I clean it as soon as I see it. But I can be away from my car for 8-10+ hours or more. How long is too long to keep bird poop on paint?

 

It varies on the bird and the diet. The sooner it's removed, the better.

 

Hey Bonehead
Actually the owls work pretty well against birds. Snakes less so.
The trick is to get a fake owl with reflective eyes. Don't bother otherwise. The reflective eyes really freak out other birds. You can find models with rotating heads as well. Very helpful.
There's also some stuff, I think called IrriTape. It's a mylar multi-reflective tape. I've heard decent things about that. Never used it though. Likely cheap. Might be worth a try if you have an antenna or something to put it on.
A friend of mine used a big rubber snake on his boat as a bird deterrent. The birds didn't mind it after a while. However, I just about broke my neck trying to dodge the damn thing when I jumped aboard for the first time after he bought it.
Good luck.

 

The sooner it’s removed the better, why is it that important?

Bird excrement comprises; Ammonia and urine as white crystals of uric acid (pH 3.0 - 4.5) a small organic compound, which is produced by the breakdown of protein during digestion, and is excreted by reptiles and birds. Uric acid is also the end product of nitrogen catabolism in birds Ammonia is a mixture of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas; with moisture as a catalyst it becomes Ammonium Hydroxide, which is caustic.

Heat and water act as a catalyst; a vehicle paint surface temperature of >90.oF creates a very aggressive reactivity of the Alkaline, Uric Acid and Ammonia. This will cause surface etching, so they should be removed without delay, at lower temperatures (> 40.oF or less) there’s no reactivity and therefore little or no etching.



Aves bomb First Aid Kit- use a 1:20 Optimum No-Rinse (ONR) / distilled water solution in a fine mist spray bottle. The surfactants it contains encapsulate and trap bird and insect excrement, dry surface dust, or light dirt particles making them virtually non-abrasive and it can be used without causing scratches (check contents periodically as heat will evaporate the contents if stored in the car’s trunk).. Apply with a long nap micro fibre towel using very little surface pressure, dusting with long strokes in one direction only. For stubborn stains, soak the micro fibre towel and allow it to remain i n place for a few minutes and then wipe away the debris.