It can be hard to find a good parking spot that provides enough shade to prevent your car’s interior from turning into a burning hot sweat box. I think we can all say that we’ve sought refuge underneath that big shady tree in the park or at home. What we didn’t think about was all the tree sap that had accumulated while we were parked there.
Ideally, you want to remove that sap as soon as you see it, but since we’ve all got work, families and other things to do, things like this often get pushed to the back burner. Remember, time is not on your side when it comes to tree sap on your vehicle’s paint. The longer it sits, the longer it cures and allows the water in the sap to evaporate, leading to a sticky mess that traps other airborne contaminants and creating the perfect environment for them to eat into your clear coat.
If you’re lucky enough to catch it while it’s still warm and gooey, a wipe with a warm wet cloth may do the trick, so long as the water and the environment temp have allowed the sugars in the sap to soften.
If it’s been a while since you’ve allowed it to sit and cure, you may need to employ more drastic measures such as a quality solvent similar to Polishing System’s Tree Sap Remover. As with any solvent, you want to be sure you keep the area wet and allow it time to work. A few mins should do. After the sap has softened, you can use a wet and warm microfiber cloth to remove all traces of the sap. We also recommend you use a finishing spray wax such as Polishing System’s Wipe-N-Glow with a clean microfiber cloth to restore the shine that the solvent removed during sap removal.
