Letter 23016

Can an egg damage car's clear coat?

+++ What damage does an egg have on a car's clear coat? Because my son is in trouble and he might have to pay a hefty amount of money. But we don't believe a [egg] can damage a clear coat. Derek Z [name deleted for privacy] - Bel Air, Maryland, USA +++ Believe it, Derek. Or just break an egg on your own car and let it sit for 48 hours before washing it off. And tell us what you believe then. An egg will absolutely damage a car's paint (or anything else's paint). If your son is a young child, sorry that it's an expensive way for him to learn that eggs are more damaging than he thought. If he's a teenager, sorry to say but he probably knew it :-( Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, NJ   First of two simultaneous responses +++ Overnight is enough to damage some paints. I think that it is the enzymes in it that do the most damage, but the sulfur content does not help either. The exact clear coat and under paint will make quite a difference. Having to mow a lot of lawns in the heat of the day to pay it off will be a fine lesson for him to learn about respect for other peoples property. Was it a Mercedes or a Corvette? James Watts - FL

An egg can cause staining of a car's clear coat. Ask my wife, she had two eggs thrown at her car by some students. The eggs were not immediately washed off and left lots of hazy white spots all over the car that couldn't be washed off later. Moral - avoid students during their post-exam festivities or don't drive cars near universities.

Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist - UK

Yes sir, egg can damage car's clear coat because it sticks on that. When we try to remove that then it leaves white spots.

Jyoti B [name deleted for privacy]
- Hisar, Haryana, India

How about teaching your kid to respect other people's property. YES it damages paint and YES it costs a lot to fix - basically you have to repaint everywhere that got egged, which is at least a few hundred dollars.

John S [name deleted for privacy]
- Richmond, BC, Canada

I would like some more information on the damage eggs do to cars, especially if on a blue metallic paint. My cousins car was egged and she was told her paint would need to be stripped entirely and repainted at a cost of $AUS 5500.

Does this sound correct?

If anyone could help or give advice and information it would be much appreciated.

Kate W [name deleted for privacy]
- Sydney,NSW,Australia

My stupid ex-girlfriend thought it would be funny to throw eggs at my car. When I noticed it happened, I immediately got a sponge and began washing it but it was three in the morning so I decided to wait until the next day to wash it. Unfortunately, it left a lot of marks that would not come off after washing it several times. I'm told that the protein in eggs mix with something in the paint and that is what damages it. If you dries and the paint, supposedly, that will get the protein out. I am going to try that tomorrow.

Joe L [name deleted for privacy]
- Massapequa, New York, United States

Say, Joe, maybe you have the answer then: Which came first, the chick ex'd or the egg?

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, NJ 

You SERIOUSLY need to teach your child some respect for the personal property of others. Some punk decided to egg my Dark Blue F250 one Friday night on a weekend when I just so happened to be ill and didn't leave the house for two days. I go out of the house Monday morning for work to find somebody was kind enough to throw ONE egg at my F250 Crew cab which up until that point had a near perfect paint job. This was in mid summer too so by the time I had seen what had happened it was too late.

I got out some Simple Green [link is to product info at Amazon] and a towel and scrubbed off the egg itself but where the egg made contact with the paint the finish is almost like the crinkle finish you find on certain hand tools or exhaust manifolds. In other words FUBAR.

Jared J [name deleted for privacy]
- Amarillo, TX, USA

Yes, egg will damage the paint on your car. My 1997 Pontiac was egged and the paint peeled right up. Not a good situation.

Edward P [name deleted for privacy]
- Buffalo, NY

There is nothing you can really do about egg once its dried on your car's paint. Use Bug Off/ Tar Off -- that helps, Or household ammonia (tsp with a cup of water) but either get touch up paint from the dealer or get it repainted.. sucks.

Sam [name deleted for privacy]
- Ventura, Ca

Early this morning, around 3 am I'm figuring...my vehicle got egged. I raced to the carwash at about noon today, and it was too late. The clearcoat on the driver's side door is ruined. I tried a little bug/tar remover and it helped a bit, but in general its going to need new paint on the door. YES...egg ruins your finish.

Monty W [name deleted for privacy]
- Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

My car was egged on Monday night. The eggs made little white swirls all over my door. I got an estimate for 300 bucks to repaint the door on my brand new Honda Accord. I think its really dumb how the parent above is trying to challenge that the egg can't ruin the paint from the cars that her son threw eggs at. He should pay and have to do community service to learn respect for his community.

Brian W [name deleted for privacy]
- Staten Island, NY

I think anyone who throws eggs at someone's car is a punk that needs to be disciplined severely. Community service is not enough. They need to be arrested if found. My daughter's 1991 Mustang with a black paint job that she worked very hard for has a ruined hood because of a loser kid that has no respect for other people's property.

Jerry N [name deleted for privacy]
- San Antonio, TX

Some jerk egged my car last night... Anyone have any idea how much it would cost to have my trunk lid repainted? 2004 Honda Accord. no damage from egg yolk/whites, just impact damage. arggh!!! damn kids.

Jennifer D [name deleted for privacy]
Marketing - Sterling, IL, USA

Hi there,
Ok here is what you should do. I work at a paint/body shop in Colorado and I paint cars and know a bit or two about lacquer, enamel, and urethane finishes. What year and make is the car? If it is an older car (lets say '90 or older) it is possible you might still have that crappy lead paint they used back before people learned how to paint cars right, and you may be out of luck. If it is peeling off... I'm sorry, there's not a lot you can do. If the paint under the egg seems like it is still intact, you would probably have some luck or at least help by attacking it with some household ammonia and some white vinegar.

If your car is a newer one, which I believe in 2006 it probably is, start out by trying some Goof Off [link is to product info at Amazon] or Goo Gone [link is to product info at Amazon] and soaking it. Just keep pouring the stuff on or cup it around the egg to keep it soaked and gently (with your fingernail) pick away at the egg. If this doesn't work, or you want better results, you will have to bring in the heavy guns. Get this stuff called M.E.K. (MEK / methyl ethyl ketone [link is to product info at Amazon]) and a respirator. Its usually around $12 and comes in a metal can. You might ask Home Depot if they recommend anything else for egg removal, I would be curious to see that they say, but M.E.K. should do the job. This is what we use in our shop to remove everything, essentially making the surfaces virgin again in preparation for paint and primer. We use paper towels because once they dry you can toss them in the trash, but I think for eggs you might have to use a rag or some sort of heavy sponge because this stuff evaporates within seconds, and you will need to keep rewetting it and scrub hard.
Now this is what I recommend is you have a factory or a Catalyzed Urethane finish because it won't harm the paint. If you have recently taken your car to Maaco and they sprayed it with Acrylic Enamel or Lacquer, you might experience some slight fading in the paint. Just be really careful and wear a respirator and ask questions if you need to.

And now for the shpiel.
What I've noticed when people bring their cars in to fix the "egg damage" is that the people, completely ignorant, are the ones who actually ruin their paint jobs. Upon noticing that baked egg has bonded onto the surface of their finishes, they feel compelled to pick, pry, and chisel it off. Even if they don't make it that far they will just grab some soapy water and a sponge and go at it without knowing that they are driving egg shells into their clear coat cutting it up. I love it when people do this because it gives my body shop lots of business, but at the same time I want to help all of you by telling you not to do that. There are very very very few substances on planet Earth that will remove auto paint and I can easily say egg is not one of them. One you will never find in a commercial store, and the other is Methylene Chloride... which hopefully your safeway chickens haven't been getting in to. This is a perfect example of why Auto Factories chemically engineer auto paints to be robust when up against bugs, tar, stickers, and other tacky substances. Baked egg will "bond" onto the paint and you simply need to get creative in "unbonding" the egg from the paint. This is why people usually will tell you to clean it off immediately, which is what I recommend too, but once it hardens there is still plenty that can be done. Try what I have recommended above and you should be in good shape. If there are seriously multiple layers of baked egg bonded into your finish, you've tried everything, and nothing at all works... then get back to me :-)
Good Luck

Jason M [name deleted for privacy]
- Littleton, CO, USA

Jason...

Thank you for those suggestions... I just this morning noticed upon washing my 2006 Nissan Maxima... that I have recently been egged...

The egg has definitely bonded, so I'm hoping your suggestions will save me a new paint job :)

Thanks again!!!

David G [name deleted for privacy]
- Leesburg, FL, USA

The guy who worked at the paint shop is only half right. Yah, you can make the damage worse by picking the egg off, and Yah, you can get the egg off if you wash the car slowly and carefully, but the paint is always stained, the albumin in the egg discolors the paint deep into the surface and ruins the finish. Not only that but the egg breaking will also ruin the paint, often creating a star-like pattern of cracks and paint chips where the egg shell gouged into the paint. How could this be, you may wonder? Well, the egg itself is an amazingly strong and resilient container. It's shape allows a very thin hard structure to protect it's gooey interior, which does nothing structurally to keep the egg from breaking. If you are unlucky enough to have the egg strike the car on the "pointy" end of the egg (which is undoubtedly the strongest part of the structure), the impact will force the shell chips to make about fifty little paint chip gouges and to crack the surface of your paint. I know this, because this happened to my car last night, when some little punk egged my car, and ruined the finish. This is the second time my car has been egged, and both times the paint was damaged in this way, as well as suffering a large paint-stained area. So I have sent out evil-death-from-boils mojo towards the little snot who egged my car. You are basically a real primo jackass if you egg a car, you are in essence destroying the entire paint job on the car... To the woman whose son egged the car, STOP DEFENDING HIM AND DISCIPLINE HIM. He did it, and is a vandal. Teach him to be responsible for his vandalism, and that he must pay if he chooses to wreck other people's stuff. AND DON'T YOU PAY FOR IT, MOMMY... Make him pay, and then he will LEARN to be a citizen.

Jerzy K [name deleted for privacy]
- Los Angeles, CA

My 2005 Black Metallic Jeep Grand Cherokee was egged last night.

This is the 3rd time we have had an egging -- 1st for my Jeep.

The first 2 were on my husband's truck and we haven't noticed any damage. One time it rained during the night which so saved him. There other was on a truck we got rid of so I don't know that it ever hurt the paint.

I realize this was just luck because mine was so much worse.

There was one egged thrown and thrown within 5 - 10 ft of the truck making a hard impact. By the time I saw it in the morning, the white had dried and the yellow was almost dry -- but not baked on. The morning temp was 55'.

So far, I can't see that there is any paint damage. But, the impact of the egg shell made a circle that is about the size of an apricot with several little circles inside. This mix of circles is where the egg chipped off my paint.

I immediately took it to a body shop this morning (within 2 hrs of washing the egg off) to see if they could buff the mix of circles.

No luck the cuts are too deep so I am going to have to pay $400.00 to have my hood repainted. They put some clear stuff on it to buff and said that it made the problem look much worse than they originally thought. The buffing did help a bit, but I can still see the nicks in the paint.

I have a dealer Simoniz treatment on my paint so I wasn't so worried about the paint, but I never thought about the egg shell cutting into the paint.

Egging is basically a harmless act according to my local police department. Just wash it off. If it does damage, just turn it in to the insurance company -- Yeh, great solution to it!

What ever happened to respect? Sorry, just venting. Still greatly upset about the whole thing.

I am curious how the inside of the egg really does affect the paint. What is it in the egg that causes the problem and what is the problem that it creates?

Ang N [name deleted for privacy]
- West Frankfort, IL, USA

Someone smashed an egg inside the door of my gas tank and it oozed all down the passenger side of the car. It looked like milk or even ice cream and my kids didn't think anything about it(!). I discovered little bits of egg shell and yolk inside the gas tank door one day filling up my tank. That was when they told me it had been there awhile. We have been having some pretty hot weather and sitting on black top most of the day is even hotter so I figure that egg had been baking on my car for the better part of a week.

Now, I have heard of the horrors of eggs and paint jobs so I got on-line for some advice.The best information was on your site. I decided to start with vinegar and water before I went for MEK. Equal parts water,white vinegar, a soft cloth and elbow grease got the better part of the egg off my metallic green'01 Ford Focus. I don't see any peeling, cracking or discoloration. I don't think this says as much about vinegar as it does the Ford finish on my car! This is the finish I purchased with the car. I never wax or seal the paint. I may just be lucky. If so, I am grateful!

Leslie M [name deleted for privacy]
- Morrisville, PA

My car got egged. I just moved into the neighborhood and JUST bought my new Honda Civic LX. It had to have been after 11:30 pm as I hadn't been home until 11 and forgot my cell in my car so I'd gone out around 11:25 or so. I went out to my car for work the following morning to find my entire windshield COVERED in yellow yolk and nasty slimy, my hood chipped up by the sprayer nozzles, and it looks like a 4th egg ricocheted off of one of the nozzles to the top of the windshield where it splattered yolk all over the hood of my car. Luckily, most of the eggshell was gone, and I picked what I could off of the car with my fingers. I had to find an ice scraper in a box in my garage to scrape the thick yolky puss goo off of my window so I could see, and immediately took my car to a pressure wash (20 minutes late for work already). That got about 1/2 of the coating off of my windshield, so I ran it through again and it got most of it off. After doing it by hand in the do it yourself bay, I got all of the gooey stuff off, only to discover the series of 27 tiny chips where the egg had impacted on my hood and cracked my nozzle.

Welcome to the neighborhood, huh?

Luckily, my nozzles are being replaced with chrome/green neon ones to match the rest of the modifications being planned. I just noticed today that there's a spider crack on the front of one of my headlights from an egg, too. Whoever did it is lucky I haven't found out who they are...yet. I did NOT just invest $22K into a vehicle to have it destroyed by someone out on a joyride of vandalism before school starts.

I submitted a police report to find that in my neighborhood, 4 houses have been egged, 3 mailboxes have been garnished with mustard *inside and out* and one mailbox had been thwacked off with a baseball bat.

I have installed 3 security cameras to catch whatever lil did this and I hope they realize I have the money to press charges and make sure they get what's coming to them. And with the backup from my other neighbors, the kid(s) are looking at MONTHS of community service and THOUSANDS in fines. The damage to my hood is approximately $400...plus $29 in car washes, plus roughly $90 I was out from work.

Daniella M [name deleted for privacy]
- Reynoldsburg, OH, USA

As a victim of car egging, I can vouch that eggs WILL IN FACT _DESTROY_ PAINT. My brand new 2006 Silverado was egged as well as my wife's Cavalier and LUCKILY I got it all off with minimal damage to my truck. My wife, however, was very unfortunate. It got left on for a few days and it literally ate its way through the paint down to the metal. The paint began to peel off of the car. Eggs are _VERY_ acidic and it's the acid within that eats the paint. Eggs should be left on the car for no more than an hour or two before physical damage begins. I had a special polymer coating on my paint which saved my butt I think. It ate through the polymer coating which bought me some extra time before it hit the actual paint.

After cleaning, WAX YOUR CAR! A wax won't prevent damage, but it will buy you a few precious hours to get it off of your car.

Joshua B [name deleted for privacy]
- Omaha, NE, USA

MY car was egged back in June up where I'm currently at school. They broke the eggs over my car so lucky me, I had no shell damage. They covered the car in egg. The most damage was on the hood of the car. Has a leathery type texture to it. If it doesn't get fixed, mother nature will wear off the clear coat in a year or two. There are spots all over the car. It will cost over 2 grand to fix. Check your state laws of vandalism. First off, get a free estimate at the paint shop. In my case, the people who did this will be fined up to 10 grand and spend 1-5 years in prison if convicted of injury to property in excess of 1,000 in damages. I think it's 400 in California. If you ever find out who egged your cars, press charges. It'll be a lesson they never forget.

Jared S [name deleted for privacy]
- Houston, TX, USA

Yeah, I just got egged last night. It was a pretty cool temperature this morning (being December), so that may have saved me some time to get it cleaned off. I have a brand new BLACK 2006 Mustang. I haven't noticed any fading...yet. But I do have the tale-tell swirl marks and one tiny chip of paint where the egg smashed into the car. Now I have to pay $300+ for a 10 cent egg being smashed into my car by some half-wit teenager who doesn't understand the damage it can do. There is no thought process for the punks that do this kind of stuff. No thoughts of "Gee, when I get a brand new car, would I be happy if someone eggs it and destroys the paint job?". You think it's funny until it happens to you.

Brian H [name deleted for privacy]
- Louisville, KY, USA

Use vaseline intensive care lotion to take the stains out of the paint. And please forgive my son and I he was only 12 at the time and we went to get back at someone who egged and Tee-Pee'd us first. However, his friends thought it would be okay to do this to others as well.-Not part of the plan.

Mary Senn
- Rockport, TX, USA

My four week old 2008 Silverado got hit over Memorial Day weekend. One egg passanger side, didn't realize for half a day. Cleaned up alright with the exception of a 1X1 imperfection of the paint. Kids will be kids (Still doesn't make it right).

Steven Castillo
- Harlngen, Tx, USA

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