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One of the key challenges of car maintenance is knowing how to protect your car from falling sap. Tree sap is slightly acidic and destructive for our vehicles.
After it touches the surface of a vehicle, the sap eats through the paint. Protecting your vehicle from tree sap is crucial to maintain the glossy and new look of your car.
Sometimes, parking your car under trees is unavoidable. Also, most people find it challenging to identify sap trees.
Thus, protecting your vehicle from falling sap is a must-do for every car owner. But, how can you protect your vehicle from sap stains?
Below we have listed seven simple ways you can protect your car from falling sap.
How To Protect Car From Falling Sap
1. Avoid Parking Under Sap Producing Trees
The smart way to protect your car from falling sap is to avoid parking under sap trees. Sap stains on a vehicle are caused by drops from broken branches of sap trees on the parked car. Unfortunately, only a few people know what trees produce sap. The common sap trees are Birch, Elm, and Maple trees.
Birch trees are prevalent in Northern America. They have long trunks, white barks, and pointed leaves with jagged edges. On the other hand, an Elm tree has a thicker trunk, dark bark, and oval-shaped leaves with pointed tips.
Maple shrubs are medium-sized trees with leaves that have colors that vary depending on the species. Park your car away from these three trees.
2. Wax Your Car
Car wax acts as a protective layer for the paintwork against external factors. Moreover, waxing your car saves you the extra cost of repainting to cover up the sap-induced discoloration.
To protect your car from falling sap, inspect your car surface every month and wax any area that has stains, dents, or scratches. Start by cleaning to achieve a neat finishing for your vehicle.
Most importantly, get the waxing done in a garage or in the shade to protect your car from direct sunlight.
3. Use A Car Cover
If you live in an environment surrounded by Birch, Elm, or Maple trees, use a car cover to protect your car from falling sap. Waterproof and water-resistant car covers are preferred to prevent penetration of sap.
Before covering your car, clean it to remove all dirt, debris, or bird droppings on the surface. Also, ensure that the entire body of the car is securely covered. Remember to always put the cover whenever you park your vehicle.
4. Always Go Out With Your Car Umbrella
Covering your car with a car umbrella is an effective way to protect your vehicle from falling sap. Car umbrellas offer the best protection because they are portable and can be taken outdoor.
They are strapped around the car roof to protect an automobile from objects that could fall from above, e.g., rain, fruits, sap, hail, snow, etc.
It is advisable to take a car umbrella with you to prepare for a situation where you have to park under or around sap-producing trees.
5. Protect Your Vehicle With Paint Protection Film
Falling sap damages your car when there is direct contact of the liquid with your vehicle. Thus, your vehicle needs a layer of protection to prevent this contact.
The paint protection film is a transparent film applied to the car paint to protect it from dirt, sand, stains, and gravel.
With the paint protection film, you can protect your car from falling sap, leaves, and bird droppings.
6. Use A Sap Remover
If it is inevitable to prevent sap drops on your car, use sap removers to remove the discoloration from your vehicle. To clean off the stain, add some of the cleansing agents to a soft towel and rub on the stained area until traces of the liquid are entirely gone.
If you don’t have a sap remover, remove stains by rubbing some alcohol on the car surface. Always apply sap removers and alcohol in minimal quantity to prevent them from removing the paint along with the stain. Also, vegetable oil or margarine can be used to remove splotches.
7. Wash Your Car Immediately
Failure to clean sap stains immediately will disfigure your car and cost you more to repaint. Hence, wash your vehicle as soon as you notice sap stains on it.
Conclusion
It’s always a good idea to equip yourself with a car cover – not just to protect the car from falling sap but from other elements that can damage the vehicle. Moreover, it is advisable to install paint protection as soon as you buy a car. Use either PPF or car wax to prevent falling sap from affecting the car surface.
Additionally, you can buy a portable car umbrella. It is portable, protects car coats, and covers the entire body of a car. It often has a remote control and easily doubles over to occupy a small space.
However, if the sap has already eaten through the paint, repaint it and use PPF or ceramic coating to prevent further damage. Lastly, if you live around sap trees, always park your car in a garage or under a carport for ultimate protection.
Kevin has been hanging around cars and automobile magazines since he knew what a car is. He grew up in his father’s 1995 Mercedes E320 Wagon and Volkwagon Phaeton W12 2004. He rides his first car, a manual 1979 Porche 911SC.
Currently, he owns an Acura Integra GS-R. During his childhood, he showed a keen interest in how things actually work and fix them. This passion transforms into his eternal love for cars and bestows him an ideal position in one of the leading automobile companies; whenever he finds time, he takes out his Acura and opts for the longest possible route to find hidden wholesome pleasure in a road trip.
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