Paintwork protection

[slender]

Where I live the local birdlife spends most of the day flying over my car to reach a ready supply of good food, relieving themselves as they go to and fro, and then spend most of the night perched in the tree I unavoidably must park under, relieving themselves of the excess!! Now, whilst I'm not too fussed about the paintwork of my old Volvo taking a regular white-washing I'm not thrilled about the prospect of bringing home a newish car for it to disappear, nightly, in a sea of bird muck!!

Can anybody suggest anything that would at least protect the paintwork of my next car from being damaged?

Cheers.

 

[joem]

A car cover?

 

[stumpy]

Car covers are all well and good but are such a pain in the bot that my TVR cover spends most of its life in the box. You have to store it when not in use and then ensure you don't scratch the car when it is in use.

I'd just make sure you keep the car very polished and at the first sight of poo on the car, rinse it straight away.

 

[whitenemesis]

My car was Starshield treated by the dealer, or at least at their expense. Seems to keep the gloss on the paintwork very well. Bird muck wipes off easily, leaves no mark.

 

[johno2004]

Cut the tree down

 

[slender]

Cut the tree down

I wondered how long it would be before reach for the chainsaw or the shotgun was mentioned!!

Neither (tempting as they sometimes are) are an option.

 

[MarkCL]

Best you can do shy of the above mentioned car cover and tree removal is polish - lots & lots of it! The more layers of polish you can apply the better it will protect the paintwork. That and trying to make sure you rinse off any bird poop as often as possible.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[slender]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

I've now spoken to a local dealer who has said a used A Class I'm interested in can be protected inside and out (just in case I leave a window down, I suppose) for the princely sum of £450 That is using a company called Regency to provide the protection with a 3 year warranty.

Seems a little pricey to me.

 

[stumpy]

Don't do it! These things are a con.

 

[Rory]

Buy a DiamondBrite pack off eBay for about 10 quid.

It's dead easy to put on and bird muck just wipes off.

 

[slender]

Buy a DiamondBrite pack off eBay for about 10 quid.

It's dead easy to put on and bird muck just wipes off.

I can get a lot of packs for £450 that's for sure.
I'll check that one out, thanks.

 

[Rory]

I can get a lot of packs for £450 that's for sure.
I'll check that one out, thanks.

If you do want someone to do it, than a local valeting company will be way cheaper than the dealer. If you get it put on professionally then it does come with a gurantee, although the conditions are such (ie must be washed with special conditioner every month) that I doubt they ever have to pay out.

 

[whitenemesis]

Don't do it! These things are a con.

Works wonderfully on my car....

 

[whitenemesis]

If you do want someone to do it, than a local valeting company will be way cheaper than the dealer. If you get it put on professionally then it does come with a gurantee, although the conditions are such (ie must be washed with special conditioner every month) that I doubt they ever have to pay out.

Mine should only be washed with a good quality car shampoo, nothing special

 

[Rory]

Mine should only be washed with a good quality car shampoo, nothing special

I've got StarShield too (MB Direct did it free). You're supposed to use the wash/wax aftercare stuff twice a year.

 

[whitenemesis]

Which I do, of course!

Seriously, it does seem to work well. Nothing sticks, washing is very easy and it always has a good shine afterwards.

 

[stumpy]

Works wonderfully on my car....

Yeah and so does a good quality polish applied regularly. These products like supaguard are a rip off. You pay 400 quid for a 10 quid bottle of polish and some spotty oik to do what you could do. The scotchguard inside is worth having if you have kids I spose. Best bet is to put the 400 quid towards a proper detail and then top up the shine regularly yourself. Nothing beats getting the ****e off asap though.

 

[Rory]

Yeah and so does a good quality polish applied regularly.

That's true, of course. The reality is that most people don't do that though.

I'm sure I paid for it somehow, but I agreed the price for my car (inc mats, phone cradle etc etc) then when the invoice was presented it was £299 less with £299 added for StarShield. Great, I though, knock that off and I've saved another £299, but they absolutely wouldn't move and, to be fair, the total price was the price we'd agreed. I then tried to get out of it by refusing to sign the StarShield paperwork but their business manager said that couldn't complete the deal if I didn't sign - hmm..wonder how far I could have pushed that!

I was dubious the car had actually been treated, but, as whitenemesis says, nothing sticks to it - bird poo does wipe off cleanly with no fade marks at all.


I bought a DiamondBrite pack off ebay for my daughter's flat red Colt, as I was concerned about the red fading, and that seems to work pretty well too. I never treated my other daughter's metallic black Ibiza and that marks ever so easily.

 

[stumpy]

One of the false assumptions with these products is that you don't need to do anything for 3 years. As you also rightly say, colour of the car helps a lot.

 

[Andrew Rymer]

You could always get a cat! I dont think it would cost too much when you consider that it would be dining out most days! Then, when it had got rid of the local wildlife, sell it on to someone else with the same problem.........mmm........might be a business forming! Wonder if the Dragons Den would be interested?

Have a good one.