It wouldn’t be Summer without the classic Kiwi road trip!
There’s nothing like it: Cruising down beautiful coastal highways, the hot summer breeze flowing through rolled-down windows, your favourite tunes blasting…
But all good things come to an end. Eventually, it will be time to pack up and drive home.
The drive home is never as fun. You’re travelling companions will wane, as you negotiate the windy roads, and will inevitably fall asleep when you finally reach the smooth hum of the motorway.
It’s always a welcome relief to finally arrive home, a cold beer beckoning you from the fridge.
But then you hop out of the car and remember the downside of the NZ roady: Your poor car has been splattered with melted tarmac and has become an insect graveyard.
Cleaning your car is the last thing you feel like doing, but the longer those bug guts are on your car, the harder they will be to get off!
Don’t fret my friend, we are here to help with the quickest and easiest solutions for removing tar and bugs from your precious paintwork.
Go and grab that beer and read on before reaching for the hose.
First Things First
Washing your car is a priority after a road trip.
Forget about unpacking! If you still have light, give your car a wash first.
It’s easier to wash your car at a cooler time of the day, and out of direct sunlight.
When the car is hot, the water and soap will dry quickly, making adequate rinsing tricky, and leading to unsightly water marks on your paintwork and windows.
This makes early evening or early morning the perfect time for washing your car.
It’s important not to put the job off for too long. Both tar and insect guts have acidic properties, which if left too long, will leave stains and/or etching on the clear coat surface of your paintwork.
So, now that you’ve finished that beer, grab your hose, and start off by giving the whole car a good rinse. This will moisten and loosen some of the dried-on particles, making the next step a whole lot easier.
Apply bug and tar remover
Melted tar, splattered bugs, tree sap, and bird droppings… They all start off wet and sticky, and dry hard, making them difficult to remove with soap and water alone.
It’s time to bring out the big guns! Using a commercial bug and tar remover, like CRC Bug & Tar Remover, is the quickest and most efficient way to get the job done!
Simply spray the affected areas and leave for 5 minutes.
If you don’t have a designated product for bug and tar removal, you could use a common household product like CRC 5-56 Multi-Purpose.
Spray lubricants, like CRC 5-56, are great for penetrating through hardened sticky substances, and will help to lift them without damaging the paint beneath.
Using a dry microfibre cloth, go around your vehicle, wiping the areas where you applied the bug and tar remover.
Now that you’ve removed all of the bugs and tar, you can safely wash your car with scratching the paint. We’ve put together this handy guide on how to wash the exterior of your car.
Another excellent feature of CRC Bug & Tar Remover, is that it can be used as a spot cleaner too.
It is, after all, Murphy’s law: After washing your car, a bird will inadvertently fly past, and decide to go to the toilet, all over your shiny clean bonnet!
The simple spray on, wipe off formula will make short work of such incidents, and will leave a glossy shine that has the added benefit of repelling future grime.
Just like that, the car is clean again
It really didn’t take you long to get the car looking great again. Well done!
Plenty of time to have another cold beer… Oh, hold on, you still haven’t unpacked! Sorry, CRC don’t have any products to make that job easier, we’ll leave you to it!
