Any idea of what may have caused this?

[blacksun]

While using a clay bar on my car I noticed this odd spot in the paint on the hood of the car. The color is Volvo "Cosmic White" so its a metallic silver/white/green color and hides scratches and dirt well but also makes taking pictures of the paint difficult. It sort of looks like maybe etching from hard water or bird droppings but I've never seen the metallic paint under the clear coat look like this. I am able to feel the imperfections with my fingernails as well. The car is only a 2013 and I live in Maine so I doubt its a failure of the clear coat due to sun damage. I apologize for the poor pictures, it is much easier to see in person.
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[Aaryn NZ]

First thing, welcome to Autogeek Online. :xyxthumbs:

It is kinda hard to tell from the pictures but if you can maybe take a picture where the light source is halfway into the defect & on a fair bit of an angle, we may be able to see if it is something that has etched into your clear, as you have stated that you can feel it, chances are something has. This can make the base coat (colour) appear different too.

Aaryn NZ. :buffing:

[briarpatch]

I can see what u r talking about in the first photo......looks almost as if it has a leather-like grain to it......I'm guessing etching from bird poo

[blacksun]

49609

Here is a better picture. As I stated before the spot is quite hard to get a good picture of. I think this shows its etched into the paint somehow.

[Jay's 128i]

Yep, that's definitely etching caused by bird droppings

[Aaryn NZ]

Yep, that's definitely etching caused by bird droppings

:iagree: Yep, pretty certain thats what has happened. Great job capturing it in the photo, exactly how I wanted to see it. Sorry this has happened to your paint though.

Aaryn NZ.

[Jowillie]

So.. What's next?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmsc]

Which lsp were you using the prev 1/2 - 1 year?

[Shawn1112]

Can that be wet sanded out? Have similar on my black Ram 1500 but on my hood. Was on the hood less than 45 minutes.

[oldmodman]

Very careful and extremely slow sanding, then polishing to level the clearcoat. Just remember that the sanded area will be much thinner afterward. The clear could fail much faster than the clear around it.