De-Bugging

[theoilman]

We are all in the middle of bug season: A really off-the-wall trick for cleaning bugs off the front of your vehicle. Though we have different types of bugs north and south, this trick will work on all. (My son taught me this trick, I don't know where he picked it up.)

First, wet the front of the vehicle. Take a dryer sheet - yes a dryer sheet that you use in your clothes dryer, any will do, I use the cheap generic ones - and wipe it down. A couple of passes will take most bugs off, the worst will take some light scrubbing. Even the worst come off easily. Then just rinse.

I do recommend have a good layer of polish on the sheet metal and rainx on the windshield first. They always make bug cleaning easier.

Does anyone in the auto-body/painting business know if this will hurt the paint and finish?

I went through a 20 mile long swarm of 'love-bugs' yesterday and had several every square inch on the front of my Sprinter van (9 feet high hat, a lot of frontal area). (If you haven't been in the south in the spring or fall love-bug season, just be glad you haven't. These bugs hover mated in heavy swarms, it can sound like going through a heavy rain storm. If left on the dead ones will dissolve the paint all the way down to bare sheet metal in a week or so.) It took me less than 15 minutes to clean it using this dryer sheet method.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I'll second the Rain-x for all the benefits it offers including easier bug removal!

I've never heard of using a drier sheet. The only thing I can think is that it might leave swirls in darker finishes?

We have a product in the great Northland called Bug-B-Gone that works very well. Spray it on, let it soak, wipe them off.

We can also get into some pretty nasty bug around Minnesota. The mayfly hatches can get pretty bad as well as many of the other various hatches throughout the summer. One trip to northern MN and your covered before you hit Hinckley!

[Hafnutz]

Hydrogen Peroxide. Spray it on wash it and the bugs off. It attacks the proteins and dissolves them.

[theoilman]

Airjer, I've tried bug-b-gone, it's available here too. in my opinion the dryer sheets work better.