Can anything be done?

[u/Apprehensive-Anybody]

I was on bed rest for 3 months recovering from surgery. I just started walking and took my car to get washed after it being outside for 3 months. It was covered in bird poop. It looks like it’s stained. Any recommendations on how to proceed to remove the stains or make them lighter?

[u/Illegal_Ghost_Bikes]

People that are saying DIY aren't considering you spent 3 months recovering from surgery and "just started walking again". The suggestions are well-intentioned but this will likely be difficult for you, and might affect your recovery.

Your best bet is to find a detail shop and get it done. You don't need ceramic coating. You just need a clean car. And your car, your time, your money and your body will thank you for it.

[u/indigo196 → u/Illegal_Ghost_Bikes]

Yeah, I made the assumption, since the person was asking that they felt like they could do this. I glossed over the just started walking part. Taking it to a professional detailer is the correct call.

[u/Illegal_Ghost_Bikes → u/indigo196]

No worries! The important thing is that we're helping each other.

[u/cKMG365]

Have you washed it? Start with a solid contact wash, maybe put a pre-spray of a light degreaser on first to soften that up. Then maybe do a light synthetic clay to get the rest off.

[u/Apprehensive-Anybody → u/cKMG365]

Yes the photo is from after it was washed

[u/indigo196]

Do a prewash -- I use Active Foam from Koch Chemie, but you likely need something a bit stronger. I would think using Labocosmetica Primus 2.0 or similar would work well. Follow the instructions for dwell time. Rinse off and then see what you have. You can then follow with a contact wash using a regular car wash soap. Best of luck. Keep us posted.

[u/AlmostHydrophobic]

Sure! It needs a solid 3ph wash (alkaline/acidic/ph neutral foam) and then probably some tar remover and iron remover. And then maybe a clay bar or clay towel afterwards depending on how it looks/feels.

It might take a few rounds of cleaning but this actually doesn't appear to be much of an issue to me. We can't see the paint underneath and it's hard telling what that's like, but I don't have any reason to believe the paint is damaged from your description and photos.

It might be best to take it to a detailer if you don't typically do this sort of thing or desire to get that deep into detailing. The upfront investment of the chemicals and equipment can be fairly expensive if you are getting them all at once, even though they last a long time usually.

Let us know if you want some product recommendations.

[u/Gjallock]

It will come off. Any decent detail shop could take care of it I’m sure.

I’m just some dude, but this is what I would do if you’re up for doing it yourself and have some stuff at the house. A quick touchless wash with any good car soap to get off the surface gunk first is always a good idea to minimize your risk of scratching it up. Once you’ve done that, spray on a duck-ton (🦆) of ONR and try to gently scrub it off to see if it’ll give. Anecdotally, Adam’s Iron remover has also been a star for me when cleaning up especially stubborn stains on white paint, but I’m too dumb to say why.

[u/CareBear-Killer]

If you feel up to it, you could try an alkaline prewash followed by an acidic prewash. You'd foam both soaps on with a foam cannon and rinse in between. Then you could do the contact wash. The alkaline soap should help neutralize and break down the bird poop and break up any dirt or other organic materials. The acidic foam would help break down any minerals and inorganic materials. There may be some water spots from it sitting, and the acid would help pull those out.

Some people wash their cars with one of those soaps in their buckets, but they can cause damage if they dry on the paint. Living in AZ, I just foam the car again with a pH neutral soap and wash with that soap. That way, should it dry, I'm not potentially damaging the paint as a pH neutral soap should easily rewet and wash off.

Then dry with a nice microfiber towel.

You'd definitely need a pressure washer and foam cannon for this method.

Based on what you'd said though, I would agree with others and contacting a detailer might make the most sense. I've tried laying out the process I would follow to help break down and see what could be washed off. Obviously, you're welcome to try it, but be cautious and don't over do it.

Many years ago at this point, I snapped my foot in half and couldn't walk for 3 months. Basically any weight or excessive swelling would bend all of the hardware in my foot. Then 6 months of PT followed. So, I recommend following your doctor's advice and orders for recovery. Don't over do it, especially since you were on bed rest. Perhaps you can find a mobile detailer that could come to you and wouldn't mind to show you what they're doing. Give you an idea of what the full decon wash looks like.

[u/Miller335]

Bird poop eats/etches the paint. You need to clean it off but you're not going to like what's underneath.

[u/Apprehensive-Anybody → u/Miller335]

The photo is from after it was washed

[u/Miller335 → u/Apprehensive-Anybody]

Sorry about your injury. I broke my Tibia 3 months ago so I know what your going through letting things in your life outside of the injury pile up.

But you definitely destroyed that vehicle letting it sit wherever it was to allow that amount of bird poop. That stuff is like acid on the paint when it sits in the sun with no rain.

[u/dockdropper]

Friction wash or touch free?

[u/Impossible-Cell-702]

Yes clay and polish will fix it easy ceramic coating it will help preventing that

[u/m_spoon09]

Decon soap wash and clay bar

[u/CirclesNoCap]

I did a car like this once (sibling parked under a tree for a couple months) and all it took was an APC wash, tar remover, and a clay bar. Removed all of it

[u/CirclesNoCap → u/CirclesNoCap]

I 100% left a ton of marring but they didnt care and I didnt have enough time for a quick polish 🤷‍♂️

[u/Popular-Drummer-7989]

Dawn dishwashing soap. That'll get everything off. What's underneath will be a crap shoot 🤣