Does bird poo really damage your car paint?

This guy really chose the wrong lamp post to park his car under. It turns out it was THE favourite resting spot for a flock of pelicans.

But a lot of you want to know, is it true that bird poo damages your car’s paint job? Here’s your answer...

While Dave Lazarus never wanted his car to become a work of art, these Port Macquarie pelicans clearly had other ideas...and very good aim. And while Dave was able to wash the creative work off his car, there’s every chance the pelicans left their mark permanently. Even if it was microscopically.

You see, unlike mammals, bird poo doesn’t just contain poo. In fact, the white you see in bird droppings is actually their urine. And unlike our ‘wee’, bird urine is so concentrated it forms white crystals called uric acid. And as the name suggests, this acid can burn off wax coatings and even paint layers. In fact, vats of bird droppings have been used to soften leather in tanneries for thousands of years. Which makes sense when you realise the pH of uric acid is between 3 and 4.5.

So even though the effect on your car’s paintwork is minimal and microscopic, birds still engage in their own form of ‘detailing’ when they engage in their car ‘drop-off’...