Went camping last weekend. Every morning, the crows made a huge racket in the trees above us, and left a big mess on the car. The mess stayed on there 4 or 5 days in the sun before I could wash it off. It took two trips through the car wash and scrubbing with a gas station squeegee sponge to get it all off. The paint is marred wherever the dropping sat. Does this look like something that I can buff out, or am I stuck with repainting the clearcoat? Photo attached hopefully.
A related question: would regular waxing have protected the paint in this situation?
As far as the existing damage, I’ve had pretty good results with professional detailers. I’ve had them vastly improve the appearance of that kind of paint damage. While it might not look like a new car again, you’ll more than likely be very pleased by the appearance
BTW . . . how many people were in the compass? Was it roomy enough for the passengers and all of the gear? I’ve never sat in a Compass . . .
It appears to me only the clearcoat is damaged, I would try a paintless dent repair place to buff it out, and maintaining a car wax regimen after that. Poopy birds, drat drat and double drat!
@db4690. We did tent camping, 2 adults, one 4 year old boy. Tent, sleeping bags, cooler, lights, chairs, clothes, camp BBQ, etc completely filled it up. It is, after all, a small, cheap, Chrysler POS. I have the larger, 2.4L engine option. I discovered that all the weight exceeds the capacity of the engine/CVT combo to get up the mountain highways at highway speed. The transmission programming seems to rely entirely on high revs, so keeps shifting down. On steep hills, it suddenly sends the engine to the red line while on cruise control. I wish it would keep the revs lower because the engine does seem to have a bit of lower end torque. It was the same hill that the engine broke on two months ago, I had to get it replaced.
I can think of several other reasons to recommend against a Jeep Compass.
Anyways, it sounds like you and @Barkydog think I’ll get better results with a detailed than trying to buff it myself with a cheap buffer.
Zero skill, having never done it before. I’d like to think I’d be smart enough not to burn the paint. On the other hand, I wasn’t smart enough to not buy a Jeep Compass, so we’ll see.
The car had a 2.0 and a 2.4 option, both 4 bangers. I’m under the impression that they’re essentially the same engine, with one bored out more than the other or something. I could be wrong. It’s a pretty modern design I think, except for direct injection.
Get a price estimate from at least one detailer and compare that price to the buffing equipment cost. It often turns out that the equipment and supplies cost is similar to the repair work.
Todaay’s clear coats can resist almost anything…Including Easy-Off oven cleaner…So maybe your car, for whatever reason, does not have any clear coat and the paint was applied someplace other than the factory…
Used a gas station window bug sponge to grind it in…Ata-Boy!
The crow droppings – depending on what they ate that day – may be acidic and could then eat the finish if left on for several days, esp if baked on in the hot sun. I dropped two tiny specks of battery acid on my Corolla’s clear coat fender by accident one time, and it ate right through almost to the paint in a matter of seconds in the lower spot on the fender that wasn’t waxed well. Buffing smoothed it out, but couldn’t remove the mark. The other spot where it landed, at the top of the fender, there, it had a good coat of wax, and the acid mark was easily erased by a little buffing.
