GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => Detailing => Topic started by: Mark V GTD on 22 June 2020, 09:36
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I'm doing a 56 mile cross country there and back trip about four times week at the moment. At the end of each day the front of the car, mirror housings and windscreen is fairly peppered with squashed bugs, as you can imagine. In the past I have just left them on and washed the car normally every two weeks but now its so annoying having a clean car ruined on the first drive - so I have now started a new regime of washing the bugs off with water and a microfibre after each trip (or the following morning in reality as I get back late). The car is white by the way.
I know this probably goes against the detailing rules but I'm sick of driving a car thats only clean for one day after washing it.
Does anyone have any better solutions to this problem (it seems to be UK/European thing - I drove 250 miles from Washington DC a few years ago and there was literally only one flattened bug on the rental car!)?
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Cling film.
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:rolleyes:
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Bugs are really annoying at this time of year - especially in the evenings when they seem to be out in force and have a kamikaze mentality - attracted by car headlights. The fluids in their bodies can be quite acidic, so it’s best to remove them as soon as possible, otherwise they can cause etching on the paintwork.
There are various bug removal products on the market - a few are mentioned / recommended in these discussion threads over on the Detailing World forum that might be worth a try. I’ve not used these personally so can’t vouch for their effectiveness;
https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=404069
https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?s=5b1adbc92a0a06545074ecb4e8555a2f&t=406162
https://detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=367750
Also, ensuring your paintwork is well protected with a good layer of wax or sealant - regularly re-applied - should make it more difficult for the bugs to stick to the paintwork, so they should be easier to remove.
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Thanks for those good points - they do seem to a be a bit more easy to remove when they are fresh. The ones on the windscreen are hardest to remove though - you clean off and think you have the screen crystal clear and then get in the car and can still see lots of little splats! Yes I had forgotten about re-sealing the paintwork... I will get that sorted when I do the next wash.
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Just a thought but how about some form of rain repellent for the windscreen, might leave a protective layer that helps remove the offending bodies easier?