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Windshield damage from bird poop

10K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  deepy 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My brand-new (2015 model) RAV 4's windshield got an etching from bird poop.Did anyone notice similar incident?. Is the material so weak in quality or the poop has got any chemical composition strong enough to damage the glass?I am confused.:crying

Sky Blue Water Flock Bird
 
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#2 ·
I know it'll etch the paint easily but I have never seen this happen on glass.
That bird must have flown all the way from fukushima! LOL
 
#5 ·
In 60+ years of driving and having my cars pooped upon by birds I've never had glass etched by it. It takes quite a strong acid, such as hydrofluoric acid, to etch even ordinary glass, and no bird could poop that sort of acid because it would have died from its effects. Could the windshield problem be from some other cause? When I got my RAV the dealer prep was poor and all of the glass had some sort of stuff like cosmoline on it, and I had to remove it by scrubbing with Soft Scrub (dealer was a 2 1/2 hour drive away).
 
#6 · (Edited)
Blogson might be right about having a layer of "cosmoline" on the glass. I know that my new windshield had a hard layer of transparent"glue", which I believe is used to stick the protective plastic sheath during transport. It was worse on the inside and I thought that the glass was defective. It took some intense rubbing with glass cleaner to get even a few mm out. I sometimes had to use my finger nails.

Maybe the bird poop reacted with that product and dispersed it in that pattern.
 
#7 ·
When I purchased my CPO Rav4 from a dealership, it had overspray over the enture car, including the windshield, because they decided it was a good idea to respray clearcoat for bumpers on other cars within proximity of my vehicle.

The result was that my paint was rough to the touch and I could not see anything out of my windshield when the sun would hit it late in the day. They spent 6 hours claying my paint to remove the overspray and used a razorblade on the glass to remove the overspray from that, which actually worked. If what you have on the glass is a deposit of some sort and not an etching, using a razorblade and gently sliding across the glass (sharp end angled toward what you're scraping) while keeping it as flat as possible may help to remove some of that. Think of it as a more precise and shartp fingernail scraping.
 
#13 ·
Looks more like a bug splat than a bird poop. Either way neither etches glass so that's why I'm wondering if we are being played for fools.

If I'm wrong then forgive me and use this:


Make a wet paste out of it and scrub the windshield.
 
#14 ·
I went to the dealer. They were surprised. It was not any chemical dropping or any other material. It is poop,stained like glue.The service guys doubt this might be due to resins or any other chemical composition present in the poop.They are looking for further advises from experts.Will update soon.
 
#15 ·
Find an automotive glass installer in your area and see what they have to say. There are ceramic cleaners used with a machine polisher available and likely they would have them and know how to use them.

You never have said what products/how you tried to remove the splat :shrug:
 
#17 ·
Initially I used soap and water, then a stain remover foam. And today I removed the stain from service centre with a scrub. But unfortunate thing is that the stain has created bubble like scratches / etchings deeper into the glass. So there is no point in polishing the glass now. I wl post more photos of the same. I am sure that I have to replace the glass. But still its a wonder! How did it happen from bird poop?. What type of chemical was that..?. Need to consult few experts in this line...
 
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