Black paint, bird poo, Fairy liquid and...
Discussion
a kitchen sponge...
Without wanting to go into too much detail, apart from to say "it wasn't me guv" the aforementioned equipment was used to clean a lot of bird poo of most panels on my wife's car. Below are some picture of the damage...
Questions
1. Will this polish out by hand with some elbow grease?
2. If not, will it polish out with a machine polisher?
3. Would this come under a "paint correction" and if so what sort of price am I looking at? The car has scores of tiny dents on it from being parked under an oak tree, so there is little point spending loads getting it looking perfect... But I am afraid to wash as i fear just how bad it will actually look. Currently the layer of crud largely masks the damage


Without wanting to go into too much detail, apart from to say "it wasn't me guv" the aforementioned equipment was used to clean a lot of bird poo of most panels on my wife's car. Below are some picture of the damage...
Questions
1. Will this polish out by hand with some elbow grease?
2. If not, will it polish out with a machine polisher?
3. Would this come under a "paint correction" and if so what sort of price am I looking at? The car has scores of tiny dents on it from being parked under an oak tree, so there is little point spending loads getting it looking perfect... But I am afraid to wash as i fear just how bad it will actually look. Currently the layer of crud largely masks the damage

You might be able ot polish those out. Concern is if you break through the lacquer (if there is any) or the paint (if no lacquer). Either way I should imagine it'd leave whats there pretty thing.
I doubt you will manage it by hand. I think you need a DA at least.
You'd also need some different grades of polish and probably backing pads too. I can see you needing something like fastcut first and then refine down.
In short, I'd find a local detailer and ask them if they can fix, if not its paintshop time...
I doubt you will manage it by hand. I think you need a DA at least.
You'd also need some different grades of polish and probably backing pads too. I can see you needing something like fastcut first and then refine down.
In short, I'd find a local detailer and ask them if they can fix, if not its paintshop time...
FIL had a black car and was forever arriving with scratches down the length of it having pulled over too far on country lanes. Mostly they polished out fine with whatever I had to hand - often just Autoglym polish, although that tends to fill scratches.
I'd suggest not rubbing to hard on any edges, panel curves etc.
I'd suggest not rubbing to hard on any edges, panel curves etc.
That's horrific.
You can probably recover it.
I have quite a lot of experience polishing cars
That will be a job for a a decent DA (Rupes etc) or Rotary, with a MF cutting pad / orange / yellow foam pad and quite an aggressive compound like Scholl S3 XXL. Probably will take a couple of hits.
Then you can refine back
Best bet if you're un sure is to book in with a good quality detailer.
You can find some on Professional Valeters and Detailers website.
I'd expect for an SUV (Qashqai size etc) to be around £500 all in for a decent polish with a normal wax/sealant - add £150 if you want a ceramic coating
If it's a Porsche Macan/ Cayenne or Range Rover then starting prices starting at £700.
You could probably do it yourself, plenty of videos online, but it would take a lot of time.
If you're ever near Gloucester in the near future I can attempt to restore a panel for you at no charge to see what's possible.
You can probably recover it.
I have quite a lot of experience polishing cars
That will be a job for a a decent DA (Rupes etc) or Rotary, with a MF cutting pad / orange / yellow foam pad and quite an aggressive compound like Scholl S3 XXL. Probably will take a couple of hits.
Then you can refine back
Best bet if you're un sure is to book in with a good quality detailer.
You can find some on Professional Valeters and Detailers website.
I'd expect for an SUV (Qashqai size etc) to be around £500 all in for a decent polish with a normal wax/sealant - add £150 if you want a ceramic coating
If it's a Porsche Macan/ Cayenne or Range Rover then starting prices starting at £700.
You could probably do it yourself, plenty of videos online, but it would take a lot of time.
If you're ever near Gloucester in the near future I can attempt to restore a panel for you at no charge to see what's possible.
Ooops, that's not gone well!
What car is it OP?..this will make a difference to how it responds to machine polishing but I'd hazard a guess that most if not all of that could be rectified.
If you are local to Weston-super-Mare I'd happily take a look and do a test area FOC.
Cheers,
Chris
What car is it OP?..this will make a difference to how it responds to machine polishing but I'd hazard a guess that most if not all of that could be rectified.
If you are local to Weston-super-Mare I'd happily take a look and do a test area FOC.
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks for all the responses, I will try and address everything you have all said!
Firstly, I am not going to try and machine polish myself, I will defiantly make it a f
k lot worse!
It is good to know that most of you suggest it should polish out with a professional detail / paint correction. As I have said, the bonnet and roof are peppered with acorn sized dents from the tree it is usually parked under, so I am not worried about getting it perfect. I need to wash it (with a microfibre mit and not a scourer) to see exactly how bad the damage is, its hard to tell under layers of grime.
Thank you very much to the both of you for offering your services, unfortunately I am not local to either of you (we are Hampshire.)
Yes it was my wife, and no i don't have a new patio
Its her car, so whilst I am upset on her behalf, I am not going to get annoyed about it!
ETA: The car is a Nissan Qashqai
Firstly, I am not going to try and machine polish myself, I will defiantly make it a f
k lot worse!It is good to know that most of you suggest it should polish out with a professional detail / paint correction. As I have said, the bonnet and roof are peppered with acorn sized dents from the tree it is usually parked under, so I am not worried about getting it perfect. I need to wash it (with a microfibre mit and not a scourer) to see exactly how bad the damage is, its hard to tell under layers of grime.
Thank you very much to the both of you for offering your services, unfortunately I am not local to either of you (we are Hampshire.)
Yes it was my wife, and no i don't have a new patio
Its her car, so whilst I am upset on her behalf, I am not going to get annoyed about it!ETA: The car is a Nissan Qashqai
May I suggest you discourage your good lady from washing her car with dishwashing detergent. It contains a surprising amount of salt as a thickening agent and (presumably) water softener. Also many contain quite strong alkalis which do the paint no favours.
Supermarket brand shampoo is supposedly effective and cheap but I've never tried it myself, supermarkets also have their own brand car washing soaps which work fine.
Supermarket brand shampoo is supposedly effective and cheap but I've never tried it myself, supermarkets also have their own brand car washing soaps which work fine.
I would not have recommended it either...
Washing the cars is my domain, and If i don't get around to doing hers she will usually stick it through a car wash. But the car was going in for it's service / MOT and I had mad a comment about it being best not to take it in covered in s
t and looking like a complete shed, but then didn't get time to wash it, so she took matters into her own hands 
Good to know if should be fixable without needing paint. Anyone got a recommendation for a detailer in Hampshire/Surrey?
Washing the cars is my domain, and If i don't get around to doing hers she will usually stick it through a car wash. But the car was going in for it's service / MOT and I had mad a comment about it being best not to take it in covered in s
t and looking like a complete shed, but then didn't get time to wash it, so she took matters into her own hands 
Good to know if should be fixable without needing paint. Anyone got a recommendation for a detailer in Hampshire/Surrey?
jimmy156 said:
Good to know if should be fixable without needing paint. Anyone got a recommendation for a detailer in Hampshire/Surrey?
Envy Car Care in Fareham is my usual recommendation, but with the disclaimer that this is quite an extreme case...!You could also try Renovatio Detailing, in Surrey.
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