Hey guys im in the military and have been away from home for about 6 months. I came home yesterday and noticed that the front of my bumper was covered in months old love bugs. For those of you not from the south, these bugs have an acid in them and when left to dry they can do some damage to your paint. they are completly dried and i can barely remove them with my fingernail.Anyone know the best way to remove these?????????

 

A car wash sounds promising.

 

not at all, you must not know love bugs.

 

^he lives in Houston/san antonio.
we get love bugs too.

wash your car.

 

Get a good car wash and mix it well into a bucket with some water. Get some old fleece blankets and let them sit in the wash solution for a few minutes. Drape the fleece blankets over the front bumper/hood and that should help rehyrdate the bugs and remove them. After 30 or so minutes take off the fleece and hit the bugs with a strong spray of water, hose off the blankets and repeat depending on the severity. It also will help if you get a bug/tar remover like Stoners Tarminator. Follow the instructions on the can and you should be good!

Also if you put a good sealant on the front bumper it will greatly help the removal of the bugs in the future. On my cars I put on Zaino and reapply a bit of Z-5 every time I was the car to the front bumper and it makes the bugs come right off with a strong stream of water.

 

X2 on that ... stay away from abrasive sponges etc .. you might think they make it easy but they will scratch the paint ..

Key is rehydration .. soften them up .. even if you have to keep the blanket on all day and over nite .. give it time ..

There is a good chance if they were on that long your going to see acid damage.

 

x3, I'd add in a good can of bug/tar remover too. I had a white car covered in bugs and tar and its a miracle in a can

 

Ive washed the car, like i said they have been drying in the sun for a long time and wont come off even when i scratch at them with my fingernail and I dont give a shit where he lives he has probably never had them drying on his car for a long period of time.

 

Alright sounds good im going to do that tommorow. Thanks for the tips! (and thanks for not just telling me to wash my car)

 

I was stationed at Ft Rucker, in alabama for a while... (sucked) anyway, they have crazy love bugs.... I used a heavy sponge, then waxed/polished to keep them from sticking.

 

ya which works great if they havent been baking in the sun for months.

 

^lol true that

 

Clay bar works wonders...try this...