Pine sap on ragtop?

[pfoushee]

Help! Tried denatured alcohol. Was sure it would work. It hasn't. BMW z4 top. Don't want to damage it. Also before new(old), car was delivered, I said don't do anything when salesman said he was going it cleaned. Well, he was smarter than I was, so he took it back to have pine sap removed from hood. They used some kind of scrub pad. Very scratched. Have used Adams paint conditioner in serious manner. Has not helped much. What next?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

New to detailing thanks to Adams

Edited December 30, 2014 by pfoushee

[Chris@Adams]

Adam always recommends RaggTopp not sure if it would tackle sap or not......

[Dan@Adams]

Well, he was smarter than I was, so he took it back to have pine sap removed from hood. They used some kind of scrub pad. Very scratched. Have used Adams paint conditioner in serious manner. Has not helped much. What next?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

New to detailing thanks to Adams

 

Hi Philip! To more fully understand, when you say you used Adam's Paint Conditioner, which product do you mean exactly?  Clay bar and Detail Spray?  Revive Hand Polish?  Paint Correcting Polish and Paint Finishing Polish with a machine polisher?

 

Since you say it's very scratched, you will most likely need to do paint correcting with a machine polisher and the appropriate polishes and polishing pads.

 

Edit: Can you post any pictures of the affected area(s)?

Edited December 30, 2014 by psu goat

[pfoushee]

Hi Philip! To more fully understand, when you say you used Adam's Paint Conditioner, which product do you mean exactly?  Clay bar and Detail Spray?  Revive Hand Polish?  Paint Correcting Polish and Paint Finishing Polish with a machine polisher?

 

Since you say it's very scratched, you will most likely need to do paint correcting with a machine polisher and the appropriate polishes and polishing pads.

 

Edit: Can you post any pictures of the affected area(s)?

 

Correcting polish with drill and cycle. Will post pics tomorrow possibly. Somewhat disguised at this point with polishing, sealing, waxing, etc. but deffinitely still there. Scared to go to wet dry sand paper.

[Dan@Adams]

Ah ok, sounds like you did the right steps.  I wasn't sure how familiar you were with the whole paint correcting process.  If the scratches don't come out after several passes with the Cyclo and Paint Correcting Polish with the orange microfiber pads, then you unfortunately might have to step up to something like wet sanding it with the proper wet sanding paper, but that obviously isn't for the beginner since you could do even more damage to the finish if you sand down through all of the clearcoat.  I would never try to dry sand a two-stage clearcoat finish.

 

Have you talked to the salesman about the damage he caused?  I would be quite upset and expect him to at least pay for some of the cost to have the hood professionally fixed, just my opinion.  Sorry you have to deal with this

Edited December 30, 2014 by psu goat

[pfoushee]

Ah ok, sounds like you did the right steps.  I wasn't sure how familiar you were with the whole paint correcting process.  If the scratches don't come out after several passes with the Cyclo and Paint Correcting Polish with the orange microfiber pads, then you unfortunately might have to step up to something like wet sanding it with the proper wet sanding paper, but that obviously isn't for the beginner since you could do even more damage to the finish if you sand down through all of the clearcoat.  I would never try to dry sand a two-stage clearcoat finish.

 

Have you talked to the salesman about the damage he caused?  I would be quite upset and expect him to at least pay for some of the cost to have the hood professionally fixed, just my opinion.  Sorry you have to deal with this

 

I feel the same way about it, but have not gone to them yet. Was hoping to find maybe a more aggressive polish/compound before I tried wet sanding. Have been a painter for 40 years, so not completely in the dark about prep and coatings.

 

Well, I went back and watched the "severe scratch removal video" again. I feel like I can do better than I did last time. I am starting conservatively with things until I feel more confident. Really would like to be able to get pine sap smears off the black ragtop. Saw ragtop cleaner suggested in two places now. For some reason I don't reason I don't have much confidence in that, but if no one comes up with something better, I will try that. Even thinking of icing the spots.

Edited December 31, 2014 by pfoushee

[Dan@Adams]

Sorry, I don't have too much experience with ragtops, but I will say that SVRT did a very nice job of bringing the black color back to a very faded gray tonneau cover on a truck I worked on last winter.  A diluted APC solution might be safe to try on it to get the sap smears out, but I would let some others chime in first.

Edited December 31, 2014 by psu goat

[Ricky Bobby]

Have you tried steam to loosen it up on the fabric top?

[TheBurninator]

I would try some APC and use an interior brush (Horse hair or similar) to get the sap out of the convertible top. As Jason said, try out steam will most likely help loosen it, but I would be very careful with the steam on a ragtop.

 

Also, can you catch your fingernail in the hood damage? That might give us a better idea on how bad it is until you post a couple pics.

[pfoushee]

You can feel the damage with your nails. Can't say you could catch your nail or even close. After re-watching sever scratch video again, I will try to spot buff with correcting polish one more time, and if that isn't enough I am not afraid of #2000 grit sanding. Unless there is an in between step I could take, I see this as the course of action. I am quite frustrated with the sap smears on ragtop. It is so embedded in the fabric. I'm thinking with freezing temps, it will eventually break up. ????

 

I really am appreciative of everyones replies. Nice to know there is somewhere to get informed info.

Edited December 31, 2014 by pfoushee

[Team Adam's]

Help! Tried denatured alcohol. Was sure it would work. It hasn't. BMW z4 top. Don't want to damage it. Also before new(old), car was delivered, I said don't do anything when salesman said he was going it cleaned. Well, he was smarter than I was, so he took it back to have pine sap removed from hood. They used some kind of scrub pad. Very scratched. Have used Adams paint conditioner in serious manner. Has not helped much. What next?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

New to detailing thanks to Adams

 

Sap on a soft top is gonna be a tough one to remove. Not sure this is an issue you'll be able to resolve with chemicals, as suggested a steamer might be the best option to clean without damaging. Might be unreasonable for you to invest in for yourself, so calling around to a few local shops to see if any of them have the ability to do it for you might be the better way to go.

 

As far as the scratches - really depends on how deep they are - pictures would be very helpful in diagnosing and giving you a plan of attack moving forward.

[Rich]

For sap on the rag top,Ragg Topp is hard to beat. Once you get the sap off, definitely treat your top with it. In the meantime try Goo Gone or Pine Sol full strength.  Simple Green will work as well. I would dilute it though if you use the Simple Green because the green product color COULD stain your top.  My wife says peanut butter works, but I can't say for sure. She says rub it in, wipe it off, then wash with soap and water. She used it to get sap off of the kids clothes when they were small.

[pfoushee]

Will try peanut butter first. Then goo gone. Then "Ragtop", and then rent a steamer from the paint store.  Then if those don't work, I will sew calico patches on like old blue jeans!

[LFairbanks]

When I was a kid and we would go pick pine nuts I used to get covered in the stuff.  Would wear one of those throw away suits.  To get the stuff off of our hands we would use baby oil.  It worked really well.  Using it on your rag top could create another batch of problems by creating an oily spot.  Unless someone has an idea on what would remove the potential oily spot.  It did remove pine sap with ease though.  Anybody that has picked pine nuts knows what I'am talking about the trees would be loaded with sap while producing the pine nuts.  Looks like lard and cooking oil will work as well.

[Chris@Adams]

One thing that we forgot to mention.......Don't park under trees!

[pfoushee]

Bought the car like this. Would never park voluntarily under in spring or summer. Anyway tried the cleaner, goo gone, peanut butter, and soap. Have made great progress. Still not 100%, but very close. Will get it next time. I think the peanut butter might have loosened it a little, but in the end, I believe the GooGone did the heavy lifting.

[LFairbanks]

http://googone.com/How-to-Remove/Tree-Sap.aspx

 

http://googone.com/How-to-Remove.aspx

Edited January 3, 2015 by LFairbanks