I have about two seasons’ worth of sap on my car, and the bug/tar/sap remover I bought at Auto Zone® isn’t helping at all.
Any ideas on how to remove very old, very dried sap from a car?
TIA
Here is an article on how to do it. They recommend WD40 or baby oil if wax doesn’t work.
You can also use naphtha (available at any Ace or TrueValue hardware) Very cheap, and won’t harm the finish. Do not let them switch you to acetone or methyl ethyl ketone, which soften auto paint.
First of all, it’s not sap. That stuff on your car when you park under a tree is aphid poop. It is also known as honeydew. Ants grow aphids, storing their eggs in their burrows in winter. In the spring, the ants carry freshly hatched aphids up into the trees, where the aphids suck the juices out of the trees. The ants troup up and down the trunk, sucking up the sweet aphid poop and barfing it up to feed the ant larvae down in the nest. The aphids don’t hold their poop for the next ant, and the surplus falls on your car. The crap is mostly sugar, and once it hardens, it can be removed with very hot water and dish detergent. It may take a long time and a lot of rubbing with a cloth or sponge. This will probably take off all your wax, too.
I just hit them with a wood handle of a tool, gently. the things then come off…