<p>Everybody who has washed a car&comma; has seen the remains of insects on the front of the car&period; These spots are difficult to remove and create a risk of making surface imperfections&period; Removing them safely is key to prevent long term damage to the surface&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Why remove bugs<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>When driving around&comma; you will encounter insects &lpar;and some other animals&rpar;&period; These insects can be thrown up by the vortex of the car in front of you&comma; or are capable of flight&period; Some of these insect will be pushed away by the layer of air in front of your car&comma; but some bugs will still impact on the surface of your vehicle&period; Unfortunately for the little insects&comma; this impact is almost always deadly&comma; and the impact is often hard enough for their bodies to get stuck on the surface&period; In other cases&comma; the body might fall off but the blood will stay behind on the surface&period; The bodies itself don&&num;8217&semi;t pose a direct threat&comma; but the shell of an insect is very hard&period; When you try to remove the bodies&comma; small bits might get caught between your washmitt and the paint&period; Causing the particles to be dragged over the paint and create marks in the process&period; The blood is just very sticky&comma; and therefore difficult to remove&period; Trying to wipe these off while make you to rub it&comma; which can cause marring from pressure and rubbing&period; Removing bugs can be more of a problem in certain periods of the year&comma; or in certain areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>The risk when removing bugs<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Insectbodies are very hard and can disintegrate quickly&period; When you wipe the insectbody with your washmitt&comma; it will remove the biggest parts of the body with less effort&period; The parts of the body that touch the surface are likely to stick to the surface&period; This means there is a little bit left behind&period; Trying to remove these might invite you to start to rub the area&period; Rubbing this spot can cause marring from rubbing the washmitt with pressure over the surface&comma; but also create marks because small particles of the very hard insectbody are being rubbed over the surface&period; The marks are not always visible because of the angle&comma; but can show up on a sunny day&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Not removing these bodies can cause the liquid from their body to stay on the surface longer then needed&period; Seeing as insectblood &lpar;hemolymph&rpar;contains a wide variety of substances&comma; it is difficult to formulate one specific product that targets them all&period; However&comma; insectblood is known to contain inorganic substances like salts and water&comma; but also the organic carbohydrates&comma; proteins and lipids&period; On average&comma; it also contains very high levels of amino acids&period; Even small amounts of ammonia&comma; allantoin&comma; uric acid an urea can be found&period; This means that the insectblood can cause surface imperfections if not removed quickly enough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Remove insects safely<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>There are a few different ways that are often considered a safe way to remove insects from the surface&period; However&comma; using a strong and well performing protective product will make it much easier to remove and much more difficult for the insect remains to stick to the surface in the first place&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Although there are several different ways of removing insects&comma; not all methods are safe for the protective product you have applied&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Soaking with towel and APC<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A popular method is to put a towel on top&comma; or over the affected area and soak the towel in APC&period; Leave it lying on the surface without letting it dry up&period; After an hour&comma; remove the towel and wash like normal&period; This method is common&comma; but does not always remove the more stubborn spots&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Specialized bug-remover product<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>There are a few commercially aviailable insect removers on the market&comma; but they are not always as effective&period; Due to the difference between insects and their chemical make up&comma; it is difficult to create 1 product that will target them all&period; Some perform better then others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Tar and Glue remover<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Tar and Glue removers work by using solvents &lpar;often similar to orange oil&rpar; to loosen up the stains left by insects&period; The area can be sprayed&comma; or a towel left on top of the area&comma; soaked in tar and glue remover&period; After a while you remove the towel and wash like normal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Wash with TFR<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A strong TFR can act as a type of APC&comma; and remove certain particles that would normally not be moved&period; This means that you can remove the dead insect bodies and their spots by just washing&period; However&comma; this is likely to strip the form of protection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Claying<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Some people just clay the area&period; This is not really recommended because the insect bodies can get stuck in the clay&comma; and offer the risk of being dragged over the surface while using the clay&period; When only removing the bloodmarks&comma; clay will prevent less of a risk&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Pressure washer<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A pressure washer can be used to blast off the particles from the surface&period; Even though this can work&comma; you run the risk of damaging the surface&period; The blast of water is capable of damaging the paint&comma; just like it is capable of removing the dead insect bodies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Preventing insect bodies<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Although it is inevitable to run into insects when driving your car&comma; the removal of these insects can be made much easier by using a strong form of protection&period; The bodies will not stick to the surface as much and the blood will be much easier to wipe off&period; It is one of the reasons why it is recommended to use a proper form of protection on your surface&period; Another method that will help is to wash the vehicle frequently&period; Washing regularly will prevent a dirty surface&comma; and make it less easy for the insectbodies to stick to the surface&period; It will also aid in removing the bodies before to get stuck and require rough rubbing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Vinnie van Rooij

Vinnie started the DetailingWiki Project in december 2015, and his quest is still going strong. Hoping to create a solid and informative center of information for anybody who is into detailing.

Share
Published by
Vinnie van Rooij

Recent Posts

Klin Korea

Klin Korea (also written as "Kl!n Korea") is a South Korean manufacturer of towels, cleaning…

5 years ago

Torque Detail

Torque Detail is an American manufacturer of detailing products, established by Frank Mitchell. The company…

5 years ago

Artdeshine

Artdeshine is a Singepore based manufacturer of car detailing products with an aim at the…

5 years ago

Zvizzer

Zvizzer is a Germany based manufacturer of detailing related products. The brand started out with…

5 years ago

DetailPro

DetailPro is a manufacturer of detailing products. Very little is known as they have no…

5 years ago

Vonixx

Vonixx is a Brazil based manufacturer of several carnauba based detailing products. The company has…

5 years ago