I’ve personally never waxed any car I’ve owned and offhand I don’t know anybody who waxes. I have seen milder forms of this type of thing on cars I’ve owned, but only after the car is 15+ years old. Perhaps now I’ll consider waxing!
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The good news is that it’s much easier to wax these days than it used to be. Instead of spreading paste wax on and then buffing it by hand or with a buffer, you just spray polymer-based synthetic sealant on (I use Meguiars Ultimate) and then wipe it off with a microfiber cloth. Much less effort, and it lasts a lot longer. One application is enough for an entire summer.
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I’ve never waxed a car, never had a paint problem. Occasionally wash it when it’s very new. I park in the sun a large percentage of the time. Occasional bird droppings.
That looks like color peeling to me. It also looks like there is not bare metal underneath but more paint. If that’s true, then I suspect the hood was repainted at one point and it’s delaminating. Chances are the damage has been progressing for some time and the process of the car wash broke it free.
OP said in a previous post:
That doesn’t mean the hood wasn’t re-painted. Lots of new cars get damaged and fixed before anyone takes delivery. Could have even been done at the factory.
didn’t think of that. and the dealer would have no incentive to do a good job on the painting.
Do you think there’s a legitimate insurance claim here? If bird poop falls on a car and damages the paint, it’s really not much different than if hail did it, or a falling tree branch or a runaway shopping cart.
I suppose as long as you don’t reveal the fact you routinely leave it there for long periods of time without washing it off. Because then you’re responsible for not limiting the damage. Personally, I don’t make insurance claims for relatively minor expenses. Keeps premiums low and I’m really looking to protect against the big losses…
You can’t be serious. The bird poop doesn’t damage the paint instantaneously. Hail, tree branches, and shopping carts do. It’s not like you can just wash hail off and avoid the dent.
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Arm yourself with a hose and summon your inner Ninja 
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Well not to chime in on this but these things would be covered by insurance. Hail, trees falling, mysterious damage, etc. yes, but abuse of paint finish, no. If you don’t wash your car for months, never wax it except with the spray on car wash (which is not the same as waxing), don’t remove bugs or bird droppings so the acid can eat through the paint, leave it parked in the sun day after day, guess what? The paint will be damaged. Especially the water based finishes used now.
So after years of abusing the car finish, a mechanic happens to get it and then all of a sudden, damage is found so it must be the fault of the last person to touch the car? Is that the question? “I don’t know anyone who waxes their car.” I don’t hardly know anyone who doesn’t wax their cars, and not the car wash.
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And the 6 months of bird poop wasn’t?
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The intention was to simply ask “what caused this?”
I felt it was clear from my original post (and subsequent posts) that I wasn’t trying to cast blame, jut trying to understand.
The whole point of the fact that it was noticeable was about setting up a time frame for the events. Nobody was claiming that the bird poop wasn’t noticeable as well. But to most people bird poop on a car for seems a lot less permanent/serious then flaking paint.
That’s going to be hard to determine. That sort of paint damage on a 7 year old vehicle is a bit unusual, but not unheard of. Could be a problem that happened when the paint was applied, contaminated paint, metal not primed correctly, or first cleaned of all solvents, etc. But there’s not service bulletins regarding paint problems for this vehicle I can see, so if something like that occurred, it would have to be a one-of sort of thing. It’s also possible some sort of paint damaging substance got on the paint, brake fluid, battery acid etc, but you got two problems to deal with if you adopt that theory: First, how to prove it? And second, even if you can prove it, can you prove who did it? Given the comments above , that’s gonna be a tough row to hoe. There’s no harm asking however. Ask at the repair shop if they have any ideas. And at a Nissan dealership too what they think caused it. The folks at the Nissan dealership in my area are quite customer friendly. The worse they can say is “no idea”, which is no worse off than you are now. At that point, just schedule a paint job. Best of luck.
My early 90’s Corolla had some paint blemishes on the hood, showed up after about 6 months, which Toyota admitted to be a manufacturing problem at the plant it was made. Nothing nearly as serious as yours though, more like a couple of small fisheyes. Paint remained intact. Toyota said they’d repaint the hood under warranty if I wanted, but I just lived with it. My thinking: I’d rather have a few minor blemishes than a hood color that doesn’t match the rest of the car.
If you don’t want to do a full hood repaint, that area might could be repaired with some sanding & touch up paint. Won’t look great from somebody standing right next to the hood, but should look ok from a distance.
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Wait too long to remove the bird poop, and you’ll see damaged paint underneath it, once you do remove it
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The paint damaging substance is bird poop
If somebody leaves that stuff on their car for six months, I’d say they have no right to later on complain about damaged paint
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The bird poop, you have to wash it off right away to prevent it from eating the paint.
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This clear coat flaking happens to a lot of cars. Once it starts, it will show up in other exposed areas (like rust) like the roof and trunk.