Car has been parked under a pine tree (though moved every day) for about one year. The car has been washed about once a month. and polished twice a year. But still it has very small spots of sap all over the car. The paint, fells like over spry, It doesn't want to wash off and after a good hard polishing it is still there. You can't see the sap spots and the paint shines real good. How to remove the sap?
Thanking you in advance, Gene Neal
Some users may consider this a stupid answer but a Clay Bar will take all of the sap off without possibly etching the paint with a caustic soap...
"Clay Bar" is not a wax... Look here... http://www.properautocare.com/usclaybartor.html
Quote from above link... "Today, clay bars are routinely used by professional detailers and body shops as a simple, safe way to remove overspray and surface contaminants from painted surfaces, chrome and glass."
Call me stupid if you want to but this is my experience and opinion...
Plain old soap and water works for me. Wax does nothing against tree sap. The stuff just sits there and laughs at you when you try to remove it with wax.
That will do the job. Also plain old mineral spirits paint thinner (that is all the Turtle wax bug and tar remover is) will dissolve the rosin without harming the paint.
Well, thanks! For all the info on the removal of Tree Sap.
(1) Your right, Polish or Car Wax doesn't do the job.
(2) I tried the Soap and Water, doesn't work.
(3) I tried a small amount of Gasoline on a rag, didn't work
(4) I tried the Mineral Spirits paint thinner, on a rag and let set fore a few minutes. Didn't work.
I went to a Detail Shop and they use something they call (New Car Solvent) but would not seal me any. I did shop around to the Auto Paint stores. They didn't know what the Auto clean up shops were talking about. what the paint store said to use was some kind of white stone like item and to be used with a high grade polish. These two items were to cost Thirty-five dollars ($35) and would not say for sure that it would work and not hurt the paint.
One thing that they all agree on is that it is tree sap and most likely pine tree sap.
Also they all tell me that it will just get back on the finish again and that the only thing you can do to make it easy to remove is to have the car painted with Teflon.
You know this is a new Car (2004) XLE Camry and I give it two have coats of wax be for it hit the street's.
I'm hoping you guys have some more ideas.
Again, Thank you all in advance, Gene Neal
We have the same problem with sap at our house and tried all the commercial available cleaners we could find with no success. Then my wife decided to try household bleach and to my surprise it removes it with no problem at all. We use it full strength on a soft cotton cloth and have not had any problems at all with it harming the finish. Hope this helps.
John
Try WD-40. It is an excellent bug and tar remover, will not hurt the paint finish, and might just soften the sap enough to remove it. After getting it all off, I would park the car somewhere else though.
try goo gone & a rag
its what I used on my old blazer & it worked great
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