How to remove pine pitch from paint?

[justRich]

We've been parked under some tall fir trees for a few days and now have fir pitch droppings on the truck's hood and windshield.
Is there anyway to remove the pitch droppings from the paint without damaging it?

I'm hoping that maybe mineral spirits might work?

 

[Will B.]

Mineral spirits, just don't scrub too hard.  Had the same issue, solved it right away.

[Pat & Pete]

WD40 .

[Ray,IN]

Mineral spirits and WD40 contains petroleum. I use Turpentine, which does not contain petroleum. I haven't tried using a hair dryer to soften pitch first, then scrape off as much as possible with a wood or plastic scraper first, but I will next time.

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, Ray,IN said:

Mineral spirits and WD40 contains petroleum. I use Turpentine, which does not contain petroleum. I haven't tried using a hair dryer to soften pitch first, then scrape off as much as possible with a wood or plastic scraper first, but I will next time.

Turpentine. We had a Blue Spruce that at times of the year thought it amusing to dribble on our car and truck. Turpentine is a solvent made from pine trees and it took it right off.

[Dutch_12078]

My first go to for pine pitch whether it's on the car, my hands, or even clothes, is ordinary hand sanitizer. The alcohol works well to dissolve the pitch and I've not yet found a surface it harms.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Dutch_12078
typo

[Pat & Pete]

Just so you know , I haven't found a surface harmed by WD40 , either . 

And Dutch reminded me ... rubbing alcohol , too .

[Kirk W]

20 hours ago, Rich&Sylvia said:

Is there anyway to remove the pitch droppings from the paint without damaging it?

If you would, let us all know what you find that does the job and what didn't work. It could help a lot of people. The live oak trees here in TX tend to do that same thing when you park under them. 

[justRich]

I tried WD40 on the glass dropping and it did not work. 
I will try to stop at a hardware store for some mineral spirts.
Had a long drive today, maybe tomorrow.

 

[VC 23RSS]

I've found the petroleum based charcoal lighter fluid is a good substitute for mineral spirits if used as a cleaning solvent.   Add to that the containers for charcoal lighter fluid are more user friendly with the snap caps.  I've been using it for years to remove tar from the vehicle paint.  The only downside is it's a very effective wax remover.  And of course flammable. 

 

 

[hemsteadc]

 

[Chalkie]

11 hours ago, Rich&Sylvia said:

I tried WD40 on the glass dropping and it did not work. 
I will try to stop at a hardware store for some mineral spirts.
Had a long drive today, maybe tomorrow.

 

Get a small container of turpentine too so you can give them a side by side comparison. 

Edit: There is one more product that unfortunately only comes in gallons and that is 3M Prep Solvent-70. My son had used some to de-badge and de-stripe his truck and it worked amazingly well on pine sap as well. You'll need to re-wax every place you use this though.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Chalkie

[justRich]

Long story short:

These product failed to remove or affect the pitch:
WD 40 
Mineral Spirit  (purchased at Walmart)
Turpentine  (purchased at Ace Hardware)

Turpentine seemed to have some small affect on the pitch on the glass and took a lot of rubbing - too much rubbing required for me to try it on the paint.
And after sitting in the Arizona sun for a long time, the pitch is really baked on.

I will continue my efforts at pitch removal and will respond here with results.

 

 

[Pat & Pete]

41 minutes ago, Rich&Sylvia said:

Long story short:

These product failed to remove or affect the pitch:
WD 40 
Mineral Spirit  (purchased at Walmart)
Turpentine  (purchased at Ace Hardware)

Turpentine seemed to have some small affect on the pitch on the glass and took a lot of rubbing - too much rubbing required for me to try it on the paint.
And after sitting in the Arizona sun for a long time, the pitch is really baked on.

I will continue my efforts at pitch removal and will respond here with results.

 

 

Maybe you should change your approach just a tiny bit and apply pitch to the total surface of the vehicle and live with a non-factory finish . LOL

It may not look as pretty , but ...

[Dutch_12078]

If the pitch is thick and hardened on non-glass, I usually carefully scrap some of it off with a plastic scraper blade, and then finish the job with hand sanitizer. On glass, I use a regular razor blade scraper plus hand sanitizer.

 

[Jinx & Wayne]

Murphy's Oil Soap. Damp cloth and put some on the cloth. Wipe on the surface, let it sit for a few minutes and then wash it off.

 

[Ray,IN]

On 10/14/2022 at 10:33 AM, Rich&Sylvia said:

Long story short:

These product failed to remove or affect the pitch:
WD 40 
Mineral Spirit  (purchased at Walmart)
Turpentine  (purchased at Ace Hardware)

Turpentine seemed to have some small affect on the pitch on the glass and took a lot of rubbing - too much rubbing required for me to try it on the paint.
And after sitting in the Arizona sun for a long time, the pitch is really baked on.

I will continue my efforts at pitch removal and will respond here with results.

 

 

Turpentine is derived from pine pitch, it is not petroleum-based.

reference: Turpentine - Wikipedia

Edited October 15, 2022 by Ray,IN

[Chalkie]

On 10/14/2022 at 9:33 AM, Rich&Sylvia said:

Turpentine  (purchased at Ace Hardware)

There are two types of turpentine - wood and gum. The more common one, wood, is made from pine wood chips and sawdust. The other is made from pine sap. This is the type you need to try. My wife reminded me that I got gum turpentine at Hobby Lobby as its most common use is artist oil paint thinning. 

[justRich]

21 hours ago, Chalkie said:

There are two types of turpentine - wood and gum. The more common one, wood, is made from pine wood chips and sawdust. The other is made from pine sap. This is the type you need to try. My wife reminded me that I got gum turpentine at Hobby Lobby as its most common use is artist oil paint thinning. 

I'll check the can.  Actually, I believe that the sap is from Fir trees, which are more prevalent in the PNW.

[justRich]

Just a follow up.  None of the solvents that I tried worked.  Even the promised pitch and tar remover - which I tried on the cab roof where it would not show - failed - but leaving it on a bit too long did soften the paint.

The Arizona sun has now hardened the pitch and seems to have crystalized it - I can chip it off with a fingernail.
I've chipped off enough of the now brittle pitch to a point that  a good rubbing compound should remove remnants.

Alas, I have reservations at the same park with the "pitch" trees.  This time my stay will be early in the year (not late summer like last year) and hopefully the pitch is not flowing yet.

 

 

[Pat & Pete]

11 hours ago, justRich said:

Just a follow up.  None of the solvents that I tried worked.  Even the promised pitch and tar remover - which I tried on the cab roof where it would not show - failed - but leaving it on a bit too long did soften the paint.

The Arizona sun has now hardened the pitch and seems to have crystalized it - I can chip it off with a fingernail.
I've chipped off enough of the now brittle pitch to a point that  a good rubbing compound should remove remnants.

Alas, I have reservations at the same park with the "pitch" trees.  This time my stay will be early in the year (not late summer like last year) and hopefully the pitch is not flowing yet.

From Google :

"Typically, you'll see the most sap flow in spring and early summer. During winter, sap slows down and then picks back as spring approaches. Plus, as the temperatures change from cool to warm, the pressure increases, which can force a bit of sap to drip."

 

 

[justRich]

Quote

"Typically, you'll see the most sap flow in spring and early summer. During winter, sap slows down and then picks back as spring approaches. Plus, as the temperatures change from cool to warm, the pressure increases, which can force a bit of sap to drip."

Great.  Painters plastic stretched over the hood might help.  Last year, there was a rig in the park that had plastic stretched over the truck.  Now I know why.