Removing pine pitch from car paint

[lakelover]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

There is a huge difference between finger nail polish and the advanced one and two-component polyurethane clear coats in use today.

Here are some of the performance specs for a common OEM clear coat

? ASTM D4752 MEK resistance: Greater than 1500
? ASTM D1308 chemical spot resistance: no effect
? ASTM D1308 skydrol immersion (7 days): no effect

Wiping the surface with a rag saturated with a product designed for use in contact with human skin isn't going to phase this stuff. I've been using finger nail polish remover for years and it doesn't bother the finish one bit.

Thanks for the detailed info, eases my mind.

 

[countryboy26047]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

Little trick my dad taught me years ago.. we have TONS of pines around where we live, and he is an old motor-head, and has done body work/painted hundreds of vehicles over the years.. I used to park my first car under a 60' pine in the their drive, he taught me to mix in kerosene with my wash water (something like 4:1 ((4 gallons water/soap, 1 gallon kero))).. it worked wonders on pine sap and also tar from when they would tar/chip the roads.. biggest thing is you HAVE to make sure you use a good quality wax on it immediately afterwards as the kero will strip the wax off, but doesn't do any harm at all to the clear coat.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

I tried turpentine, but it didn't work too well on the dried, hard stuff. It was just before she was leaving for work and maybe I wasn't patient enough. Today's the day I can work on it.

When I was a kid, my cousin and I used to use sticks to burst the pitch bubbles on spruce trees. We'd come home with the stuff, and an added layer of dirt, all over our faces and hands. My father would get out his can of turpentine and a rag, and scrub us raw until it was all removed and we stunk to high heaven. Good excuse for a couple kids to go jump in the lake! Fond memory! (I still like the smell of it!)

Ayuh,... As a kid growin' up in the Pine Tree state of Maine,....

Butter was Always used to clean off pine pitch, spruce pitch, fir pitch,...
All of 'em...

I know it ain't a nasty chemical, 'n all... but Try it.... Dry, or fresh pitch, disappears when rubbed with Butter....

It's an ole Maineiac trick, hundreds of years old....

 

[lakelover]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

Well, I just spent about a minute and a half getting the job done, and the winner was.......nail polish remover. Worked great on the hardened pitch.

Lots of great ideas in this thread, thanks everybody for sharing yours. Out of curiosity, I'll try some of the other ones as time goes on.

Planning to wax it up good ASAP.

 

[delirious]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

I use bug and tar remover. then I wax the snot out of the car a few times to prevent sap from sticking in the future.

denatured alcohol and WD-40 work well to remove sap. soak a cotton ball or a few sheets of paper towel and place over the sap, put something over it to hold in place for a few hours. come back and wipe clean with the alcohol. then spot-wax the area to protect the paint.

bug n tar works well...but is nothing more than varsol, save your $$$$ and buy varsol, it will also remove oxidation frm the clear coat so u may see those spots as looking better than the rest of the paint (accidently discovered that eons ago) so i scrubbed my entire car with varsol, then washed and washed and washed it, then waxed the bajebuz outta it with a silcone based car wax. made the tree sap wash off without gettin mideval on its @$$ lol

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

delirious, what you suggest reminds me of what one detail man told me one time - wash it good with soap and water, then wash it good with kerosene, then wash it good again with soap and water.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

Sunlight dish soap....put on dry no water .....circular motion.....then add water....makes your paint,clear coat shine when done....use it on Iron wood gum all the time

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: Removing pine pitch from car paint

My wife parks in a parking lot at work that is surrounded by pine trees and there really isn't any place to park that's not under the trees. I noticed some pitch on the car in a few places that had dried and gotten hard.

I tried to remove it with vegetable oil, and then turpentine - no luck.

How do you remove pine pitch without dissolving the paint?

We live in Ga and park under pine trees and the easiest way is simple rubbing alcohol. It doesn't hurt the paint and instantly dissolves the sap. Don't use anything else.