Best Way to Remove Dried (baked!) on tree sap

L

LouisanaJeeper

New member
I am going to be detailing a car soon. The car's owner must park under trees all the time cause there is alot of tree sap baked on the surface (at least 1 spot per square inch of the flat surfaces). Is there a product can I use to remove most of this stuff before I can start claying?

Thanks
 
What Ed said. I had one of these about a month ago. It was very sloooow going until my Malco Rep came in. They have a product called Sap Sucker. ($9.95) Works very well, and quickly. It still requires some elbow grease.



Jim
 
I've tried all sorts of stuff. I detail this one family's cars and all of them get tons of tree sap on them. I've tried mineral spirits.. it's ok. Tarminator (get it at CMA)... works pretty good. I've also tried about 5 different bug and tar removers (make sure it specifies that it will remove tree sap). They all work alright, with a little elbow grease, as far as the tar hasn't had time to "bake on" and get rock hard. When it does "bake on" though I found that VERY CAREFULLY scraping the top layer of the sap and then attacking it with the solvent works very well... much easier and takes much less time. Either way you have to rub and rub at that sap to remove it. I keep telling people that if they have that problem they should probably invest in a car cover... saves time and money.
 
In my detailing profession, I've never encountered sap (no matter how hard) that wouldn't dissolve with either denatured alcohol or isopropyl alcohol. Shellac is made from sap resins, and denatured alcohol is what thins shellac.



You'll have a whitish haze from the sap breakdown, but wax will clean that right up, and you'll have to re-wax anyway.
 
Wow



My gf parks under trees, and they just cut some down, so earlier this summer, SAP WAS AWFUL!



But....it wasnt hard to remove at all...and this is when nothing was on the paint. Just a little extra rubbing, that was it...and this is sometiems after sitting on there for a week or two..in the sun. The one thing that was scary...it would be so much on times, it would look like someone spilled coke on the thing. I mean even runs and drips.



Lastly...i have a question...anyone have any tips on keeping the sap off? Just currious.
 
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