Article: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Archived on 11/12/2009
How do I
clean dried pine sap off my car, without damaging the paint?
Pippa Kay from Hampshire, UK
Feedback:
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
It works. Alcohol wipe from a first aid kit worked perfectly. You
need to have one for each spot. (11/25/2006)
By Lex
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Wow. I never would have believed it. I have a brand new car that I
bought earlier this year. It had three different spots of smeared
tree sap. By now they had dried and looked white on my dark blue
car. A touch of Purell did the trick in seconds (didn't need
scrubbing). There was a bit of residue, so I tried the butter thing.
It looks like new again. Thanks. (01/07/2007)
By Carla
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I never add comments to sites, but had to this time because the
alcohol suggestion worked great. My truck was covered with little
specks of what I am guessing is sap. I tried everything for a car I
could think of, and baby oil, WD 40, nothing took this off, except
the alcohol. Doesn't seem to have affected the finish at all. I
tried the nail polish remover first, but felt safer with the
alcohol. Thanks for the help. (12/04/2007)
By K
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Windex or similar glass window cleaner. It is cheap, easy, and safe.
Just used it today on my truck. (04/25/2008)
By Common Sense
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I have not tried this on a vehicle, but plain vegetable oil
dissolves pine sap instantly. I have taken it out of hair and off
hands with this simple solution.
(04/27/2008)
By Marcia
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Was very impressed with the fact that plain old OFF was able to
remove month old tree sap from my son's car with very little effort.
(06/15/2008)
By Sue
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I have that problem constantly because I have to park under a pine
tree. I tried scraping it off and it didn't work well, and while
rubbing Rain-X onto the window, I noticed it was gone. I thought it
wasn't possible so I tried it on every sap spot I had and it got rid
of it. I believe the secret is the alcohol inside, so using Rain-X
or nail polish remover or anything with alcohol would work.
(07/13/2008)
By Nicolette
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I tried using baking soda and a warm rag and it really worked now I
can't even find out where it was to begin with. Thanks a lot.
(07/15/2008)
By Stephanie
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Fingernail polish remover is just acetone. Instead of buying
expensive polish remover, just go to your local hardware store and
pickup a can of acetone. It's usually found in the paint department.
Works great for tree sap removal.
Editor's Note: There is acetone and non acetone fingernail
polish remover. The acetone kind could harm your paint.
(07/18/2008)
By Jeff
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I used rubbing alcohol as per advice from this site. I definitely
"do not" suggest it as it wrecked the clear coat on my car and left
me with streaky dull spots all over the hood and trunk of my car.
(07/24/2008)
By Sarah B
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Pure rubbing alcohol without acetone is the best. Acetone
screws up the paint. Even some Absolut vodka or rum is OK.
(07/29/2008)
By HN
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
The best solution is to use Non-Acetone nail polish remover. It
removes all sorts of sap, you will strip the wax, give it a spray of
Son of Gun wax polish to top it off once you get the goo off.
Simple solution and works well. (08/02/2008)
By car owner
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Try a used fabric softener sheet that has been dampened with water.
(08/12/2008)
ByCathy from MA
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Saw pine sap on new Hyundai Tucson, cleaned it with Grey Goose, just
a little, worked great. (09/09/2008)
By Mike
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
I followed the suggestion to use a fabric softener sheet soaked in
water. It worked great. (09/22/2008)
By Andrew
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Dry Gas works great.
Editor's Note: Dry gas is an alcohol-based additive used
in automobiles to prevent any water in the fuel from freezing.
(10/04/2008)
By Jorge M
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
The acetone took off the paint on my Audi, very disappointing. I
will try the alcohol, but I'm leary. I could chop down that darn
tree, but it's my neighbor's and it hangs over my driveway.
Unbelievable. (11/30/2008)
By beej
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
The Ultimate Answer.
I read all of the posts and tried a few. One was to use
mayonnaise, "don't do that". If you care about the finish on your
vehicle "listen carefully."
I have Pine trees all around my house so keeping up with the Pine
droppings is a full time job, to say the least. My truck is red. Red
shows everything. When I tried the mayonnaise it left a spot in the
finish for some reason. I had tried WD-40 in the past with some
success, but some spots just never came up. I saw on here that
someone suggested using rubbing alcohol so I tried that. The alcohol
worked very well, but when I washed it off it left a hazy film. I
tried a few things and "eureka" I found the solution. My solution is
outlined below. Follow each step carefully.
First a warning, or disclaimer" "Do this at your own risk. There
is no guarantee that this will work as well for you as it did for
me." You will need: rubbing alcohol, Q-tips, a rag sprayed with WD-
40, a dry rag, and a water dampened rag.
- Dip a Q-tip in rubbing alcohol and rub the pine tar until it is
completely dissolved. (Do not reuse Q-Tip. Use a a new one for each
application)
- After the tar is dissolved wipe spot with wet rag to remove the
alcohol.
- Rub the cleaned area with the WD-40 rag.
- Once again wipe cleaned area with damp rag for rinse.
- Wipe with dry rag.
I followed each step carefully and the result was fantastic. Hope
this helps for your vehicle. (08/12/2009)
By Dumpster Dawg
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Hi folks. These are great ideas for removing the pine sap. Here's something
else you should consider;
I live in an apartment complex, and always park in the same place,
under a pine tree, and never had a problem for about a year. All of
a sudden, I started getting the pine droppings. It was then I
realized that they were coming from the newly formed pine cones,
which were still green and just glistening with sap. So, if it's
possible for you to remove the pine cones over where you park. I
believe you'll solve most of your problems before they begin. Good
luck.
(08/22/2009)
By footnote5
RE: Pine Tree Sap on Car
"Do not" use rubbing alcohol. I used 70% rubbing alcohol on a cotton
ball to remove dried sap from my car. It removed the sap, but
ruined my paint. I rinsed, washed and waxed (with Turtle Wax paste)
my car immediately, but the rubbing alcohol has ruined the finish.
I now have foggy-looking spots all over my car. The spots are not
smooth. I tried rubbing compound and a buffer, but no luck. I have
an '04 Corolla that is in great shape. (09/05/2009)
By suebdoo93
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Request: Pine Tree Sap on Car
Archived on 10/05/2006
What works to remove pine sap that won't hurt the paint on your car?
magnoliatn
Answers:
Clay Bar
The best way to get rid of tree sap is to use a "clay bar." This should be available at Murray's or PepBoys, possibly even Wal-Mart or Kmart. The only two manufacturers I know of that make clay bars are Meguires and Mothers. If you can't find it in the store, try the web sites for the manufacturers. It's about $10-15, but it lasts for a while. I've had mine about 2 years. The instructions are very simple, although initially it may seem like a bother. (12/01/2000)
By Christina
Clay Bar 2
After reading some of the other suggestions for removing tree sap, I feel I must point out that the clay bar will NOT strip the wax from the car's paint job. If you're going to wax the car, wax the whole car to keep the paint the same color and condition; don't just wax one tiny spot. I would definitely stay away from any method that would strip the wax. The clay bar is specifically designed to remove sap and tar and bugs, etc. while NOT stripping the wax. (12/01/2000)
By Christina
Baking Soda
Warm rag with a little bit of baking soda. Let it sit on sap then rub off! (08/04/2005)
By ty
Butter
The best method I've found for pine sap removal is crisco or butter. I've never tried it on a car, but can personally say that rubbing crisco on the sap in my hair removed it immediately. I've also used butter on the kids feet to remove sap while camping. It's fast, but most important it won't remove skin or paint. (08/27/2005)
By Carrie
Sap on Your Car
It always best to remove sap from your car quickly, while it is still soft. The harder the sap gets the tougher it is to remove and the more likely it is to scratch your car's finish. Make a paste with a mild abrasive like baking soda and apply to the sap, then rub it with a rag until the sap is removed. You can also try rubbing the sap with mayonnaise on a rag. I have also heard that WD-40 works well for softening sap so that it can be removed. Clean the area once the sap has been removed. (09/17/2005)
By ThriftyFun
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover does not work (even though it says right on the label that it does). (10/01/2005)
By John
My Experience
I purchased TurtleWax Pine and Bug remover which worked very well on metal, painted surfaces (automotive) and does not harm your paint. I tried to use this same product, however, to remove white pine gum from the plastic of a pick-up box liner and it left a white stain/residue and, moreover, it did a poor job removing the gum. Noticing this white stain I then decided to experiment with butter and ice on other pine gum stains on the box liner as well as on the rubber material at the base (and around the perimeter) of automotive windows. Ice did not work for me (I used several different techniques - applying for a longer duration of time, scrubbing with cube, etc), yet butter worked wonderfully and did no harm (i.e, did not leave white stain) to the plastic, or the rubber. (05/04/2006)
By Matt
Rubbing Alcohol
I have been super busy and haven't had a chance to wash my car for the last four months. I live in an area that has a bunch of pine trees so once I finished washing my car i noticed A LOT of tree sap. I took Nancy's advice and used rubbing alcohol, it worked on every single spot. The only problem was that in some cases it left a residue. The solution is to wipe on some butter then wipe it off. My car looks like i just drove it off the lot. Don't waste your money on all that other stuff all you need is alcohol and butter. Good Luck! (06/29/2006)
By Big T
Sanitizing Hand Towels
My Beemer just got painted and was looking showroom new. It didn't take any time at all and my Beemer got attacked by a few serious shots of pine tree sap. I tried everything from Goop-gone to all kinds of so called tree sap remover with no luck at all. So I got to thinking. I wasn't to hot on the idea of pure alcohol on my paint so I looked behind my desk seen some "Sanitizing Hand Towels" with aloe and a few Vitamins. I took one to the Sap Attack and whoooosh! In seconds the hardened tree sap was gone rinsed it with some warm water and touched it up with a bit of wax and looks like new again.
(07/01/2006)
By Rick
Rubbing Alcohol
I had a ton of pine sap on my new car. I read through the Internet to see what I should do. I kept reading about using rubbing alcohol. I finally decided to try it. It worked! I applied the alcohol to a cotton ball and gently worked the spots. I could only clean 2-3 spots per cotton ball before getting a residue, which I wiped away with a wet cloth. It took awhile, but I got my car back. I suggest using rubbing alcohol and a wet cloth. (07/11/2006)
By Chris
Peanut Butter
Ever-popular peanut butter! It worked like a champ, and then I had a sandwich! (07/30/2006)
By Diane
Rubbing Alcohol
It's my neighbors tree and it's at the end of my driveway, the first time it got on my wife's new black Impala it cost me $200 to get it cleaned off. that was 4 years ago, now it happened again but this time it got both cars, mine is now the new one. Read through your page of tips, tried them all and found rubbing alcohol worked the best. Your page saved me some money. Thanks. (08/09/2006)
By Bob
WD-40
Try WD-40. It removes bugs, tar and sap and will not hurt the finish on your car. (09/13/2006)
By Tamara
Alcohol
The guy at the GM dealer who details the cars said use alcohol. Then re-wax because the wax has also been removed and the sap will stick more NEXT time.
By Jenny
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