[Toebee]

2 months ago I started parking the GTO in the back of the parking lot at work to limit door ding damage. But, what I wasn't prepared for was sap damage. The trees started budding 2 weeks ago and now I have little droplets of sap all over the hood, roof and trunk.

Is there a product out there that can clean this effectively without damaging the finish.?

Thanks in advance.!

 

[GTODEALER]

I'm not very good at detailing cars, but, you might try to pm B A Betterperson, he knows what he's doing when it comes to detailing and touch up! :cheers

 

[GM Kid]

I've had a lot of luck with this Meguiar's product, Toebee:

http://www.meguiars.com/estore/product_detailpage.cfm?sku=G-107&store=%

It's a spray, but it's fairly thick and will cling to whatever you spray it on. You spread it around with a foam applicator (or a soft cotton cloth), leave it for a bit, and it softens the gunk enough to remove it.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

Thanks for the compliment GTODEALER.

Tree saps, like bug remnants, are water soluable. Place your car in an area where there isn't any direct sunlight (and no, not in the shade of a tree, har har) and simply hose the car down.

Just soak the car for around 15 minutes -- hitting it again every few minutes so it doesn't dry and create water spots. Then wash your car normally, using a big chenile mit and a bucket of Meguiar's car wash (the pink stuff that doesn't have any goofy waxes or additives in it). Just keep swirling the mitt -- using a lot of the soapy water as a lubricant. That should do it. If not, then GM Kid's solution is the way to go.

Again, this same approach works on bug remnants, too. Just hose off the front of your car and work back to front. When you get to the front -- everything comes right off because it has already been softened up.

BTW, one of the benefits of having a good coat of wax on your car is that you have a barrier to play with. Had a white WS6 TransAm once. Some jerk drew a line down the size of it with a big, fat Marks-A-Lot magic marker. Got home, hit it area with some polish and reglazed -- totally gone in 5 minutes. If there wasn't any protection there -- the clearcoat may have gotten stained.

 

[Fawkes]

I've used Simple Green and a white cotton wash cloth, followed by a clay bar, and then a fresh coat of Zaino with success.

 

[GM Kid]

Ha! Leave it to me to make things more complicated than they have to be.

B A Better's right: Try the simple solution first. Honest to goodness, I've returned from trips to the mountains with the family GMC Envoy covered in so much pine tree sap that it felt like I'd had it painted with pickup truck bedliner, and yet a good bath in soap and water got it all off. I guess I was assuming you'd already tried that.

 

[GTODEALER]

I very quickly learned that I do not know how to detail a car!!!!! :willy: :lol:

 

[simpy]

I really thought I would see some pics of another Sport Appearance Package here, lol. j/k, I agree with everyone above, most of the time a little effort with warm water and car wash will take the SAP off.

 

[linux_fan]

I've used bug-off (or at least I think that's the name) in the past to get stuff off of cars, but be careful - not only will it eat off bug remains and sap and tar, it'll eat off your paint if your not really careful.

 

[Toebee]

Thanks for the great responses. I will try b_a_betterperson's suggestions. As he said, if it doesn't work then GM Kid's suggestion. Well... Looks like this weekend is booked for car detail..

I like those kind of weekends anyway.

 

[asteng88]

Detail King

Hi,
This is an area of interest that I have to the point that I have my own polish mixed for me to a detailed specification. Anyway, use a clay bar. What this does is catch hold of all the impurities in the paintwork and hold them in the clay bar. The bar itself is about the size of a bar of soap and is enough to do the car about 3 times. The best I have found is Mothers California Gold and retails with Carnuba Wax and the Lubricant Spray for around $15. Well worth the money. It will bring a VERY deep shine to the car and remove ALL of the sap. Soaking your car wont really get rid of all of the other impurities.

You might want to get a car cover as well to stop this sap from sticking to your car.

Hope this Helps

Andrew

 

[Toebee]

Thanks...

If you live in the northeast, you will undoubtably still be drying out from the torrential downpours (from the nor' easter) this weekend. I left for work this morning and it was still raining..! :willy:

I really wanted to get the detailing done this weekend. I hope we don't have another summer like last year where it was beautiful during the week, but the weekends SUCKED.! I'll be really P!$$ed..!

 

[GumbyGoat]

I know this is an old thread, but it happened to me today...DAMMIT!!!!!...so I thought I would share the remedy I used. First off, it was all over the car. Tiny little droplets of "don't it just piss you off". Anyway, for those of you that use Zaino Bros. products, I took some of their car wash soap and mixed it in a spray bottle about 10 parts to 1 (1 being the soap) and used hot water, because by the time it gets sprayed out it will just be warm. I sprayed an area and wiped it off and the sap came off easily. I had to do pretty much the whole car, but it worked well. I'm sure you could use any car wash soap. After I did that I went back over the whole car with a damp cloth, followed by a microfiber (man, those things are great) towel and it came out just fine. It took me about an hour to do it, but I could not drive my chariot looking like that. Hope this helps anyone else who may have the same misfortune. Note to self: Don't park under any more damn trees.