Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
Tips & Tricks: How to remove dried bug spatter or bug guts
Here's a tip I posted in 2005, the idea being to use the towel to hold the moisture onto the paint and thus the bug splatter where it can go to work softening and loosening the splatter. A large beach towel works well for this...
This was my Honda Pilot in our garage where I would also wash the garage because it's pretty hard to wash a car in the desert without the dry heat or the wind drying water before you can dry your car.
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.
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.
Another variation for headlights and fenders...
Big Picture
The idea being to use some type of bath towel or microfiber towel or even wash cloth or wet chamois to trap and hold water onto the dried bug splatter in order to soften and re-liquefy it so you can more easily remove it without causing damage to the delicate, scratch-sensitive clear coat finish.
Bug Spatter can actually eat through and remove paint if left on too long...
Tip: Water soften the dried bug guts and splatter with water first.
Trick: Use a towel to hold water in place on a vertical panel.
Trick: Use a towel to hold water in place on a vertical panel.
Here's a tip I posted in 2005, the idea being to use the towel to hold the moisture onto the paint and thus the bug splatter where it can go to work softening and loosening the splatter. A large beach towel works well for this...
This was my Honda Pilot in our garage where I would also wash the garage because it's pretty hard to wash a car in the desert without the dry heat or the wind drying water before you can dry your car.
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.
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.
Another variation for headlights and fenders...
Big Picture
The idea being to use some type of bath towel or microfiber towel or even wash cloth or wet chamois to trap and hold water onto the dried bug splatter in order to soften and re-liquefy it so you can more easily remove it without causing damage to the delicate, scratch-sensitive clear coat finish.
