How To Remove Bugs, Road Tar & Tree Sap

Regular washing alone may not be enough to remove splattered bugs, road tar and tree sap from your vehicle's various surfaces. You may need a few select, specialized cleaners and a touch of patience to remove these contaminants.

Here in Florida we have "love bug" season twice a year and even a simple trip to the grocery store results in mass carnage as hundreds of love bugs spend their final moments being splattered on the front of our cars! In addition to making our cars look awful, these little bugs are very acidic and, if left on, can adversely affect the paint finish. If their remains are left on a vehicle for more than 48 hours, pitting and etching of the paint may result! The two most important things that you can do to prevent damage is keep your vehicle CLEAN and keep your paint PROTECTED.

Quite often we see cars with one to two week's worth of bugs accumulated on the front bumper, grill, hood, windshield, roof and side view mirrors. If the car owner has time they may pull into a tunnel-style car wash where the employees might spray a highly caustic chemical on the bugs to soften them up. Once the bugs are softened by this harsh chemical cleaner, the employee may scrub them off or spray the car with a pressure washer to reveal damage from the acids that the bugs leave all over the paint. In addition to removing bugs, these harsh chemical cleaners strip off any protection that may have been on the paint, so now the finish is even more vulnerable to new attacks!

Here a some suggestions to help your car make it through "bug season" clean and protected.

Apply Products That Protect Start the season with a fresh coat of polymer wax on your car's paint, a polymer coating on your windshield and quality dressing on any exposed rubber or plastic trim and moldings. Some of you may have heard to spray "Pam" or "wd-40" on the front areas of your car before going on a trip. DON'T. These products will harm your finish. They have however inspired Diamondite to come up with Bug Blocker! This product produces a safe sacrificial barrier that can be applied to the front facing areas of your car.

Clean Off Bugs ASAP Keep a microfiber towel and a bottle of quick detail spray in your car at all times and remove bug residue often, before it has a chance to harden and adhere to the paint finish.

Wash Your Car Often Wash your car at least once a week. Wash the hood, front bumper, grill and windshield areas first and let them soak with soapy car wash solution to soften bug residues. Do not scrub! Wash these areas again before you rinse the vehicle. You will find that soaking these areas first really does a great job of softening the bugs for easier removal.

Reapply Protection Reapply a polymer wax to the paint to increase protection. Keep in mind that waxes and sealants are simply microscopic sacrificial coatings and are not to be mistaken as "impenetrable armor". If the acidic bugs can damage paint which is fully cured and hardened and can last over 10 years, think about how much more damage they can do to wax who's lifespan is measured in months, not years.

A bug block or bug sponge might be required for tougher, more neglected cars. Make sure when using a bug block or sponge that it has had a chance to soak as well. This softens the material making it much less likely to scratch the paint surface.

Another method to removing bugs is using Auto Detailing Clay. Originally designed to remove paint overspray, detailing clay has quickly become a favorite detailer's tool for removing surface contamination including bugs, tar, brake dust, fallout and the before mentioned overspray. Detailer's clay is easy to use. You simply spray the area to be clayed with a good clay lubricant and gently rub the clay bar back and forth across the wet surface. Reshape the clay often to reveal clean clay as you work. Before you know it, you have a bug free surface. Please note that clay does remove wax and most sealants so you will need to apply a new coat of protection.

Road Tar & Tree Sap Road tar is most often found on the bottom of door panels, rocker panels and in wheel wells. Regular soap and water and even citrus-based cleaners usually will not remove tar that has affixed itself to your car's paint. We recommend a solvent-based product specifically made for removing tar, grease and tree sap.

Do not scrub when using specialized cleaners. Work in a shaded area on a cool surface and allow the product adequate dwell time and it will do the work for you. Use a soft cloth or microfiber towel to gently blot the area and wipe the tar away.

Tree sap is similar to road tar in that it dries very hard and attaches itself to your car's paint with a strong bond. The same solvent-based cleaner that you use for road tar will also work for tree sap as well.

IN SUMMARY Splattered bugs, road tar and tree sap require specialized and intensive cleaners designed to break down these hardened contaminants. Always use the least aggressive approach that you possibly can, work in a shaded area and never scrub with abrasive products that can damage your paint. Always follow up intensive cleaning with a protective paint care product to add shine and restore protection.