Hello Guys . Being from the North East as well the best way I found is to take rag and some hot water saturate rag and place on spot let sit for a couple minute it will soften the sap enough to wipe whatever you do get remove I then use Tarminator LoL Guys
Hot water Wash Rag is a very safe approach and at a minimum will soften the Tree Sap for the next step.
The key is letting the wash rag or towel sit for some time so that the water and heat can penetrate into the tree sap. The same technique can be used to remove dried bugs off paint with the idea being the 'cloth' holds the water against the dried bug guts because if you just spray water on the bug guts the water runs off, so the wash rag or towel just acts as a medium to hold the water onto the paint where it can go to work.
try the plastic razor blades...I use a dulled razor blade sometimes
I"ve used plastic razor blades and even Popsicle stick since it's blunt wood. Then after removing the tree sap polish out any scratches that you inflict.
If you use a real steel razor blade you better have the hand of a surgeon!
I like the wet towel sitting on the sap to loosen first....
KISS = Keep it Simple Simon
I wrote this article in
August of 2005, about softening bugs over the entire front clip of a car, this picture kind of tells the story and might also work for a large horizontal panel with a lot of tree sap.
If you have dried on bug splatter, typically on the front of your car where they impact, and you want to loosen and remove the splatter without having to scrub the area with force as so not to instill any scratches into your finish, what you need to do is to soften or re-liquefy the dried bug guts.
Here is the sugggestion...
Take a wash rag and saturate it with water or your car wash solution.
Place the wet wash rag on top of the dried bug splatter and allow it to sit for a few minutes. A variation of this would be to use warm/hot water.
To speed up the process, apply some gentle pressure while drinking a cold soft drink and if need be, hum or whistle a little diddy.
Another variation of this would be to apply some Meguiar's Bug and Tar Remover to the wet wash rag before applying it to the dried bug splatter.
After a few minutes have passed give the area a gentle wipe-off and the bug splatter should remove easily. Then either wash the car as normal or wipe the area down with a quick detailer.
A variation of the above but for a larger area would be to use a larger cloth such as a bath towel. Saturate a clean, soft 100% cotton towel with water and place it over the affected area.
Allow the wet towel to sit for a short period of time and then remove the towel and wash as normal or wipe the area down with a quick detailer.
:dblthumb2:
