What gets pine sap off a car's windshield?

May 5, 2018 7:34 AM

What gets pine sap off a car's windshield? I've tried lots of things that don't work, so what does? Looking for things you've personally had success with in the past.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The to Grab Bag (17 answers total)

Have you tried turpentine or mineral spirits?
posted by fancyoats at 7:35 AM on May 5, 2018

Best answer: Let it dry or freeze it and pop it off with a razor scraper.
posted by nicwolff at 7:41 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It's mostly smears, a scraper isn't going to do a good enough job.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:56 AM on May 5, 2018

Nothing I did had any real impact - and I'd scoured the internet for solutions.

Took it to a proper car wash place, came back an hour later and they'd totally fixed it. No idea what they used, but wish i hadn't wasted so much time myself.
posted by macapes at 8:01 AM on May 5, 2018

Hand sanitizer. No joke.

Takes a bit of effort, but it works.
posted by entropic at 8:13 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Hey so I'm trying the razor scraper right now because I figured I could at least get some of the worst chunks off and it is working, as we say around here, pissah. Even on the smears. Some of the sap isn't dried so I'll wait on that but this is amazing.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:17 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've had great success with Goo-Gone.
posted by cooker girl at 8:25 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Try 91% isopropyl alcohol on whatever's left after you get done scraping.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:50 AM on May 5, 2018

Pine resin is soluble in alcohol.
posted by flabdablet at 10:21 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Pine-sol.

You can also get bug & tar remover at auto parts stores which would probably work.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 12:32 PM on May 5, 2018

I got some kind of tree ooze on my car. Not sure if it was a pine or not. It seemed impervious to most any treatment and sat there until it unaccountably disappeared about 2 years later.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:10 PM on May 5, 2018

We used to use Crisco to clean pitch, aka pine sap, off our hands after harvesting pine nuts. I think. Maybe we put the Crisco on our hands first. No, pretty sure it was after.
posted by bricoleur at 5:32 PM on May 5, 2018

Windex (or whatever generic glass cleaner you use) works wonders for me. It just melts it pretty much. If the sap is old and dried-on really well, just let it soak a bit. You may have to apply it a few times. I park right under pine trees and Windex does the job for me.
posted by Slinga at 5:36 PM on May 5, 2018

I had good luck getting tree sap off my car using this product Turtle Wax Bug and Tar Remover
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 8:13 PM on May 5, 2018

Jolie Kerr actually consulted a car expert for an article, who recommended that Turtle Wax, and if that doesn't work, hand sanitizer (which is basically rubbing alcohol, but a better texture for the car).
posted by radioamy at 8:21 PM on May 5, 2018

Actually, I just remembered, I used hand sanitizer, not windex.
posted by Slinga at 9:34 PM on May 5, 2018

I work with conifers and have extensive experience removing large amounts of sap from my body and equipment. My favorite solvent is oil - Olive, canola, grapeseed, whatever! Then pretty much any kind of soap and water solution will take the oil off.
posted by congen at 8:35 AM on May 6, 2018