[E92inNC]

Hi all,

Monday morning I came out to my car after work and noticed there were shiny little dots/flakes on the windshield when I started driving it in the sunlight around 2PM. I washed the car Sunday and figured it was just the lint I always get from the microfiber when cleaning the windows. Last night I finally took a MF to it to remove it and found out it was tiny dots stuck onto the glass and could only get it off with a razor with glass cleaner. I feel the hood and its all over that too and most of the car but not as concentrated on the doors, fenders, etc., just the windshield, hood and roof. I'm thinking its off the tree thats near me when I park at work.

Any suggestions on how to remove it? I'm afriad I might just make it worse by washing it again. I'm thinking I might start with a small portion on the bumper where there little of it to see if I can wash it off and if I ruin it I can always go to M-Tech bumper.

Thanks for any inputs.

[evoix]

First you cut that tree down. I had the same problem from tree sap garbage. Wash and rub as hard as you can. THen polish the car. Its not going to be easy and is going to take time. Eventually all the spots will go away

[deadmn1337]

Try claying it after washing. May help a little.

[tc535i]

there's special cleaner for sap removal, check your local car care center or find some online

might try Tarminator by Stoner

[Chuta]

Look up user name "Detailed Image" Ivan with DI will know exactly what to do, how to do it, and what to use.

[E92inNC]

Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely going to hit up Ivan and ask for help.
About six weeks ago I clayed and put three layers of Klasse SG over the weekend and was hoping to add in a machine polish in May to make her pretty for the summer but I guess that's probably out the door. Needless to say I'll be parking somewhere else from now on. I picked that spot b/c no one else parks there and she's only exposed to the sun for about an hour or two while I'm at work.

[Elliott@DetailAddict]

Don't scrub it, it'd scratch you car. Try using a clay bar to remove the contaminants.

[Detailed Image]

Copied my response from the other thread as I posted there before I saw this...

Originally Posted by sxyblue

I have a buch of tiny dots the size of a needle's tip on my car from what I think is tree sap. What do you recommend I do to safely remove it? About a month and a half ago I clayed and put three layers of Klasse SG on it if that's relevant.
I'd rather use a product that doesn't remove the sealant but would be more than happy to spend the weekend re-applying it if I can use a high quality product to remove the dots.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about your issue. While I haven't had to deal with a lot of tree sap on personal or clients' vehicles, I absolutely hated every time I did have to remove it!

I suggest you have a quick look at the article How to Remove Tree Sap From my Car? by Chad on the DI Ask-a-Pro blog as he explains it pretty well.

Basically, you'll want to try to remove it chemically as much as possible (meaning as little wiping/scrubbing/etc as possible) in order to minimize marring in the paint. If you have a darker/sensitive paint, you'll probably end up with some marring regardless, but the less the better. If you can't break it down thoroughly using something like isopropyl alcohol, clay bar should get it off, but again, I would try to take your time and remove it without clay bar, scrubbing, etc.

Since it's everywhere, you might want to try both methods and if the clay bar is quickly removing everything, it may be a better choice to simply go with the clay then plan on polishing. This way, you'll save a lot of time and headache and you'll probably have to polish after both methods anyway.

Hope that helps, definitely let us know how it goes.

Ivan @ DI