Etching on ceramic coating?

[tfraley]

Good day guys.

So I've had my xpel ceramic coating maybe 6 months now.

I was weekly (no touch wash, for the most part, foam and blower)

I noticed today there was a small bird dripping on my hood. Possibly their 24hrs

I grabbed some waterless Adams wash and cleaned it off, soaking good and using multiple parts of the rag to lift it off.

I've never been much into detailing before my model3 but guess my questions are.

1. Is this in fact etching?
2. Wasn't my ceramic coating supposed to prevent this?

PS I've also been using Xpel ceramic boost once or twice a month as well.

3. How do I remove without messing up the ceramic coating or at this point is it dead?

Thanks

 

[Ryephile]

No coating, no matter how highly regarded, is going to stop bird droppings, stone chips, wintertime salt, or sand storms.

1. Yes
2. Not really, only the very lightest and most Ph neutral fallout
3. Dead, and probably the rest of the car too if you've driven it.

 

[Clem Fandango]

I had exactly the same problem on my car - I called the folks that did the ceramic coating, they told me that it's not actually etched but rather as the "material" dries it shrinks and pulls the paint with it and that you are left with an impression. They suggested sitting the car in the sun (after cleaning) so that the paint got hot and "relaxed". I did that and it completely disappeared - I was very surprised! YMMV of course....

 

[TrooperCA]

Hmmmmm....there could be a lot of reasons for this....

Your installed could have messed up a bit and applied an uneven coat? Meaning that that specific area has a very thin layer of coating and the bird poop etched in...

I mean bird poop is extremely acidic and mix with direct sunlight it can be pretty ugly. It sounds like you take pretty good care of your car, if you'd like you can try the suggestion above and let it sit in the sun but I'm not sure if it will work for you.

If you want to remove it, you can clay it or get some polish and put it on a microfiber towel and rub it out. Then just apply some of your ceramic boost over it....

 

[tfraley]

Thanks for all the suggestions

It seems when I took the car to the store and went back out to the car I couldn't find it any more so it maybe the sun did do something

Up till that point the car was in the garage where I cleaned it. I kinda diidnt want it in the sun till I figured it out

 

[mdelvin]

I would polish it to remove the bird etching.