When Love Bugs Attack!!!

For those of you lucky enough to live in a state where you experience love bug seasons, you understand the importance of cleaning their carcasses off your car pretty much ASAP (you should do this for ANY bug that hits your car)

This picture is after APC soak, dual bucket wash, clay, followed by IPA wipe.



Turns out that they are beyond repair, and the hood will have to get repainted. Wet sanding will probably get rid of some of these, but a majority of them are so deep they catch the MF towels as it passes over.

Acid guts + clear coat + not cleaning them off + Florida sun bake = paint damage.

And this was supposed to be my first detail on a black vehicle! Just my luck.

 

What clay did you use? Ever try a bug/tar remover on them?

 

Nah, don't worry, it's just a VW

 

:spank:

Poor GTI

 

What you are seeing is not the bugs still on the car. Their carcasses are long gone. This is the damage to the clearcoat from their stomach acids after being left on the car and not washed off.

 

What part of FL are you in? I drove from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale once. I hit a ton of bugs about 10-20miles south of Orlando. It was like gunfire.

Good luck with fixing your hood.

 

I'm in daytona beach

When you hit love bugs it sounds like rain hitting your car doesn't it

 

Daytona - duh....I should have guessed.

Yep; it does. It was a mess trying to remove them with a gas station scrub brush; I'm glad I was in a rental.

 

I'd use something stronger like 3m general adhesive remover for that. Surprised the clay didn't move it.

 

Again, like I said, what you are seeing is actual damage to the paint. This is NOT something that is ON the paint that can be removed by clay bar or cleaning or solvents. These are actual pits inside the paint from the acid that ate away the clear coat in those areas. The car's hood in that photo is completely clean at this point in the photo.

 

DJ is correct. I'm right down the road and what you are seeing is etched clear coat from the love bugs. The only fix is possibly wet sanding, but more likely re-painting. We see this all too often driving around town in central Florida. Very sad, but it can be avoided with daily front end cleanings taking about 15 minutes or less.

 

I wider how Wolf's Chemicals Spray-on Mask would hold up. You central FL guys need to test it.

 

My truck has a 3M Clear Bra on the entire front, and I top that with either FK1-1000p or Z2/Z5, still have a couple etched spots on the bra, but nothing too bad and at least its not thru to the paint. I'd like to take a look at WCSM for the wifes car.