Parking Under a Tree in the Rain

[bigdanlan]

The other night I parked under a tree (I dont remember what kind) without thinking about it. Before I parked under the tree, the water was beading off of hte car like normal (recently waxed with NXT).



However, when I came back out to the car, all of the water was jsut sitting on the car, and not rolling or beading off. Then as soon as I got home I washed it (in the rain) just because I couldn`t stand to have the water just sit on the paint like that. Anyways, even after washing it was still there...no beading. Only if I applied quite a bit of pressure with the wash mitt, the water would bead again after rinsing.



I found this strange. Is this the result of sap being dissolved into the water and then attaching to the paint.



Has anyone else encountered this before. Ill tell you one thing...I have learned to stay CLEAR of trees when its raining...LOL



BTW, I cleaned the paint and then rewaxed with NXT and it appears to be back to normal. I just want to know exactly what is causing this, anyone know?



thanks,

Dan

[imported_themightytimmah]

One easy way to fix the problem........chain saw;)



Seriously though, its a layer of crap building up on top of the NXT that disrupts the beading. Its gonna be pretty tough to take it off without removing the NXT though - bug and tar remover cuts right through it in my experience, but itll take the NXT with it. The only LSP thatll survive removing tree sap/water mixture is collinite insulator or a tough sealant like layered SG.



-Tim

[bigdanlan]

I thought that was the problem. Like I said, I`ll steer clear of trees in the rain from now on.



Thanks again,

Dan

[Bill D]

Welcome to Autopia Bigdanlan,



It could also just be coincidental that the ingredients responsible for the beading were starting to wear away around the time you parked under the tree. I doubt parking under a tree in the rain in it of itself has much, if anything to do with it. In general, stay clear of trees rain or shine.

[White95Max]

From my experience, it`s just a bunch of contaminants carried by the raindrops that land on your car. Don`t park under trees during the rain. Avoid them when it`s dry too if you suspect birds to be in there.

[Bill D]

Trees, magnents for:



pollen



sap



birds



leaves, pedals, twigs from branches,etc



They just don`t go well with Autopian level vehicles

[imported_Adamah]

Its actually caused by honeydew from aphids mixing with the rain and dripping on your car. It`ll strip all waxes and some sealants. If its your tree call licensed pesticide applicator and have him spray the tree.

[Scottwax]

Trees are evil, plain and simple.



One time, I parked halfway under a tree because there was nowhere else to park. When I got back to my car, the front end was beading like crazy still and the back half that was parked under the tree was not beading at all.



I should have taken a picture....

[imported_Intermezzo]

Exact same thing happened to me. Parking under a tree during the rain destroyed my freshly applied 3 coats of Z-2Pro as well as my freshly applied Raggtop protectant. I tried washing the car a few days later and the water would just pool up on the paint. Plus my normally super-repellant canvas top that virtually never gets wet no matter how much water I spray on it was SOAKING IN all the water. A good amount of beading on the paint did return when rinsing off the car though.



Initially I thought the problem was because I didn`t use Z-1 or ZFX when applying the three consecutive coats of Z-2Pro, but that didn`t explain what was going on with my cloth top.



Trees + Rain = Hours of detailing wasted!

[Hemi57]

Sometime there is little option, other than to park under a tree. Here in Victoria we are called the "Garden State", so you can probably imagine we have a lot of trees on the road/street sides.



I have actually suffered dents in the roof from falling debis, so a little sap is not such an issue :(

[Gen2]

Hey, so I am not the only one who facing this problem. There was once I parked my car under a tree in a rainy day just after I put on 1 coat of Z2, after about 30 minutes when I came back for the car, all the beading is gone. The rain water simply sit on the paint and it looked like a car that was never been wax for years. So lesson learned, NEVER park under a tree.

[Don]

Don`t feel bad, I had to park under the tree at the end of our driveway overnight because the wife parked cockeyed. When I came out the next morning, it looked like the bird had held a convention over my car...thank God for Collinite 845, the stuff rinsed right off.

[stiege]

In one of the more recent "NXT doesn`t last for c**p threads, the starter of the thread mentioned that he`d parked the car under a tree and it trashed the beading properties of the finish.



Initially, before washing, any lsp will lose it`s beading properties after being rained/pollened on, but in my experience (#16, Collinite) a washing brings it right back. Maybe the NXT in particular doesn`t react well to organic stuff in the environment.



Jason

[Judge]

This thread reminds me of a couple instances from the past. I used to live in an apartment above a store in downtown Hinsdale Il. The front door was in an alley. There were two trees, one on either side of the door. I swear those two trees were the town hall for sparrows, so I never parked under them even though the space was truely pole position parking. So one night my neighbor had someone over for the night and they parked under those trees. I swear there had to be no less that 400 sparrow droppings that simply covered that car. I could have died laughing. The town ended up taking a really big fish net and covered the entire leafy portion of the tree. First time I saw that one.

Next, my wifes mom had these trees that grew what they called `monkey brains`. Green solid things about 5 inches in diameter. My car had a dent in the roof from one and the mom had two windshields shattered. They eventually cut the trees back.

[White95Max]

Originally posted by Judge



Next, my wifes mom had these trees that grew what they called `monkey brains`. Green solid things about 5 inches in diameter. My car had a dent in the roof from one and the mom had two windshields shattered. They eventually cut the trees back.



Black walnuts? Those will put a nice dent in your sheet metal.