Bug problem

Q

qbmurderer13

New member
Hey guys lately ive been noticing theres been ALOT of these tiny bugs on my car. They look like termites, but kinda smaller and more of a tan color (im no bug expert). They also only show up around rubber mouldings. Today I washed the car pretty good, and it sat in the garage for about 20 minutes, go back to check on it and the same bugs are still there. Now for them to even get up there they would have to go through the tires and suspension before they got to the actual body. I also saw a huge pack on my front bumper too, and they were carrying something :( Ive just been swatting them away with a MF since I know bug spray will probably mess up my paint. Im pretty convinced that theyre probably living in my car as I dont think they can make it to where they are in that short amount of time. Should I have the garage fumigated or how have you guys dealt with this?
 
Sounds like you may have ants.



I had a company van that had a pretty bad case of the small black ants. If you watched them they were following their chemical trail through the vehicle. I bought some Terro liquid ant killer from Home Depot and placed it in the van in a few different locations. This seemed to work well as the ants were gone in a day or two.



Good luck with ridding your vehicle of the pests.
 
If these are showing up in your garage I'd make darn sure they aren't termites because if they are you've got a potentially big problem. Put a couple in a small Ziploc plastic bag then compare them to pictures of termites on the internet.



Once you rule them out as termites a quick fix might be to remove your cars and use an insect fogger that you set off in a closed area and leave it closed for several hours. That should immediately kill any insects that are alive in the garage.



If they turn out to be ants then I second the recommendation from twitch to use the Terro liquid ant killer. Note that it will initially draw more ants but as they eat and take it back to the colony it will eventually kill them all off.
 
Is this alright to put on my cars paint? They're on the outside of the car underneath the rubber mouldings.



Ill try fogging the garage, hopefully they're not living in my car. They don't look like termites since termites are more of a clearish color. These look like tan colored ants with longer feelers.
 
qbmurderer13 said:
Is this alright to put on my cars paint? They're on the outside of the car underneath the rubber mouldings........
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If you're talking about the Terro stuff then no, I would not put that on your paint. I doubt that it would cause any permanent damage but it will dry hard, kind of like tree sap, so it might be difficult to remove.
qbmurderer13 said:
...........Ill try fogging the garage, hopefully they're not living in my car. They don't look like termites since termites are more of a clearish color. These look like tan colored ants with longer feelers.
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Not sure if you can determine it solely by color or not. I always look at the abdomen to tell, the following link shows it very well:



http://www2.hawaii.edu/~entomol/seminars/handout_termite_identification.pdf



After you fog and before you put your car back inside I'd wash it to make sure they are all off. If you find they are inside the car you can use the Terro, but put it on a piece of foil or cardboard.
qbmurderer13 said:
.........I also saw a huge pack on my front bumper too, and they were carrying something .............
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If these are ants they are looking for and/or carrying food. You might want to take a long slow look under your hood and inside the trunk to make sure the source isn't in there. Anywhere you see a larger concentration of them I would start looking very closely. If you pay attention when you watch them (if they are ants) you can usually see the paths they use coming and going..... makes it a little easier when trying to find the source.
 
According to that graph you showed me, they are termites. I checked under the hood and the trunk but didnt seem to find any. I notice alot coming in and out of the headlights too. They dont march in line like most ants do, I usually only see one by itself or most 3 at a time. They just pop in and out of places. Garage is being fogged right now, going to leave the car in there tonight to see if that helps. I have not found a single one inside the car. Although they can easily get in since my cars a convertable and doesnt really seal too well (softtop).
 
qbmurderer13 said:
According to that graph you showed me, they are termites........
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You might want to get an exterminator involved if these are termites since your house and/or garage might be the source. I know that in the spring termites tend to swarm in search of starting new colonies, but I don't know why you'd see them on your car like this in the fall. Hopefully they aren't really termites and your fogging will take care of them, but for piece of mind I'd save a few in a plastic bag for an exterminator to inspect. Good luck! Below is another link on termites you might find helpful:



Termite Control: Answers for Homeowners | University of Kentucky Entomology
 
Yeah the weird thing is I havent seen them anywhere else around the house. If this doesnt work im going to have to start taking apart my car trying to find them.
 
qbmurderer13 said:
Yeah the weird thing is I havent seen them anywhere else around the house. If this doesnt work im going to have to start taking apart my car trying to find them.
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I've gotta say you're the first one I've heard about who has a car with a termite problem. My guess is they just happened to fall or land on your car, but if your garage is the source then you gotta get that inspected.



I wouldn't think there is hardly anything in a modern day car that a termite could eat. My first thought is the carpet padding, but you'd think that would be a synthetic or treated material they wouldn't eat. Maybe the carpet and/or padding and some glues or adhesives can be eaten by them.
 
Fogged the garage, used about 3 cans. Put the car back in the garage, 20 minutes later, more bugs than ive ever seen :( And its all under the rubber parts so I cant really get to it. Think im just gonna have to deal with these.
 
Whats happened?! These were not there when I detailed it a month ago! I would be freaking out driving knowing those suckers are crawling everywhere! Good luck getting them taken care of, I would call an exterminator asap!
 
I have no idea man. Theyre not in the interior or anything, just around the convertible trim/rubber mouldings. And its not like I can lift that area up to get rid of them. Not sure if an exterminator can even do anything, I already put 3 of those fog bombs in my garage and the problem still persisted. I imagine fogging the garage with my car in it would be a bad idea wouldnt it?
 
haha! Idk! Hopefully they dont eat the rubber?? So are the only along the roof line or what? Maybe the fell from your ceiling and made their selves at home!
 
Im guessing that might be what had happened. Anything left in the garage should be dead now but I dont theres a way for me to get rid of the ones already in my car without messing up the paint.
 
I don't know if you made a positive identification of the bug as Eliot Ness did bring up a good point about termites. I wouldn't have even considered termites to be a nuisance in the car as there isn't anything that they would be able to eat and live on in the car, I don't think.



I would still go out and get some of the Terro ant bait/poison. As Eliot Ness stated you don’t put it on the paint; you put it around the location you see the bugs on a piece of the cardboard that came with it. I used some double sided tape to keep that cardboard in place. If you want to see if they are even attracted to the bait you can place a small drop right where they are traveling near the rubber seals. If they consider it food you should notice some curiosity of the substance rather quickly. If you see an onslaught of bugs attracted to the food this is a good thing. They will carry it back to wherever they are nesting and it should kill off the others that are catching a free ride in car. Let them work, don’t try to kill them as they come out to eat the poison.
 
Hmm, would the bomb harm the car at all? i wouldn't of thought so, but you'd need to check with the manufacturers about that.



Have you tried something like WD40 in the trim pieces?
 
The instructions on the bomb say if used in garage remove cars. Could just be a liability issue or health problem? I dont really wanna try though if its not 100% sure it wont harm the car. What would WD40 do? I use 1Z gummi fledge on it but dont think that does anything.
 
Just thinking out loud here.....how about covering your car w/ sheets and bombing? I would think the bombs would permeate through through the sheets but keep the 'fog' off...
 
I'm gonna guess it won't help, the "fog" is what carries the insecticide. it'll be hard enough to get the stuff into the trims anyway.



Perhaps some APC?
 
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