Is this bat urine?

[Fab1]

Hi guys,I've been having issues with these tiny black spots/dots all over my white ute that are really hard to remove.With the reasearch I've done some say it looks like artillery fungus or bat urine.I get fruit bats flying overhead due to palms in the neighbourhood I guess and they crap on my cars at times so I'm leaning towards bat urine.Now this stuff is a mongrel to get of and the only thing I've found that will take it of with a lot of effort is cutting compound.

Wax&grease remover,turps,eucalyptus oil,clay bar,kero etc,etc will not shift it.Ask me how I know.

The issue I have with the cutting compound is paint is only so many microns thick and I will eventually rub through it with the compound and hope someone knows if there's some sort of paint friendly solvent that will remove it.

Garaging or car covers aren't an option as my boat lives in the garage(single)and the past 4 covers in their life at some point have grown legs or learnt to fly and couldn't find their way back home.

Investing in a Gatling gun and shooting every bat in sight isn't an option either.

I was thinking maybe trying acetone but am awaiting replies first.

Here's a photo of the roof.It looks and feels like overspray but its not.

Cheers.

[Crossfire63]

Fair chance it is.

I have a similar problem and bat droppings.

Im convinced they feed on Araldite trees and the droppings only come off with hot water and high pressure water

[stormy]

My car and van also have this spotting on the roof and bonnet. I think it is some kind of soot/pollution either from exhaust gasses, aeroplane fuel or even sooty corrosion dropping off electricity wires. I have only noticed it in the past few years and to hear or see fruit bats in our area is uncommon. Certainly not enough of them to cause the amount of black soot. I wash the car with CT19 and then have to use car polish to get rid of the marks. Keeping wax up to the car helps to wash the spots off easier, but the caravan is a lot more difficult.

I really doubt that it is bat urine.

[Nolongeramember]

Fab. Try bug and tar remover or a proper paint cleaner. I know Meguiars do a good paint cleaner. They have proper chemicals that remove that kind of stuff. I've used it before and it works very well.

[The Incredible Hull]

I have those black spots too, I always though it came from the road (my cars are garaged)

[Fab1]

Thanks for trying to help guys.I tried the bug&tar remover as well as the unleaded fuel,both left clean paint with the spots remaining.

By this stage I had had enough and decided to give the cutting compound by hand a miss and go the whole hog and machine buff using compound,Hand polish and wax but not before giving the engine a detail for my up and coming timing belt service as I've hit the magic 90k in 13yrs.

That bat urine or whatever it is,really is hard to shift managing to get on the inside lip of the front guards also.

I can honestly say after all the elbow grease I put into this thing over the last few hours it's turned out looking great and hope to never see a bat again.

Wishful thinking but will keep an eye on it.

Thanks again guys.

[JimT]

In respect of timing belt change at 90K km's and 13 years to do it.......Timing belt also has a time limit then it should be changed due to ageing so this should also be taken into consideration....guessing this age limit is about 10 years but check with each model engine/manufacturer specs

Jim...

[Fab1]

In respect of timing belt change at 90K km's and 13 years to do it.......Timing belt also has a time limit then it should be changed due to ageing so this should also be taken into consideration....guessing this age limit is about 10 years but check with each model engine/manufacturer specs

Jim...

Agree,especially with those people running interference engines as bent/broken valves or a hole in the piston isn't much fun.As I'm running a non-interference engine I haven't worried so much in that regard as if it broke it would of been a matter of a roadside repair/tow home and off I went again.

[Nolongeramember]

You can try putting the paint cleaner on and leaving it for an hour or so for the chemicals to soak and do their work, then rub it off.

Maybe test an area and see what happens.

Sounds like stubborn stuff whatever it is.

[Fab1]

The paint should be under the top coats of clear ????? is there no clear left on the vehicle

Hi mate ,there's clearcoat left on the vehicle,it's buffing through the clearcoat to the base coat I'm worried about as I have buffed it a few times in the past.Clearcoat/base coat is only a few microns thick and each time you cut it back your making that layer of clear thinner getting closer to rubbing through to the base coat.

[Fab1]

You can try putting the paint cleaner on and leaving it for an hour or so for the chemicals to soak and do their work, then rub it off.

Maybe test an area and see what happens.

Sounds like stubborn stuff whatever it is.

Hi mate it is very stubborn to remove.I have removed it all now as per the post above and it's all gone so I can't try your suggestion for now.

Thanks.

[brad_tate]

Car cover

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[Fab1]

Car cover

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All my past car covers have grown legs and learnt to fly as post above.Besides they truly are a royal pita to r&r daily.

[brad_tate]

Sorry Fab1, didn't read your original post well enough. Perhaps throw over a half bucket of wash 'n wax or just a wash on wax weekly? That should be fairly economical and will provide a coating that may stop the fungus or acid urine getting a hold in your duco.

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[Fab1]

Sorry Fab1, didn't read your original post well enough. Perhaps throw over a half bucket of wash 'n wax or just a wash on wax weekly? That should be fairly economical and will provide a coating that may stop the fungus or acid urine getting a hold in your duco.

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No dramas mate.Will wax it more often and see if it helps as that's pretty much the best I can do to try to minimise this from happening again.Judging by the spray pattern of the black spots I'm almost certain it's from the flying foxes urinating on it as they fly overhead after they leave the neighbours palms.

[brad_tate]

By the way Fab1 when I said 'throw over half a bucket', I meant exactly that. In between washes you could just mix half a bucket and douse the outside of the vehicle. The only thing you would need to do is chamois off the glass, to avoid streaks. 1/2 cap of Kitten wash and wax means a bottle goes a long way. There are other wax only products you can apply the same way even more economically.

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