Cleaning off Tree Sap?

Le_Petit_Lapin

Le_Petit_Lapin

Le_Petit_Lapin

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How do you get tree sap and other black speckled crap off the roof of a car?

Its been sitting parked under a Sycamore tree daily, and the roof and bonnet are a mess. Pressure washer and car wash didn't have any effect on it.

I've been told a clay bar is the way to go.

1) Is it?
2) Where can I order one?
3) How do I use one?

Yes, I'm a car maintenance noob. :o
 
the zymol one is a lot better tho ;)

the spray the give u with the clay in the meg kit is crap

u need the propper lube
 
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WE have x9 huge pine trees in our front garden and trust me, it's sooo annoying and has been for years.

I find a little white spirit on a rag gets the stuff off nicely. My meguiars body scrubb doesn't do **** vs white spirit.
 
A drop of brake fluid will have that straight off.......










Along with the paint, so don't do it!
 
Before you resort to a clay bar, simply getting your normal car shampoo with some hot water will remove it in most cases. If your car has a half decent layer of wax on protecting it, it should be all you need. Note you need it to be hot, not just warm. Saying that though, with the weather being so cold, it's not always a good idea to do this on your glass... I always use a hot wash first, then resort to a clay bar if it's really bad.
 
Not only will a clay bar remove all traces of Tree Sap, it will also lift all other containiments bonded to the paint work. You wonder how us Detailers acheive such a "wet look" on our paint, its from having a good base finish to start with and building up the wax/polish/sealent combinations.

Ive clayed cars weeks old from the dealers and even then you can see the difference in the depth of the shine, and the ever popular - hand across the body wide - test.

OCUK do sell the Megs Quick Detailer, and this is a really good clay to start with. Just give the car a good wash (not using a sponge as it drags the dirt around - so use the Megs Lambs Wool Wash Mitt also sold by OCUK), then a good dry (I personally use the Megs Water Magnet amongst others), then all you do is a panel at a time - give the body a good squirt of detailing spray, cut the clay in half, make it nice and warm in your hands, then rub in straight lines down the panel. You will see the muck coming off immediately on the clay bar.

If you think Im mad, then thats your opinion - but check out the other obsessive compolsives over at www.detailingworld.co.uk - good place for detailing guides as product reviews as well..

Remember, before and after photos with this too!!!!
 
Don't forget though after using the clay bar you'll need to get a layer of wax on it quick smart to seal the paint. :)
 
Right, well, I got the chance to give this a shot today, seeing as the sun was shining and no clouds in sight. Didn't go so well... :o

Started off first by cleaning the car, usual car shampoo and a wooly mitt thing, just so I could see what would come off with the hot water. In general, the car was cleaner, but this "tree sap" stuff just wasn't shifting. Its been there for ages, I just kept putting it off.

So, onto the clay bar, And yes, the stuff starts to move....but slowly. Really slowly....given that the roof and bonnet was covered in the stuff. Got bored of that so went back into the house to see what else I could use.

Came back out with Cif Oxy-Action and a normal bath sponge (silly me). That Cif stuff really shifted that dirt, cleaned the whole car in about 20 minutes when got going. Used the back side of a washing up sponge (aye, the side with the rough scraping bit for pans) to clean up the bumpers as they are plastic, no paint, and have a textured finished.

At this point, I get the clay bar out again, and give the whole outside a going over. Car looked alright, definately a lot better that it had before, so run it down to a friends garage to use their power hose, to clear it all up.

At this point, I got a bit distracted, and decided to clean up all the rusty bits of the car, panels with little holes in them, stuff like that and...unfortunately a back window, the underside of the inside of which, which looked like some little monster had been slowly eating the panel. Sorted that out with Aluminium mesh stuff and Isopon P40, then a coat of P38, a sand down and a spray.

Now, I do notice that the outside of the car is covered in swirly paint marks when the sun catches it, no doubt caused by my over zealous of kitchen de-greaser and a crap sponge on the paintwork. So how do I clean this up?

I've got wax sitting here ready to go....should I get a good liberal coat of that on and see if the paint is noticable? Should I clear-coat the whole car?

Also, theres is little tiny cracks in the paint on the front of the car, only wee circles about 1mm across, which I'm assuming are caused by either stone chips, or that tree crap having ate the paint. Does T-Cut sort those out, or will I have to re-spray the lot?

Sorry the post is a bit rambly. :p
 
Le_Petit_Lapin said:
Right, well, I got the chance to give this a shot today, seeing as the sun was shining and no clouds in sight. Didn't go so well... :o

Started off first by cleaning the car, usual car shampoo and a wooly mitt thing, just so I could see what would come off with the hot water. In general, the car was cleaner, but this "tree sap" stuff just wasn't shifting. Its been there for ages, I just kept putting it off.

So, onto the clay bar, And yes, the stuff starts to move....but slowly. Really slowly....given that the roof and bonnet was covered in the stuff. Got bored of that so went back into the house to see what else I could use.

Came back out with Cif Oxy-Action and a normal bath sponge (silly me). That Cif stuff really shifted that dirt, cleaned the whole car in about 20 minutes when got going. Used the back side of a washing up sponge (aye, the side with the rough scraping bit for pans) to clean up the bumpers as they are plastic, no paint, and have a textured finished.

At this point, I get the clay bar out again, and give the whole outside a going over. Car looked alright, definately a lot better that it had before, so run it down to a friends garage to use their power hose, to clear it all up.

At this point, I got a bit distracted, and decided to clean up all the rusty bits of the car, panels with little holes in them, stuff like that and...unfortunately a back window, the underside of the inside of which, which looked like some little monster had been slowly eating the panel. Sorted that out with Aluminium mesh stuff and Isopon P40, then a coat of P38, a sand down and a spray.

Now, I do notice that the outside of the car is covered in swirly paint marks when the sun catches it, no doubt caused by my over zealous of kitchen de-greaser and a crap sponge on the paintwork. So how do I clean this up?

I've got wax sitting here ready to go....should I get a good liberal coat of that on and see if the paint is noticable? Should I clear-coat the whole car?

Also, theres is little tiny cracks in the paint on the front of the car, only wee circles about 1mm across, which I'm assuming are caused by either stone chips, or that tree crap having ate the paint. Does T-Cut sort those out, or will I have to re-spray the lot?

Sorry the post is a bit rambly. :p
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Please tell me thats a joke......you cant have seriously use kitchen cleaner on your, do you know how abrasive that stuff is.

I think you need to get someone with a PC to come and try and get all the damn swirls out.
 
IT Insider said:
Ive clayed cars weeks old from the dealers and even then you can see the difference in the depth of the shine, and the ever popular - hand across the body wide - test.

!!!!
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Tell me about it, my brand new ST was a mess, looked great but you could feel the crap in the paint, after a good going over all was well again.

You dont actually need the flash megs lube when you run out tho, just fill the bottle up with some of you carwash concentrate, and thats more than sufficient as a lube.
 
ci_newman said:
I'm so sorry :( Brillo pads should *never* be used on paintwork on a car...

What car is this?
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Not a brillo pad, lol....just one of those plastic versions of them....and on the bumpers only. The bumpers are fine, good and clean.

Its the paint thats a bit buggered. It looks fine until the sun catches it, then you can see the swirly marks. I havent cut big grooves into the paint...just sorta swirled it about a bit with the unforgiving Tescos own brand sponge. :o

Its a 1992 Citroen AX. Nothing special by a long shot. Looks far better that it did before I started tbh.


Please tell me thats a joke......you cant have seriously use kitchen cleaner on your, do you know how abrasive that stuff is.

I think you need to get someone with a PC to come and try and get all the damn swirls out.
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Well, I know how abrasive it is now. Still, got rid of the tree goo. :p

I'm not massively worried about the swirls tbh, as I say, its only when the light catches it. Just want to know if a good going over with wax will ...er... hide it a bit. Or clear-coat for that matter....would a coat of that sort it? From spraying my PC I seem to remember that it covers all manner of sins.
 
Le_Petit_Lapin said:
Not a brillo pad, lol....just one of those plastic versions of them....and on the bumpers only. The bumpers are fine, good and clean.

Its the paint thats a bit buggered. It looks fine until the sun catches it, then you can see the swirly marks. I havent cut big grooves into the paint...just sorta swirled it about a bit with the unforgiving Tescos own brand sponge. :o

Its a 1992 Citroen AX. Nothing special by a long shot. Looks far better that it did before I started tbh.




Well, I know how abrasive it is now. Still, got rid of the tree goo. :p

I'm not massively worried about the swirls tbh, as I say, its only when the light catches it. Just want to know if a good going over with wax will ...er... hide it a bit. Or clear-coat for that matter....would a coat of that sort it? From spraying my PC I seem to remember that it covers all manner of sins.
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Get a tub of scratch X and then a decent polish, that will try to get the swirls out, a wax is just something that you use to seal polished paint work.
 
You need to polish it before you wax it. Polish cleans up the paintwork, wax then protects it afterwards.

edit / i type too slowly :(
 
Got it polished today, cleaned it right up! I'll definately be using that in future if it gets into a bad state and not kitchen cleaner... :o

Wasn't able to get the wax on yet though, it'll have to wait until tomorow, its gone all foggy and freezing cold outside.

But anyway, the paintwork looks much better now, thanks for all the advice. :)
 
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