Emergency: Tree sap sprayed all over car!

R

riotejas

New member
Here's the scoop. I parked under a tree yesterday while was downtown last night. I come back to my car and notice my windshield looks like there is a spray of fine water sprinkles on it. I use my windshield wipers to wipe it away and notice that they just smudge all over teh windshield! :eek:



I freak out and realize that it's tree sap! I jumped out of my car and felt the paint on the hood and roof and realized there was tree sap all over the car! A fine mist of it everywhere!



I was freaking out the entire drive home, but was a little reassured since I have 4 coats of Z5 on my car. I guess that is better than having no paint protection! I could barely see out of my windshield, so I went to a buddies house and got a can of "Turtle Wax bug and tar remover" to apply to the windows. I applied it liberally with paper towels, then wiped it away. Tree sap was gone off the windows, but the bug and tar remover left a really oily film. I pulled out EO 20/20 and went over the windows.. seemed to do the trick.



However, now I was left with a car covered in tree sap. I'm out of town now visiting friends so I don't have any of my detailing supplies (read: no MF towels :( ). I went to the local self serve car wash to try and alleviate the situation.



I sprayed the car down with a presoak of soapy water with their pressure washer and let it sit there for a bit. I then turned on the foaming+soapy brush to scrub the windows. I then sprayed the car with the low pressure soap spray and let it sit there a few minutes. I then turned on the pressure washer and sprayed the car down thoroughly.



After all was said and done, most of the sap was gone! however, you can see some smudging on the finish and a few spots still have soem tree sap on it.



1) How did the tree sap get removed so easily? :confused: Did Z5 help the situation by not letting it bond to the paint?



2) what do I do now? I'm apprehensive to use the bug and tar remover all over my paint even though it says it's completely safe for all painted surfaces. The only claybar I own is a rock hard mother's clay bar which I'm not happy with. When I tried to use it in the past, I can barely manipulate it to turn it to a clean side. What to do?! :nixweiss



-----2a) does it matter if I wait to clay the paint and order a good clay kit (eg. pinnacle clay kit from CMA)

-----2b) can I just clay over the Z5?
 
I know exactly what you are saying. I had the same problem on a red Expedition I did a couple weeks ago. It was like they parked under a sap waterfall. I went to K-Mart and got a can of every sap remover I could find. This stuff worked the very best out of all of em.



<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0PAD**5cVOoTvY0!61Y09cAR7I85S1KO!jHszxGaUJVoFf4MiHQ9ihBMCuFML5R1s47xMyYD7kK4OjhYjsAZHWQ5zBD01!xI6/000sapremover.jpg"



The truck looked just like you say, lots of mist like sap spots. The truck was still pretty new so the pictures picked up more reflection than I would have liked but here is what it looked like before:



<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0NQAAALYSV!nxy!wKbUg34O!bdj6m4hkbaU2KO6iJTsB9tNRHfmpwJLgK4ZeukC8zULZlhZUpwINeHoMJA9LDUg/Before.JPG"



And this is the after picture:



<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0NAAAAHUSyNs0*PF4mIhhTfNy5hYy20W590HvWYVrjyqKOWtl79e2LF2HGsllzj9*MrVYRxTS16pC8IKEIvvXuA/after.JPG"



It works great. I had to use 3 cans of the stuff to get it all off but it was a breeze to do. Its a foamy kind of stuff. Just spray it on and let it sit for a minute. Then take a towel or a sponge and wipe it off. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get off. Good luck.
 
Having the Z5 on there probably helped you, as would have Turtle Wax, NuFinish, or Klasse. Anything that helps prevent the sap from attaching to the "pores" (if there are such a thing, but nevermind) of the paint will help.



The ways to remove the sap (clay, endless cans of tar remover, alcohol, hot water, etc) will also remove whatever wax you have on there.



Bottom line is, do what you can to get rid of it, then rewax.
 
The sap would fill up your clay in a hurry. I'd use sap remover first and then clay whatever is left over. I use clay for sap all the time but that is when there are just a few dots on the hood or something. No point in using a whole can of sap remover if there are only 12 dots of sap on a hood, eh? ;)
 
The sap would fill up your clay in a hurry. I'd use sap remover first and then clay whatever is left over. I use clay for sap all the time but that is when there are just a few dots on the hood or something. No point in using a whole can of sap remover if there are only 12 dots of sap on a hood, eh?
Click to expand...



I guess my question was if using bug+tar remover is harmful to my paint. Gauging from the responses, it seems like it's completely safe?



Here is my plan:

1) wash car thoroughly

2) bug and tar remover

3) wash again

4) clay bar

5) wash again

6) re-apply z5
 
Oh yeah. Its safe for paint. I don't know what it does to any wax or sealant on the car though. If it were me then I'd put another coat of whatever I had on my car after the Sap remover stuff. I don't know that this will strip any of it off but I'd put another layer on just to be on the safe side.
 
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