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What is tree sap? and more to the point, how in goodnesses name did it manage to cover my entire car, all over? Is it potentially harmful to the paintwork & should I get it off ASAP?
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Sticky stuff...falls from the trees! Did you park under one?
No, it wont do your paintwork any good!
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Must be from parking under a tree (not necessarily directly underneath) unless there was a mobile tree temporarily parked near your car for a while. Estate agent speak of an attractive tree-lined street sounds great until you need to leave your car there all the time. I seem to get affected more than the neighbours though, but they all clamour for the tree-less space outside my house, as do I when the drive is otherwise in use.
But do blobs of sap do much harm as such, apart from look a mess? Good quality car waxes are derived the sap of the Carnauba palm tree.
A bigger worry are the droppings of birds that sit in the trees.
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Dirt sticks to sap, dries on like concrete - like all that tar and fly guts that you get on the front, only worse.
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Tree sap is aphid poo. It hardens, like amber, and the act of getting it off can cause paint damage unless you are careful.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Effects are worse since the introduction of water based paints too. These were introduced at the behest of anoraky people who hug trees to squeeze the sap out of them and wreck your paint BTW!
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perleman, washing with as hot water as possible (break out the Marigolds!) will remove some of the less sticky ones. Putting wet kitchen roll over them for 5 minutes beforehand will help loosen them - as it does with dried bird poo. With what's left, probably the best action (for your paint) would then be to use a "gentle" clay bar and lots of liquid as this will lift them off causing less damage than vigorous polishing or aggressive solvents. Claying will remove any wax as well, so once you've got them off, a quick polish if it needs it and two or more coats of wax will restore the paint and protection and make the little blighters easier to remove next time round.
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Tree sap is aphid poo. >>
'Tree sap' may be 'aphid poo' but it may be resin produced by the tree. It's an annual topic on here. Last discussed, I think, www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=42158&...f
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Keep a wet sponge in a ziploc bag in the back of your car.
And some rubber gloves and a bottle of water.
In case of large "birdstrikes" on the paintwork when you are parked anywhere.
And as mentioned above, a damn good clean with plenty hot water, then lashings of polish/wax, will keep the paintwork protected, and will be easier to clean off after the next attack.
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After considerable experimentation I've found that Holt's tar remover will dissolve the blobs of gum from pine trees very quickly without damaging the paint. Then wash thoroughly and wax. Found this out after my new Mercedes was covered in gumone year in Spain.
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It's not sap. It's droppings from aphids - greenfly for instance. (A theory as to what was the Manna that the Israelites were given in the desert is that it is the droppings of insects - which are sweet and sticky. Ants will 'milk' greenfly for their sweet droppings. You will often see them going up a plant that is infested with greenfly.
A devil to shift off a car, though. And they can make windows virtually opaque.
Bird Guano is much more damaging to paintwork as it is highly acidic and eats into paint.
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Not only do ants milk aphids for honeydew, they act as bodyguards for them. If a ladybird (voracious predator of aphids) gets too close, they'll gang up and barge it off the plant.
The honeydew itself is mostly sugar and water, so it seems unlikely to harm paintwork and is reasonably easy to shift with warm, soapy water. Our street is lined with lime trees, which seem to be the most aphid-rich, and my car seems to be doing OK in its fifth summer of being parked on the drive. It's been regularly rinsed with rainwater this year, so it's hardly been a problem.
That said, I'm not looking forward to August, when I sometimes go to get in the car and find it crawling with sugar-crazed wasps!
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What it need to cure the problem is swarms of those lovely little insects called ladybirds.......the aphids worst enemy!!.
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>> and seems to have started on the fairly sharp, i.e. not rounded edge.<<
o.k, the points go to Mal!! he knows about this he does! ;-)
Points deducted for not reading previous post :-).
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Hi all, thanks for the as-ever, varied & interesting replies. I got it off with a little more shampoo than usual... after buying some sap remover from Halfords on the way home. It's another new permanant cupboard dweller.
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