The street I usually park on when I go to work had some routine tree-trimming done a few days ago, after which signs were posted on all the trees along the curb reading:
“CAUTION: TREES DRIPPING SAP”
OK, I think. I suppose they put them there as a courtesy so people don’t get nailed in the face by globs of sap. My car is due for a wash anyway, so it’s no big deal if it gets a little on there. I park right under one of the trees and merrily go on my way.
Sure enough, when I get back there were these little drops of clear sap peppered across it. I go to the car wash that night, and much to my dismay the sap is completely unaffected by the high-pressure wash. I further make the mistake of touching some, at which point I realize this is the absolute stickiest substance known to man. (I washed my hands at least a dozen times before it even started to come off)
So I scrub the stuff by hand with a gas-station style window cleaner/scraper deal, and it just smears all over making it worse. Now I have a car, that a girl I gave a ride to today said, and I quote, “looks like it’s covered in cum”.
I haven’t specifically done sap myself, but there’s a category of these things at an auto-parts store. I use Turtle Wax Bug & Tar Remover. You have to rub it in by hand.
Turtle wax bug and tar removier will NOT harm your clear coating on the car. Simonized coating ro whatever. Heavy rubbing with alcohol may if it is not diluded. I haven’t tried it. But I love the Turtle Wax stuff, use it all the time !
I don’t know if it helps to know, but a friend of mine who’s a forester told me that usually the “tree sap” dripping on cars is actually aphid droppings.
In Rigamarole’s original post, it’s certainly actual sap. For the car, tar remover will take it off. It will also remove your car wax, so be prepared to rewax. For your hands, heavy duty hand cleaners such as Goop will dissolve it.
As Pravnik said, most gooey little drops on the car parked under a tree are aphid poop, also called honeydew. Ants store it as food, and they’re the ones that put the aphids up in the trees in the spring. Usually, if you see ants running up and down a treetrunk, they probably are milking a herd of aphids up there. The surplus gets on your car. It’s only sugary poop, and hot soapy water is often enough to remove it.
It’s a 2002 Toyota Camry and it just had whatever they sold it with as far as the coating is concerned. I think the sap may be gone now, just from being worn down from the weather. Here is the thread where I vainly asked what to do about it.
