[anothercar]

Folks, this is a short story on what happened on a brand new BMW 3 series LI, carbon black bought from bird automotive last month.

As can be seen the car was delivered in first week of November. We purchased two actually. An X1 and the 3 series.

On third day from purchase, when the car was cleaned by waterless cleaner, (which I used on my earlier BMW as well as Skoda Superb), I noticed a bird dropping like mark on the bonnet while I was sitting inside and the field of view was at a particular angle. I got down and checked but couldn't see anything.
then, when the car was parked in night under a white LED light, I noticed that there are several bird dropping like marks on the bonnet. (15-20 large ones and then small drops about 20-30 in number)
I called the sales guy and he promptly organised a visit at their sector 14 body shop.
The technician initially commented that this cannot be removed, but on pressing by sales guy, took the car to sanding. Sanding! I was worried that clear coat will be damaged but they assured it won't be. The car was hence sanded down, I waited for 2-3 hours and voila all marks gone. Though there were swirls from the sanding paper, I was still ok to let it go and drove home.
In 4-5 days time, the same (same I insist) marks appeared again on bonnet. And now there was one on side and few on the boot as well! This is when I realised that this car has been parked uncovered before sale and bird shit must have been lying on it for at least 15-20 days. The reason for this conclusion/thought was that when they clean it, it goes away. but reappears from under the surface again in a few days.
this time, there was reluctance from BMW to attend the issue and despite my assuring them that there is no bird shit issue at my end, they asked for 10,500/- to buff entire car. However, they offered that they will Buff one side panel for free.
Well, I called sales guy, and readily an approval was organised for free buffing.
I picked car back and thoroughly inspected, no shit marks. finally I thanked them and thought this is over.
Well, how wrong was i. another 7 days, and the marks are back. Like a skin disease from under the surface.
I knew at this point of time, that now I am screwed. Left with no evidence against them. Well, I went to them again. They again claimed that I should park my car somewhere where there is no bird shit issue. I told them that yes it is so.
Meanwhile, the body shop manager said that he will have to repaint the car as the issue is not resolving with superficial treatment.
I finally went to the sales guys again asking for a replacement. I even told them that please replace the car and I will also pool in, despite no fault of mine.
Well, now the tactics are being shown. One sales guy says speak to other, they haven't still told me what is the disposal value of this car. Their service ends there.

I am no expert on painting. I do expect that a premium brand like BMW is able to deliver a proper car without defects. having 30-40 bird dropping marks on car is not what business ethics should represent. I guess its very close to their name. Bird automotive's bird shit.

I am now certain that they were aware at their body shop of this issue, despite of this they sold the car to me.

Nevertheless, I have a call with someone senior who has already refused to sales guys that its customer issue, not ours.

Now, whats the course of action? If the marks become more prominent, the car will have to be repainted. In a year, 6 months or 2, I do not know.
Shall I dispose it off immediately? Use it for a year and then dispose?
Is there a way to redo clear coat?
In any case, I have accepted that I am going to lose money since bird automotive smartly buffed it and passed it on to me.

But the larger question is, how on earth a customer should go and take a vehicle delivery? When dealers are capable of doing such frauds?

In 2016 I bought a creta and after two days realised that car had a damage on roof top. I took the car back to dealer, and they replaced it same day! That's Hyundai! Yes, they did replace. Insurance was cancelled, and what not. I had a new car the next day!

I am shocked at how they conned me, despite of having a sharp eye for mechanicals and paint work, I couldn't see the scam.

Has anyone faced a similar issue?

[GTO]

Take it to a professional detailer in your city. See what they can do to solve your problem. Look up good providers in the Team-BHP Directory.

Originally Posted by anothercar

If the marks become more prominent, the car will have to be repainted. In a year, 6 months or 2, I do not know.
Shall I dispose it off immediately? Use it for a year and then dispose?
Is there a way to redo clear coat?
In any case, I have accepted that I am going to lose money since bird automotive smartly buffed it and passed it on to me.

Relax, buddy. Trust me, there are larger problems with new cars. Plus, there is a chance that in another 6 months, your car could suffer more prominent damage in your own parking spot. Fix such damage, no point discussing a full repaint or replacement because of a relatively small matter.

No offence, but I frankly feel you are making a bigger deal of this than it deserves to be. Again, no offence meant at all. Just giving honest advice as a virtual friend.

Go to the best detailer in Gurgaon and have him solve your problem. Since you are so particular about finishes, look up Team-BHP threads on PPF & Ceramic Coating. Last & most important, once done, go for a long drive and enjoy that 3-Series on the open road .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

[anothercar]

Thanks GTO for response.

“ No offence, but I frankly feel you are making a bigger deal of this than it deserves to be. Again, no offence meant at all. Just giving honest advice as a virtual friend.”

No offence taken. Come over, have a look. The photos don’t do justice to what my eyes see every time I pass by the car. Couple Dozens of large shit marks. Birds have been generous with endless urine droppings too. Not one, not 10, many.
My worry is that after two attempts to resolve including a sanding activity, things couldn’t be sorted even a bit. the damage is deeper than I initially thought.
Nevertheless, as you mentioned, an experienced detailer should be able to sort these.

[iamahunter]

What do you expected from "Bird" Automobile.

No matter how I try to justify, its dealer fault. It hurts to have shit on a brand new car.

But, honestly buddy there is no point in going back to the dealer on this. Nor is the shit worth taking so much headache. Its a car, it runs on the road there will be some marks and scratches here and there.

If it does bother a lot, find a good reliable detailer and get the work done.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by anothercar

Has anyone faced a similar issue?

Feel sorry for you since its a brand new car.

Having owned a VW in Pearl Metallic Black and BMW in Sparkling Brown shade; I can see your view.

First thing first:
Bird Poop are very acidic in nature.
The more time they spend on car paint; the more they etch into the paint eating into clear coat.
Rule is to have it removed as soon as it lands on paint.
Else a permanent mark will be there.

What you can do is find a really good detailer who knows his work. Not any run of the mill with a rotary polisher in hand.

You would need to do following:
Wash the car
Clay it
Compound the paint

After these 3 steps you will get to know how much bird poop marks are removed and how much you will have to live with.

Later polish and wax for a nice shine.

Your BMW Dealer might have parked your car under a tree at a stockyard resulting in this problem.

Try the above solution.

Not worth repainting or asking for replacement. You would only trouble your peace of mind.

Lastly black car still looks best once polished/waxed/coated. You have a great car. Drive it around a mountain post detailing it to put this event behind.

[anothercar]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

What do you expected from "Bird" Automobile

Sure, I am speaking to a detailer and he has done a sample. We are waiting for few days, if it doesn't resurface, id have it done at their end

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Feel sorry for you since its a brand new car

Thanks, let's see if and external detailer can polish it. Id update if it works

I went to house of polish at Gurugram yesterday and they have done a sample. Surprisingly it only took 5 minutes, which baffles me what bird automotive was doing with sand paper and buffer for the whole day.

Now the deal is that if doesn't pop up again in a few days, I would get the whole car done at theirs. The price is reasonable and the guys seem decent. The polisher claimed that he has more than 20 years of experience in top companies and has handled many bird-dropping etchings on premium vehicles.

They did not actively try to sell any coatings or products to me.

However, he did point to several more marks that I still haven't seen!!!! Thus add another 20 -30 to the already counted 30-40!! This is an unmitigated disaster. The marks are surfacing slowly from underneath as if it has a skin disease!

Meanwhile, I have asked Bird to call BMW India to answer as "Bird" is confident they did not poop on this.

Mod Note - Please use multi-quote and proofread before posting.

[roadrunner_nv]

It’s really frustrating and I can imagine the agony that you are going through with this. For someone with OCD when it comes to his cars, I’ve been finicky about how they perform, look, feel, and smell.
I had a similar case with a bird droppings and tree sap but all it took was one visit to a good detailer. There are plenty of treatment options to get rid of this nuisance but one word of caution. After this treatment, most of the clear coat takes the brunt of aggressive detailing. That leaves you with a depleted layer that exposes the paint to all elements. Suggest getting a PPF or Graphene coating done once you are out of it. That will keep your OCD at bay for longer.

[vattyboy]

Very sad to hear about this. The pain is even more when the car the Brand NEW!!

These things are not expected from luxury german brands like BMW. Why a luxury brand? This is also not even expected from mass-market brands. Why will a customer sacrifice when is paying a huge amount for a brand-new car?

This clearly shows that no matter what automobile brand it is, at what price it comes in the end, cars in the dealer stockyard will be handled by typical illiterate people, who care for nothing It's high time that these automobile brands hire literate staff with more wages otherwise in the end only customers will suffer.

Now speaking about my experience, when I got my Mercedes ceramic coated at The Detailing Devils. The process includes clay bar treatment, then sandpaper rubbing, and after that rubbing with hard compound. Still, after these steps, some bird-dropping marks were not gone and the owner of DD told me straight forward that he can't do anything about them. Bird dropping is permanent damage to the automobile's paint .

After hearing about your experience, next time when I will purchase my new car. I will inspect it under direct sunlight for these marks very very carefully.

If your nearby detailer is unsuccessful in removing these then I will suggest you get the panel repainted at the Authorised BMW Service center. Charges for single panel repaint is approx Rs 18000 including tax

[jkrishnakj]

I can understand your love for the new car. It’s a situation that isn’t easy to prove that the dealer messed up. Often times, we tend to trust bigger brands due to higher cost / spends but end up being disappointed. I’m thinking you probably didn’t do the PDI given the size of spends on two cars.

A good ceramic coating/PPF should hopefully solve the issue and you should enjoy the car for miles.

That said, pls feed back to the dealer to get some preventive action, lest, some other customer goes through this all over again. I remember Bangalore Audi yard had all their cars covered and packed tightly when I went for my PDI. Bird auto should immediately take action at their yard. For theirs and for the sake of their customers.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by anothercar

I went to house of polish at Gurugram yesterday and they have done a sample. Surprisingly it only took 5 minutes, which baffles me what bird automotive was doing with sand paper and buffer for the whole day.

I will not fret over this. Most of the car finishes these days from the factory need a hand and this includes might Rolls-Royce or Lamborghinis and Ferraris. You may be surprised at this, but for most of the premium car launches you see, cars have to be prepared by these detailers.

Bird has an internal detailing facility in Gurgaon (3M, maybe); ask them to get everything corrected and coated. If they can bear the whole cost, it's fine else, pay them a portion. It's a Two-day process.

House of Polish is good per the images they post, and I have seen a lot of premium cars at their place, but personally, I never had anything done.

I recently picked a Mini and look at the swirl marks on a brand-new car.




As with my other cars, it was dropped at Delhi to Dazzle guys, and the results were amazing, as always.





If you are ok to take the car to Delhi, I can safely recommend them over anyone else.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/delhi...ml#post5114540 (Professional Car Detailing - Dazzle Detailers (Delhi))

[gururajrv]

Alternatively try a good 3M wrapping matching your car paint color. Just a small thought from my side

[Laks]

I purchased a BMW 330i MSport from Bird in Apr this year. The car was first shown to me in the basement stockyard of the showroom. Later when I went back to the showroom to complete some paperwork, the car wasn’t there and I was told it had been shifted to their outdoor stockyard. I made a trip to the stockyard and as feared, my car stood there is the blazing 42 degree summer heat and fully exposed to the elements. The security guard innocently told me there are instances when the car’s bonnet, windshield is damaged by a tree branch falling. These are promptly repaired/replaced and sold as brand new cars untouched since they left the factory. It is common sense to spend an insignificant amount from the earnings to put a sheet roof that will provide atleast some protection from heat, dust, rain and bird droppings. Instead, the top BMW dealer in the region finds it better to pour generous amounts of rubbing compound and polish to remove the damages that could have been avoided in the first place. We are not only paying more of our hard earned money to acquire these cars when compared to our friends outside India but also pay an additional INR 95K as service charges. This, by the way, includes the cost of the cake and the bouquet that is graciously presented to us. It would be better for these dealers to have some pride and ethics and use some of the money being charged to us to deliver a truly clean car! Pics of my car in the stockyard attached.

[somspaple]

From my experience bird dropping damages can't be fixed. But they can be made to look less prominent. The reason you didn't see the issue after each detailing session is because of polish/wax which act as fillers. But they wash off leaving the original scars as is.

If you're really concerned about the looks, then get just the hood repainted. That'll take care of 90% of impression for a layman.

Black car is difficult to maintain but equally easy to make it look new when required with simple detailing at home.

[YK85]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

Very sad to hear about this. The pain is even more when the car the Brand NEW!

I don't understand how this issue occurred. Although my experience is limited to VAG, but their new cars leave the factory with a plastic sheet covering the bonnet and panels. This protective covering is then removed at the time of delivery. So even if the car is parked outside in the stockyard, the paint is protected.

I am just surprised that BMW doesn't take similar precautions, more so as doing this would not even cost much. And this leads me to suspect there may be a deeper issue with the paint job itself. If so, full repaint may be the best option as there are numerous such bird-dropping marks on the car.

Not sure about BMW but some manufacturers provide a paint warranty of 3 or more years, ideally this issue should be taken care of under warranty.
I think you can try to pursue this paint defect issue with BMW directly, as the dealer is not ready to help.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by somspaple

From my experience bird dropping damages can't be fixed. But they can be made to look less prominent.

Similar thoughts. Bird poop is acidic and must be washed away as soon as it happens. If it dries up, it is very difficult to get it off as it would have sunk into the paint. If the quality of the paint job is very good, you might be able to remove it permanently.

Regardless, I'd say this is mostly an eyesore and not something you need to fret too much about. Get the car to a good detailer, cut the paint a bit, polish and apply sealant/PPF and it will stay as is for a long time and give you less heartache.