wetsanding hard tree sap marks?

I have had good luck with heating the area with a good strong hair dryer or a steamer and then spraying the area with Tarminator and using a plastic razor blade.
 
I had a car that had tree sap on the hood and on the door that I could not remove-tried soaking with alcohol/APC/goof off/tried polishing, but it did not work.

His wife had a bottle of hand sanatizer around the house for the kids. I grabbed that since it is mostly alcohol but has a gel like consistency and stays on the area for a long time. I put the gel on the tree sap and left it for 20 min or so and they came right off. Give it a try-it will probably cost you nothing since you have some in your house somewhere.
 
have tried the hand sanitizer, tried the hair dryer, have tried everything. will try it all again when the weather warms up here in the east, will repeat it all again. this stuff is hard like cement hard. used an actual razor blade to pick a little off one spot but stopped because it was too aggressive, don't think softening it is going to happen but will try the overnight soak anyway when the time comes. just got to wait now. going to get a couple more items mentioned earlier in the thread to try. thanks for the thoughts and ideas. when I get this crap off I will update the thread. one way or the other I will get it off. Pretty sure the wet sand will end up being the thing that gets it out but will try them all one more time before doing it.
 
ordered one of those 2000 grit Meg's sanding blocks, sounds like it is what I will need, thanks mike!
 
jshaf said:
ordered one of those 2000 grit Meg's sanding blocks, sounds like it is what I will need, thanks mike!
Click to expand...

Those blocks are neat little tools. Be sure to sand down all 4 corners so they don't 'scratch' your clearcoat as you are sanding
 
Flash Gordon said:
Those blocks are neat little tools. Be sure to sand down all 4 corners so they don't 'scratch' your clearcoat as you are sanding
Click to expand...


yep, have read the article provided by mike, looking forward to putting it to use first chance I get, now just waiting to see what this massive storm coming out way is going to do. usually have my camaro back on the road by mid march but not sure right now.
 
got it in the mail today. was a little smaller than I imagined it would be but still pretty nice. I think this is exactly what I needed.
 
jshaf said:
yep, have read the article provided by mike, looking forward to putting it to use first chance I get, now just waiting to see what this massive storm coming out way is going to do. usually have my camaro back on the road by mid march but not sure right now.
Click to expand...

Do read the full article as it has pictures that show you how to dress the block and also tells you to soak it over night in water.

How to use Meguiar's Unigrit Sanding Blocks to remove runs and dirt nibs in paint




:)
 
have read it three times and will again before doing it, thanks for the info, much appreciated!
 
Great thread,

Looking forward to read about your outcome with the block.

Good luck!

PS (my 0.05$):

- Test a hidden place first and try to ged rid of sanding marks before sanding the whole car. Use plenty of directional light to visualize if you really got rid of them with your method.

- Beware of corners and high spots while sanding and same care while removing sanding marks, you don't want to go through the clear or burn the paint.

Good luck, again!

Kind Regards.
 
I have done wet sanding before with great results and even have some 2500 and 3000 paper. but will give every thing else one more shot just to make sure before going to the block. have multiple pads and a DA along with different grit "lotions" if need be. I had a scuff mark on my silver Camaro on the corner of the front bumper from the pervious owner. was able to wet sand and then polish out with a few applications of ultimate compound and then a mild polish to finish it off. was able to remove 95% of it and what was left could be easily covered up with a product with fillers in it. while not ideal, was a lot cheaper than having it repainted.
 
was able to tackle the spots last weekend with mixed results, some spots i reduced to almost nothing, one large one I was able to make disappear. some were so hard and bonded that I have come to the realization will not come out. will have to live with it. the paint it's self is in very good condition, was able to polish it out to a near crystal clear shine. other than a few specs it looks really nice.
 
For stubborn sap I use a hook and pick set. Google it. For raised sap I'll hook the top and pull off what I can and pick the remaining as low as I can before touching paint. For flat dried out sap I pick it. Using the pick scratch/flake off as much I can before hitting paint. Might take 10-20 per spot depending on how careful you are. To make sure I don't hit paint I use a headband magnifier. Once I'm as low as I can go I'll wipe the rest off effortlessly with mineral spirits. Hope this helps for the future!


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