Picked up my car from a service appointment (2 weeks with the dealer for a obvious door rattle - long story short the rattle is still present and confirmed by the service manager despite the service receptionist telling me "they got it!"). Anyway, when I went to pick up the car the hood was covered in bird ****. After washing the crap off, turns out my ceramic coating was etched. Obviously I'm dealing with my dealership to resolve this issue, but is this the kind of service I should be expecting from Porsche? How would you all aim to resolve this issue? This is my first Porsche, but I've had Ford dealerships treat me better.

 

What brand of ceramic coating was applied to your car? The good stuff, properly applied, shouldn’t do that.

 

Opticoat pro plus. That is the good stuff. And I've taken several cars to my installer over the years, so I trust them. This is due to bird **** sitting on my car for likely days.

 

I took mine in to replace driver side FAL, found a surface level smudge on the rear fender...not even where they had to work.

Luckily it just required some minimal buffing, but...the fact that they were careless and didn’t even notice (and the advisor told me he did a once over).

 

Sounds like they owe you a paint correction and re-application of the ceramic coating.

stand firm!

 

And reapplication of the Xpel on that panel. Yeah I'm definitely standing firm on it. The whole thing is unacceptable

 

Wait....bird sh*t etched ceramic coated Xpel?

Must have been a g*damned pterodactyl.

 

It was pretty bad. Making the fact that they left it to harden for who knows how long even more infuriating

 

I think an eye for an eye approach is called for. Sorry don't mean to make light.

 

As in I should take a dump on one of their cars and let it etch in? Lol

 

did you try heating the xpel with a hair dryer or heat gun to see if it self heals? Not that it takes any of the responsibility off the dealership for treating your car like crap.

So to clarify it was the xpel that was etched, not the paint?

I'd go up the chain of command and start a conversation or email with the dealership GM.

 

Uh, what exactly is the point of all those coatings and wraps if they can't resist some bird crap?

 

There’s a lot of “hype” and false promises in our industry, and unfortunately for OP, he’s getting first-hand experience of the limitations of ppf and ceramic coating

To clarify, ceramic coating will exhibit different characteristics when applied to paint vs. ppf. Paint is hardened where ppf is simply a soft and pliable plastic and is more porous

Ceramic coatings, or any other coating, is no match for bird droppings, acidic and low pH, when left on for extended periods of time. You have some comfort knowing the damage is reduced since there is a coating on your film vs no coating at all

The paint is most likely untouched and film took the brunt of it

if you can post a photo, it would help me in better diagnosing what to do

I recommend taking it to the shop that installed the ppf and did ceramic coating. They will be much better equipped to diagnose and treat the area affected

the least evasive way is to neutralize the acid that’s now embedded in the pores of ppf, use a mild paint cleanser to minimize the etching as much as possible, prep and recoat

hope this helps

 

Ah, your paint didn’t get etched. It’s the PPF that got damaged. That better explains it.

 

op, just talk to GM and tell them what you want done ."****" like this happens at dealership all the time and it is part of running the business
My suggestion is : I am taking the car to the shop that installed the PPF to assess and repair damage and I will have them send you the bill ..
end of story
most/all managers are reasonable and accommodating