I bought a new 2012 XF, Taiga Green, last week. I noticed a couple of big "water spots" on the hood, but didn't give it too much thought. The following day, I washed the car and discovered the spots were probably caused by bird droppings and that the paint is actually etched. I used a clay bar on it and although it does look better, it is still an eyesore.

I've been in touch with the dealer and am trying to set up an appointment to have their detailer look at it. At this point, I am not optimistic that they can get it out.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Tony

 

Hey Tony, sorry to hear of your misery of bird droppings etched into your paintwork.

Its unlikely anything other than paint correction may be able to resolve this IMO............The dealer should sort this for you to your satisfaction.

On a side note and once resolved, you will need to protect the paint as best you can in future and moving forward.

Any of the pro detailers here will advise much beter I'm sure.

Personally, If and when I see that on my car I try to remove as quickly as possible having also suffered this unsightly issue in the past.

 

I went to the dealer this morning and they agreed that a hood respray is in order. They couldn't have been better about the situation.

I will make sure this never happens to this car again.

 

Would love an update on this one.....so they were not able to colorsand, correct, polish and seal these blemishes? Did they take the most extreme approach and repaint?

Sounds like that bird had a nasty snack or something....

 

The dealership personnel took one look at the hood and said that it needed to be completely repainted. They then offered me a loaner car, delivered to my house, where they would pickup the car and return it upon completion. I didn't need to use a loaner car as I had a weeks vacation coming up, so I arranged for them to get the car before I left and return it when I returned home.

When they brought the car home, I was thrilled to see the paint work they had done. It is completely undetectable...perfect color match and factory quality paintwork.

I am very pleasaed with my car and the dealership in Cincy!

 

Thanks for coming back to finish the thread TRankin...........so glad you got it quickly and easily resolved.

 

Awesome........This is really all that matters!
So glad to see that the dealer took fabulous car of your vehicles needs!

 

I wouldn't think that a repaint would be needed. Back in 2000 when we bought a new Acura TL for my wife, a particularly angry bird left a large dump on the hood. I always try and remove these ASAP but in this instance, we ended up with a large "etched" area that was very visible against the dark blue metallic pearl paint. The blotch was resistant to all of the methods that I normally employ (e.g., using something like Meguiars cleaner/polish, scratch remover, etc.). The car was only a few months old at the time and I had actually purchased a "paint protection" package when I bought the car (obviously whatever product was used was useless).

The dealer said they could "color sand" the hood which sounded onerous but I figured what the heck. Whatever they did worked PERFECTLY and I could not see any traces of the blotch when I picked up the car.

Doug