Cleaning bugs off front of hood, plastic bumper?

[postul8or]

I've got a new Honda Accord and was just applying the 2nd coat of Nu Finish (the bottle says do a second coat 1 month after the 1st) and noticed that the car wash did a terrible job of cleaning the bugs off the hood and bumper part of my car. The bumper is plastic and the hood is protected with the 3M tape. The 3M tape doesn't have a layer of wax on it yet (the installer said that waxing it is good though).

Before I wax this area of the car I obviously have a lot of cleaning to do. I tried "Bug and Tar" remover, it was very old mind you but it didn't work worth a damn. I then just put the "summer" windshield washer fluid on a flannel rag and had limited success doing that (still required a lot of elbow grease).

Just wondering what is the best solution to this problem. Is it the specific fluid/soap I use, special rags (somehow abrasive without scratching?). I think part of it is that I let the bugs "bake" in the sun for a few weeks instead of washing my car right away. The bad part is I only did two 1 hour trips (and back) in the mountains to get these bugs. If I drive across the prairies I can just imagine what I'll be in for.

Finding the best way to wash my car has been a debacle overall. I don't like the car washes because I think their brushes and such are dirty and just scratch. Touchless style doesn't seem to work. At home I don't have brushes and such that I know are good in terms of not scratching the paint. In the winter I think I have to pretty much do the normal car wash to get the salt and sand off the car no matter what.

[gw84]

We feel your pain in the midwest as well. There are a lot of gravel roads here in Illinois and they are always putting some chemical on them to keep the dust down. It keeps the dust down alright, but if you drive on the road after the chemical has been applied, it causes rocks to fly up and hit all over your car. I drive about 5mph on my road and still get that crap all over. It wouldn't bother me except that this stuff is really hard to get off. Like any other "contaminant" it seems that the longer you let this stuff stay on the vehicle, the harder it will be to get off. I haven't found any real good way to remove bugs from the front. The only thing I can think of is to get out there and spend all day gently working them out (maybe fingernail) one by one. If that's too tedius, you could get a bra...I've seen some bras that are basically like a net. I think they're specifically to keep bugs off...however I don't think they do much for rocks. I've never used a bra but I think the net ones would not be as tight on the vehicle (shouldn't rub/scuff paint) as much as a regular bra. They might be useful if you are planning on making a long trip where you know your vehicle will be bombarded with bugs. Good Luck with the bugs!

[postul8or]

I went with an old solution I use sometimes to try and solve the problem...

Go to the store and buy the most expensive thing you can find (ie. the most expensive bug/tar remover). I guess I'll see how it works.

For what it's worth, when I used this technique to buy a chapstick it really worked. That is when I found out that $5 chapstick actually works unlike the 25 cent stuff I was using.

[gthompson97]

Soak down the area with Green Clean (simple green works too) before you wash it and then get one of those bug and tar sponges. It's a sponge with the cloth wrapped around it. You might have to spray it again after you wash off the first stuff, but it should get them off. Also keeping your car waxed helps too because they can't stick as well.