Help with spot treating sap

[JonJeffman]

Hello all,

I was hoping to get some advice (and that I didn't already make things worse) with a bunch of sap. Also, I just wanted to mention that I normally don't like to half-@ss things, but right now I'm working 70+ hr weeks, and will be for another couple months, so I can't do a full detail for a while. That's why I need a 'quick fix'.



My car: 2004 Subaru STi, World Rally Blue, fairly decent paint condition (for a newbie anyway), some light swirl marks but nothing that I can't live with for now. The LSP currently on the car is the Klasse twins (although I'm due for a full detail soon).



My problem: parked under a poplar tree and got drenched in sap, probably 10 or so big blobs of it. One is really baked on, the others I got to when they were fairly soft.



I washed the car, then after reading on here used IPA (70% at full strength). I didn't want to gum up my microfiber towels, so put the IPA on some of those round white cotton pads for removing makeup. They feel really soft so hopefully they didn't mar the paint, then I could toss them when done. I did this before drying, figured if the rinse water diluted the IPA a bit no problem.



What I'm left with is:

- one blob that is seriously hardened on (looks hard throughout, so I don't think trying to cut the top with a plastic razor will work)



- the spots I 'removed' still have a thin layer left. It's definitely a raised area and not a concave spot etched in. I'm thinking that maybe the layer right against the hood got 'baked' on with the heat, and I only removed the soft stuff.



- some cloudiness around all the spots I treated. Not sure if this is marring, some dissolved sap redepositing itself, or maybe the IPA acted as a drying agent and it's essentially water spots but over a bigger area from the rinse water, or something worse.



So, any advice on how to:

- remove the remaining layers of sap and the 1 really hardened spot

- deal with the cloudiness

- quickly put some form of LSP back over the spots



The products I have on hand are:

- IPA (70%)

- P21S wheel gel

- P21S shampoo

- ONR

- Riccardo yellow clay

- Klasse twins

- Natty's blue paste wax



Hopefully there's a solution out there I could do in under 2 hrs (at newbie speed, not pro speed). I was thinking use IPA again, letting it sit longer, then go over it with KAIO. But not sure this will deal with the cloudiness.



Thanks, any advice is hugely appreciated.

 

[Scottwax]

A plastic razor blade still might work on the hardened spot, the others now that you've thinned them down should respond to polishing.

 

[togwt]

Soak a towel in IPA, ‘attach' to paint surface with detailers clay and allow to dwell, use a plastic razor blade and ‘shave’ the hardened resin spot-repeat as necessary

 

[JonJeffman]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try to track down a plastic razor blade and give that a go (can these be found at common places like a Home Depot? I can drive across town to a Lee Valley if needed).



Do I keep the blade in contact with the paint and scrape through the sap (and hope it won't scratch) or do I have to sort of hover it over the paint and just contact the sap?



Is KAIO a good quick fix for the spots before I can do a full detail? My understanding is it strips whatever is currently on there (KAIO & KSG) and then puts down a layer of acrylic. So will this sort of tie-in to the existing LSP? Or do you need to do a full panel all at once to seal the whole surface?

 

[togwt]

Try NOT to allow the blade to come into contact with the paint, just 'shave' the top (hardened) layer of resin.



Klasse AIO would appear to fit in with your current protection (KSG)