How to get bugs off car without damaging the paint

Let’s think about how to get bugs off a car without damage to the paint. When you look at the front of your car, you’ll see that the bugs on your car are no longer recognizable. Just leftover hard bits usually embedded deep into that car bumper paint. To remove bug guts from a car, follow at least the first 2 steps mentioned in this topic.

Clay bar rub

We are confident that everyone knows how to clean bugs off a car with a cleaning solution or dish soap, but just in case, you can learn more from our article that covers washing a car properly. Replace a car wash mitt with any bug sponge and make an effort to get everything off. Find the worst leftover bug guts and test a clay bar rub to see how hard the task will be moving forward.

Continue the clay bar rub until the entire surface has been completed. Sometimes this will be exactly what you need to remove dead bugs after a road trip. Visit our article about how to clay bar rub a car to learn more. If you still have bug parts embedded into the car paint, then you will need paint thinner to move forward.

Solvent Wipe

You may still see insect parts stuck in the paint. To remove bug parts from your car, use a microfiber towel. Intentionally apply too much paint thinner, such as JT501, to a small area. Wiped across the bug splatter & remaining insect parts will dissolve.

You need to understand that you will be using paint thinner & no elbow grease needed, so do not wipe too hard or too much. Wear gloves and wipe just enough to allow the solvent to do its thing. The insect’s parts will mostly break lose and melt away as you wipe.

Wet Sanding

Not all dead bugs on a front end of a car are the same. Some have fused into the paint itself & only a wet sanding or repainting can retore the panel. Before repainting the car, it’s important to wet sand and polish the surface. This will allow you to assess its appearance and possibly save money.

If you still need to remove bugs from the car, then visit our article on how to wet sand to level up your knowledge and increase your chances of success. In general, you will wet sand the spots with the sandpaper & after that, polish the car for a shiny finish. Going too deep is bad! The only way to repair that problem is with a new paint job on the car panel.

Polishing

After wet sanding it will take time to create a shine on the cars paint. Never press down hard enough to freeze the buffer machine wheel from spinning. Use rubbing compound, apply mild pressure to the buffer pad and perform a pass over the area. It is ok to slightly tilt the buffer pad to increase its buffing power, maybe a 5-10 degree tilt.

Use alcohol and microfiber cloth to clean the area and remove compound residues, revealing scratches from the wet sanding process. Repeat these steps until the wet sanded area is no longer visible after cleaning it with alcohol. If you move past this step too early, then it will be visible in certain lighting.

Visit our article for information to everything about car detailing in order to quickly reference your topic of interest and advance your learning.