How to Get Pine Sap Off of Your Car

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Living in an old, established neighborhood with lots of mature trees is wonderful. Except for the white pine which had grown about sixty feet tall in a location that allowed it to quite effectively rain pine sap over my entire driveway. Since there are more cars here than fit in the one car garage we've had to deal with getting pine sap off the cars the last few years. It took some research online and some courage to try what people suggested but, through some trial and a lot of elbow grease I found a method that gets the sap off the car and gets the finish back to looking like it never happened.
Briefly, I'd like to mention that this process is for cleaning the sap from the paint. Cleaning off the car windows can be accomplished easily with Windex and paper towels. I have been told that Windex will damage the finish on the car which is why I developed the following process instead. 
Here are the things you will need: Rubbing alcohol 70% isopropyl; an old rag or a bag of cotton balls; polishing compound; polishing cloth or rags; soap & water; car sponge; car wax.
Step 1: Wash the area to be cleaned with soapy water and rinse. 
Step 2: Soak a cotton ball or section of cloth with rubbing alcohol 
Step 3: Hold the rubbing alcohol soaked cotton ball or cloth over the pine sap for a few seconds, then begin to wipe the pine sap off the surface of the car. Repeat this step until the pine sap is completely removed. Then repeat this step for all spots of pine sap in the area you are working on.
The Rubbing alcohol will tend to leave a white film on the car. The following steps will return your car to looking as good, maybe better, than it did before the pine sap.
Step 4: Apply polishing compound to the area where the rubbing alcohol has left a white film. If you have removed several spots of pine sap, only apply the polishing compound to a small area at a time. 
Step 5: With a clean soft cloth, quickly wipe away the polishing compound using a circular motion. Repeat this step until all the areas of white film have been polished. 
Step 6: Wax the treated areas with your favorite car wax, following the manufacturers directions.
This may seem like a lot of work and maybe there is a simpler way to do this. However this was the process that was effective on my car and left my car finish looking as good as new. I hope you have as much success with it as I did.

Disclaimer: Try this method at your own risk. Your car is your responsibility. I do not guarantee that this method will work for you or that it will be safe for your car. This site and the author of this post accept no liability for unexpected and/or negative results to your or your vehicle. 

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