when I noticed it had stained, I t-cut the paintwork then polished with Auto-glym. It looked worse afterwards than when the bird muck was still on there! I have just come to accept that any bird droppings, tree sap, etc will permanantly stain, and I now go very easy when trying to remove them as otherwise it will scuff the paint so bad. I am convinced that in 3 years time the paintwork will be in poor condition and I'll need a full respray job. At the moment though, it just about looks acceptable overall when clean.
 
I havent had any problems, but always keep a good coat of Zymol on mine and check it every day for any bird doos and clean them off straight away .......
 
yeah yeah what about stone chips? Fact of life but you can't go bleating to Audi for a bonnet respray
 
Fact of life true, but surely different - you can't really make a car paint to withstand impact damage, not much will. It would be unreasonable to expect it to withstand impact damage. Not unreasonable to expect it to withstand a bit of bird crap once in a while.

Bird damage is not physical impact damage, it is the paint\lacquer not being able to withstand normal environmental conditions. You know a stone chip has happened, you hear it. You can't keep going out to your car every 10 mins at work to make sure a bird hasn't crapped on it and thereby permanently marked the paintwork!

If a stone hit your head at speed, you'd expect to be hurt, possibly bleed, be injured! That's life! If a bird crapped on your head, you wouldn't expect it to eat into your skin and scar you for life!!! Unless perhaps it was a mutant bird! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh_roll.gif
 
furthermore - every car i've owned has suffereded stone chips - whereas i've never owned a car that damages so easily from bird droppings... so.... next excuse please!
 
Similarly, if a stone chipped my windscreen in the line of vision and it had to be replaced, not unreasonable. If a bird crapped on my windscreen in the line of vision and it ate into the glass or permanently marked it, there would something wrong with the windscreen - or the bird for that matter!

It all comes down to what is reasonable.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Last time a bird crapped on my motor she got the bus home!

[/ QUOTE ]

Last time? What happened the other times - or daren't I ask? All I can say is that you know some dodgy birds there m8 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
"If a bird crapped on your head, you wouldn't expect it to eat into your skin and scar you for life!!! "

Maybe it would if you left it there for 48 hours!

Fact is Audi won't even concede that there is a design flaw in the Concert radio (the well publicised volume memory problem) as they'd have to replace 1,000's of radio's FOC. This is a problem that has been scientifically proved to be a design flaw.
The case is the same for the bird crap, they'll never admit it as it'll open the floodgates to everyone with a slight blemish on their paintwork i.e. pretty much every Audi owner I imagine, and this is for a problem that would be difficult to prove as bird crap is not generic.
If you wax your car they'll blame it on the wax reacting with the paintwork with the crap as a catalyst. Maybe that is the problem, certain waxes may actually make it worse - I guess we'll never know.
 
jeeez so now its the waxes fault????? excuse me for being so blunt but what the hell am i supposed to do to STOP this from happening to my car? waxing is supposed to help not make it worse. As far as im concerned the paint is faulty end of. It should not mark so easily with or without wax. if it needs something extra adding to it from when you spend your 20 odd k then its not 'finished' and not up to the job. If it needs this extra protection then it shouldn't be 'our' responsibilty to add it - it should be added in a more permanent way at the factory. its like you go to pick your new car up and drive it away and within minutes the engine seizes. you find out theres no oil in the engine - you go back to find out whats going on and are told "sorry sir its up to you to put oil in the engine".. it doesn't wash.
 
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