The Gun Counter

I had a minor hail storm a week or two ago, my car was parked under a nasty ass cottonwood tree. It wound up with tree sap and cottonwood catkin bits stuck all over it. A couple of trips through the car wash proved fruitless. What works well as a remover? The last commercial remover I tried didn't work worth a darn. I've heard of using WD40, but I wonder how it might affect the car's finish. Suggestions?

http://www.goofoffproducts.com/

Just test it somewhere safe.

Denatured alcohol. Isopropyl will work in a pinch.

We used to use diesel for getting all manner of weird shit off our cars.

ETA: I don't know how diesel reacts to today's finishes. It never hurt enamel that I recall.

rightisright wrote:Denatured alcohol. Isopropyl will work in a pinch.

Isopropyl doesn't seem to work worth a shit for taking bugs off a 737 windshield, but at least it doesn't hurt the airplane.

Coming from a furniture guy - I use mineral spirits to clean the kitchen cabinets. It is a relatively weak, slow and benign solvent that works well. It will quickly remove frying grease build up. It is weak enough to not effect the lacquer finish and I just do the wipe on wipe off thing. On a car finish there may be a bit of a residue that can then be taken off with something like a glass cleaner. ymmv --

I go into the woods a lot, so I always get pine sap on my pickup. I use 90% alcohol I buy at walgreens for about $1 a bottle. Works fine for me. I'm not sure I'd use it on a Rolls Royce, but I drive a 15 year old pickup with original paint.