Japan - Self-healing paint???

[JaviLM]

Hi all,

Please help me understand this:

A couple weeks ago I went to Ebisu to meet a friend and I left the car in this public parking lot.

Two/three hours later I came back to the car I found it completely covered in bird shit. Note that the car doesn't have PPF or ceramic coating yet.

I panicked, drove home, and washed it at my home parking in the middle of the night.

When I checked the car in the morning I could see the marks left by the bird droppings all over the roof. The marks in the blue panels weren't as obvious as these, but still very noticeable:

I thought I had fucked up already, but over the next 2-3 days these marks all disappeared little by little and now they are completely gone.

I'm wondering: does the paint in the Emira has some kind of self-healing properties, or am I missing something here?

 

[Nick Sticks]

If they really have gone then you had a lucky escape.
Have a look under different lighting to see if there are any traces.
When looking at cars at night with my security cameras the infra red light picks up different panels like the plastic petrol flap on my Golf, this might spot your bird dropping marks.

Many years ago I thought I was being clever parking under a light in an airport car park. Turns out the biggest birds in the area would sit on the top of light going by the resultant two piles of crap on my bonnet. I would see those marks every time I went to my car, one big lesson learnt.

 

[JaviLM]

Have a look under different lighting to see if there are any traces.

I've checked with artificial light in my parking spot, and also natural light during the day, both at home and in a number of other locations when I took the car camping last week. I haven't checked under infrared light, but if it can't be seen with the naked eye then I'm not very concerned.

Anyway, I'll add ceramic coating as soon as I get the car back from the dealer in a few days.

 

[shin73]

Shouldn’t be an issue as long as the detailer follows protocol and first buffs, smooths out the paint before applying coating. My recommendation is Polish Factory in Nerima, problem is they are usually fully booked for the next 3 or 4 months…

 

[virtualmacho]

Yeah, recent bird droppings... They don't make 'em like they used to...

 

[Nova]

If you have bird droppings, or dried-on leaves that leave behind a light haze in the paint once cleaned off, and it seems as if it has etched the paint, this may not be true! After the paint experiences some heat under the sun, the haze will clear up itself. Some people even use a hair dryer to speed up the process. The paint does have this magical "self healing" powers, but only under this specific situation. I'm not sure what's the chemistry/mechanics here, but I'm guessing that water molecules entered the clearcoat due to the chemical contact, causing the haze, and some heat evaporates it out and the clearcoat is clear again.

Fight the urge to rub or polish the haze. It will not polish out.