Tree Sap on a Car

How do I clean dried pine sap off my car, without damaging the paint?

Pippa Kay from Hampshire UK

Answers:

Pine Tree Sap on Car

I just successfully removed 1-1.5 year dried sap on my silver-colored car. What I used:

- Murphy's Oil Soap.
- a small wooden spoon (that was already saturated with oils - basically, I wanted a smooth, wood spoon that wouldn't scratch)

Prep:
1) Rainy day. Wax is a little soft (if at all possible).

Procedure:
2) I rubbed a lot of the oil onto the dried wax.
3) After 5-10 minutes, I rubbed it with a cloth. Then I used the wooden spoon scrape off the dried wax. Worked like a charm. The paint didn't come off. The wax came off like hard dried candied syrup.

After most of the wax came off, I rubbed the oiled cloth into the bits of dried pieces and they came off. I did this on the headlights as well and it worked well.

Pros:

• fast
• non-toxic
• cheap

Cons:

• None really. For spot cleaning.

I had about 20-30 spots of dried wax (with a few bubbles of hard wax). (11/22/2009)

By skaypip

Pine Tree Sap on Car

Checked today on your site for removing pine sap. Tried the alcohol as suggested. Removed sap build up from last summer, no damage to the paint. The greatest. (12/22/2009)

By Buck