Tree Sap - Argh!

[vecdran]

So I recently detailed a Lincoln Navigator. Started claying the car, and my Swissvax clay start smearing like crazy. Rubbed it off, sniffed the area, and it smelled strongly of pine sap. As far as I could tell, some smart person had layered wax onto barely cleaned up tree sap. I even found a few drops of tree sap on the vehicle.

Fortunately my buffer ate right through the sap, but for future jobs I would really...really like to get that crap off before I almost ruin another clay bar. What do you pros use to get sap off a large area of a vehicle? I tried rubbing alcohol, which did nothing, and P21s, which also accomplished nothing. I though maybe something like a 50/50 mix of water and denatured alcohol/Prepsol might do the trick, but I figure you gentlemen might have an answer.

Thanks!

[VALE TUDO]

sap remover from pro (prowax.com)

[jtford95]

I use alcohol and it works for me. Ardex's sap remover works well also.

[JLui83]

I use nail polish remover.. just a LITTLE bit.. then wax the area after...

[mds1001]

I'm no pro, but I went 12 rounds with some sap on my car a few weeks back. Only thing that worked for me was alcohol...I had to let it soak a bit, but it came off...

[pasadena_commut]

Originally Posted by vecdran

I though maybe something like a 50/50 mix of water and denatured alcohol/Prepsol might do the trick, but I figure you gentlemen might have an answer.

WD40 carefully applied to just the sap works well even on big blobs and blobs that have hardened somewhat. It softens the sap enough that it can be wiped off. This takes some/all of the wax off too, depending on how hard you have to work to remove the sap. This solvent probably is not so good for the paint, but I doubt anything that will soften sap would be. That said, I have not (yet) seen any clear coat failure as a result of this treatment. I have only ever used this to remove sap from paint, I cannot say what would happen if you tried to use this method for sap on rubber or sap on trim.