OT - Tree Sap Removal

[Lynn Standish]

Does anyone here have a foolproof method of removing tree sap from car paint? More specifically, the little sticky husks that rain down from Poplar trees when they leaf out in the spring, but also other little drops of miscellaneous sap.

I have consulted auto body supply stores and repair shops to no avail. Here is a list of what has been tried to date with mixed results:

Bug and Tar Remover
Acetone
Kerosene
WD40
Alcohol
Laquer Thinner
Adhesive Remover
Etc.

Once the sun has an afternoon to bake this stuff on, it's impossible.

[pcarpenter]

I had the same experience decades ago when I was wet sanding primer on my GTO in prep for paint. Got tree sap dots all over and couldn't get them off with any solvent (mineral spirits, prep-sol etc.). I was at wits end when I just washed it with soap and water and all was well

Its all a matter of having the *right* solvent and not necessarily the perceived *strongest* solvent.

paul

[Greg Parent]

Try butter or margarine...

[rkepler]

Turpentine tends to work pretty well, being a derivative of baking juice from pines while making charcoal (anymore it's synthesized, but the same stuff chemically). It's about the only stuff that takes off pine sap after a session in the yard, might work on your stuff as well.

Whatever you use will likely also strip the wax, so be sure to touch up the wax afterwards.

[Lynn Standish]

I've used a lot of soap and water, but not butter or turpentine. I'll try that. Cleaner wax doesn't work.

[Swarf&Sparks]

Whatever solvent you use, try heating it before applying.
I've had success with fairly hot kero or diesel.

Our eucalyptus resins are probably nothing like poplar tho.

[ckalley]

I once parked on of my cars under some pine trees in the yard and I had HUGE blobs of sap all over the roof and hood. I ended up using waterless hand cleaner (Go-Jo or simmilar). I put a blob of cleaner on top of the sap, let it soak for an hour or so and it all came off with a little elbow grease. Worked slick...
Craig

[torker]

Try butter or margarine...

Not sure if it'd work with leaf tree pitch but it works amazing with pine/fir pitch.
I worked in a lot of the old sawmills here and margarine was the hand cleaner of choice for pitch.
Russ

[john hobdeclipe]

Try a razor scraper and some really course sandpaper...works every time.

[Lynn Standish]

I thought of using an angle grinder, but didn't want to spring for the disks. I did try Goop hand cleaner, but didn't let it sit that long. The margarine idea is intriguing..........

I can deal with pine sap. It comes off pretty easy with mineral spirits, etc., and drips from the honeylocust just wash off with water, but this stuff is bad news, and there's a lot of it.

[IOWOLF]

Stuff called, Goof Off, or WD 40, Honest.

[lynnl]

I once bought a bottle of 'Pitch Remover' (don't remember if that was the exact name) from Sears, for cleaning saw blades and router bits. It worked really great for that. After a short soaking it would quickly soften and remove the residue burnished on to router bits that nothing else I tried would even touch.

That was quite a few years back.

[dp]

About a quart of gasoline and a couple ounces of 2-stroke oil should do the trick. That tree could be gone in an afternoon

I use mineral spirits for most everything else.