- Counterattack on insect splats
If you’re constantly at battle with insects getting splattered on the front of your car, try a preventative strategy instead and spray the front of your car with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil, or wipe it down with baby oil. Most insects won’t stick around and the ones that do can be hosed or wiped off more easily.
- Mesh away insect mess
Get rid of the dead insects on your car by squirting a little washing-up liquid over the spot and scrubbing with a mesh bag — the kind that onions are sold in. The mesh is sufficiently rough that it will remove insects, but not so rough that it will scratch the finish or windscreen. Once you have scrubbed away the bugs, wipe the surface with a clean cloth.
- An easy debugger
To get rid of dead insects on your windscreen or bumper, use an old, balled-up pair of pantihose dipped in washing suds. Remove the insects by rubbing gently, then wash off the mess with a cloth soaked in soapy water.
- Keep a radio antenna clean
If grime is clogging your radio antenna and it becomes stuck in an up or down position, try to extend the antenna to its full height and rub along its length with waxed paper. It will be so smooth that it should glide up and down as cleanly as the arm on a trombone.
- Rub Christmas tree sap off the car roof
If you’ve had a fresh Christmas tree strapped to the roof of your car, you’ll probably end up with sap stuck to the surface — and soap and water won’t do the job. Pour a few drops of surgical spirit over the sap and rub it with your fingertips. Then wipe it off with an alcohol-dampened rag and let the area air-dry.
- Freeze the sticky stuff
Another way of getting rid of sap is to press an ice cube over it for a minute or so. When the sap hardens, simply peel it off your car, bicycle or other surface.
- Oil away a sticker
To remove a sticker from your windscreen, spray it with vegetable oil or WD-40 and let he spray soak in for a while. Then scrape the sticker off using the edge of a credit card. If bits of it stick fast, heat the area gently with a blast from a hair dryer and then try again.
- Removing tar
Tar can be difficult to remove from your car, but you’ll win the battle over black goo fast when you try one of these removal methods, rinsing and drying after each one.
- Try spraying the tar with a laundry prewash stain remover. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes and then wipe it off thoroughly.
- Wet a cloth with linseed oil and apply it to the spots of tar. Let the oil soak in for about 10 minutes. Once the tar softens, douse another cloth with linseed oil and wipe the tar away.
- Rub the tar with a bit of peanut butter, leave it on for 10 minutes and then wipe it away with a soft cloth.
- Spray the spots with a squirt of WD-40 and let it soak in for 5 minutes. Then wipe the tar away with a soft cloth.
- Pour a cup of cola on a clean cloth and rub the tar off the car surface.
- Mix 1 cup (250ml) kerosene with 5 litres water and scrub the tar away with a rag soaked in the potent solution.