Weird tree sap nightmare

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Hi all. Newbie here, hope you have some advice for me.

I have a new Ram 1500 Limited. Paint is black metallic flake. Our rental house garage is filled with motorcycles so I have to park outside.

The other morning I noticed a bunch of debris on the hood. Each bit looked like a brown peppercorn. I assumed they were some tree dropping that would blow off once I started driving. Incorrect! Nothing moved off the hood, and the windshield wipers had a terrible time with the ones on the windshield.

I mentioned it to my wife and she said they had been there when she drove the truck the day before. So they were probably adhered for 48 hours before I took action.

My first stop was the car wash (yes, I know, but I was busy). They do a machine wash with hand drying afterwords. Most of the "corns" came off, but some left a small layer of brown adhesive. In addition, around where the corns had adhered, there was an irregular rink of micro-crazing in the paint surface. It looks like this:

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The crazing is so shallow that you can`t feel it with a finger or fingernail.

First I tried removing it with some water on a shop towel. No result. Then I applied some degreaser (like Zep) to a shop towel and rubbed gently on an inconspicuous mark on the roof. Nothing. Finally I tried a bit of acetone. Again nothing.

I`m at a loss at this point, but don`t want to take it to a detailer without getting input from you all.

Oh by the way the suspect tree looks like this:

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All comments or suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

/afb
 

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Get a tar remover like Tarminator or Carpro TarX or 3M Adisive Remover or in worst case Citrol 266. These works to desolve tree sap. Then I don`t like how that wrinkle looking you have gotten. From the pictures it looks like the clearcoat has been wrinkled but hope not. Is it looking that way on other parts of the truck? Are you really sure it`s from the tree sap? Could it have been from some kind of overspray from where you have parked earlier?

Try the tar remover on a little spot where you don`t have that wrinkle looking. And see if it will desolve it. If it don`t do that from one of the products I was recommended above. You have something else than tree sap on your paint. Some just use gasoline but I like to play it a little safer. With all chemicals you don`t let them to dry on the paint. And rinse them off thoroughly and do a wash or rinseless wash or waterless wash afterwards the rinsing. You can soak a little part of a mf towel and hold this part on one of the peppercorn looking spot for a couple of minutes. Then lightly move the wet part of the mf towel with product into the center of the spot so you don`t spread a partial desolved mess around a larger area. Look at the same time if the spot is desolving and keep going until it`s fully desolved. Then rinse it off thoroughly and apply to a larger area. Do this on dry paint and in the shade on a cool panel.
 
Those trees look like Birch trees.. They typically just dump a lot of seeds that get in between shingles and with enough moisture create something that breaks down the black felt that is really what keeps the roof from leaking..
I have never seen Birch trees drip anything, but perhaps different varieties do?

The pic you posted of your paintwork does NOT look like any tree sap I have ever encountered, but instead looks like something else on or in the paintwork..
Perhaps a trip to the Dealer and a trip to their Paintshop is in order ??

Have removed zillions of sap and artillery fungus from many vehicles using only Goof Off Professional in the little metal can, from Home Depot Paint Department section..
Ony use pointed Q-tips and try this product on 1 spot, put the damp Q-tip on the spot, move it around gently, remove the tip and wipe off with a clean white cloth, so I can see the color of what might come off..
Have never damaged any paintwork, etc., using this process..

Good luck with your challenge..
Dan F
 
What you`re describing does not sound like tree sap at all. I`ve seen those little `peppercorns`, and in my experience, they were caterpillar droppings.....specifically gypsy moth caterpillar droppings. Even when they came off, they left a wonderful little deposit that could etch paint if they stayed on long enough. Years ago, when these things were assaulting NJ like an invasion force, insurance companies were flooded with claims of paint damage from them .
 
That wrinkle spot in the pic, does it happen to be the front of the truck where bugs hit? That spot looks like something similar that happened to my Camaro the first year I had it. I come back from a road trip and not knowing anything about bugs and etching I had dragonflies smashed on my bumper and front hood. Of course this was after I washed it(weekly wash) so they were on there for a week until the next washing. I got done washing and rinsing and then was finishing the detail in the garage and noticed these kind of spots on the front bumper and hood. I never noticed these before on my other vehicles, never looked that close either, because they were light colored vehicles. They stand out on black paint very easily. After some research, and finding this site, I found out they were bug etchings. I did not know when a bug decay it give off a toxic substance that will eat through clear coat. I don`t think mine were quite as wrinkled but had the same effect though. It only seems to happen to me with large bugs like dragonflies and bees.

Also kind of looks like chemical reaction to the paint so other question would be were they there before and maybe didn`t notice them until now? What I am wondering is if it could be a defect from the factory.
 
briarpatch said:
What you`re describing does not sound like tree sap at all. I`ve seen those little `peppercorns`, and in my experience, they were caterpillar droppings.....specifically gypsy moth caterpillar droppings. Even when they came off, they left a wonderful little deposit that could etch paint if they stayed on long enough. Years ago, when these things were assaulting NJ like an invasion force, insurance companies were flooded with claims of paint damage from them .
Click to expand...

@briarpatch, that`s very interesting, and is consistent with @skibik`s comment about the etching coming from bug carcasses. I can`t believe how quickly this happened though; as I said I noticed the crazing in the paint just a couple of days after these droppings hit the paint.

I did some research and it looks like gypsy moths are invasive, but it`s not clear what their prevalence is in northern California. I wonder if a similar species could be the culprit.

To answer others` questions, the paint damage is definitely occurring adjacent to where the brown "peppercorns" adhered to the paint.
 
Bugs, bird droppings, all contain various acids. To make the acids agressive, just apply a little moisture and heat to the dried deposits. The result is that those active acids enter the paint film and attack and break apart the paint resins film former and binder.
In my decades of in the car care business, never observed the acids create such wrinkling of paint, other than a strong sulfuric allowed to dwell for some time exposed to heat.
Wrinkles are normally produced by liquids such as brake fluids, anti-freeze or a active hydrocarbon solvent
 
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