Do you often park your car in areas where there are a lot of trees around? If so, then don’t be surprised if you find a bunch of sticky substances on your vehicle. You’ll know it is not bird feces because these substances will be a yellowish or brownish color instead of a white color. The substances you see are likely tree sap.
In most cases, tree sap gets onto your car because of the leaves from the trees. The sap from the leaves can easily rub onto the exterior of your vehicle if they encounter each other. Autumn is the worst time that you’ll experience this problem because this is the season when trees shed their leaves.
Sometimes you cannot help having leaves touch your car in these situations. You can try covering your car at home or parking it in your garage, but what about when you go out to a public place? You can’t protect your car everywhere.
5 Simple Tips
Therefore, all you can do is remove the tree sap from your car whenever you spot it there. To help you get started, below are the top 5 tips for removing tree sap from a car.
1) Car Washing
Before you take extreme steps to remove the tree sap from your car, try washing your car first. Sometimes if the tree sap is fresh, then it can be removed with warm soapy water. You can either manually wash your vehicle or put the vehicle through a commercial car wash. Just make sure you focus on the sappy areas when you’re washing. You may not remove all the tree sap, but you may get rid of some of it.
2) Turpentine
Grab a clean, soft cloth and soak it with some turpentine. Wipe away the sap with the soaked cloth. You should not have to struggle with this either. It should not take much wiping for the sap to be removed. After the sap is gone, grab a garden hose and spray down your car to wash away the oily residue.
3) Nail Polish Remover
Here is a tip which can often remove tree sap successfully. Take a clean cotton ball and pour a little bit of nail polish remover fluid onto it. Use the cotton ball to wipe off the tree sap from your car. Once again, it should not take much effort for the sap to be removed. When you’re done, give your car a quick wash to remove the nail polish residue. Use baking soda with the water to ensure it is removed.
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4) Tar Remover
If you want to get creative, then you can try using a tar remover product to remove the tree sap. You can find tar remover products in most auto parts stores because these products are normally associated with mechanics and car repair. But you can also use them for removing tree sap from the exterior of your car too. They cost under $10, and they do a great job. Just apply the tar remover to a clean cloth like described in the previous tips. The tree spa should come right off as you wipe. Then simply wash your vehicle to remove the residue.
5) Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol can be a last resort if all else fails. Soak a clean cloth with the rubbing alcohol and keep the soaked cloth over the sappy area of your vehicle for about 60 seconds. This will give the rubbing alcohol some time to work itself into the tree sap and loosen it up. Once the 60 seconds have expired, you can begin the rubbing process to remove the sap. It may not come off so easily, though, so just keep rubbing until it goes away.
