getting pollen and sap off the hood

[Car Potential]

I washed my moms teal 2006 Hyundai Sonata this weekend when she visited. The hood is in pretty bad condition because for the last 4 years she has partially parked under a tree where little flower things constantly fall on the hood. I should have taken a couple of pics but I wanted to know what is the best process to try and get the pollen and sap off the hood. Also, im not sure if it is pollen or sap or both.

Part of the hood is lighter than the rest of the car and looks faded because of the pollen and my mom rarely washes her car so I'm guessing the pollen has just been collecting on the paint and has caused the discoloration.

And to show I am still a noob, after I washed the car I applied some UC by hand on a yellow foam pad yet I forgot to clay first and so I think I scratched the hood a little. And the UC didn't seem to do anything. I then clayed after the UC and that didn't seem to do anything.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking I could try UC again next time, I wont see the car for a while though because my parents were just visiting and live 500 miles away.

I've used UC before on my vehicle to get rid of swirls, scratches and just to clean the paint and it worked great but pollen on the paint seems brutal.

Thanks

[Evan.J]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Pictures would definitely help in this situation. Working by hand or machine?

[Car Potential]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Yea I can't take pictures now since they left already and I washed the car as they were about to leave. I'm Working by hand. Mostly, I wanted to confirm that pollen and/or sap could cause fading and discoloration and how to get it off the paint if possible.

[Murr1525]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Fading is hard to say.

What color were the UC pads coming up?

Glass Cleaner can be good for sap.

[Car Potential]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Maybe discoloration is a better word instead of fading, not sure if there is a difference though. There is a clear coat, the pad just had the UC on it, no teal color. Also, the size of the discoloration is about 1/3 of the hood. And the car has been parked under the tree at night for 4 years.

I will keep glass cleaner in mind next time i see the car. I also saw people online say rubbing alcohol and fabric softener.

[Murr1525]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Glass cleaner is pretty much alcohol.

But the pads werent coming up black or anything either?

[mis3]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

I would think that clay would remove tree saps.
Glass cleaner? I never thought of applying alcohol to the car. What would alcohol do to the clear coat?

[Car Potential]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

no the pad didnt come up black, it just had UC on it. Also, another word I thought to describe the hood is stained. I was surprised that the UC had no effect on the stains. I was looking at more pages online and it seems that the sap/pollen could have eaten through some of the clear coat. As I mentioned my mom never washes her car, maybe 2-3 times a year and so the sap/pollen has just been sitting on the paint. And whenever i do visit, there is always little flower things from the tree on the car so that means constantly things are falling from the tree on the hood.

If it was my car I would have never been parking under the tree but it is in their driveway so somewhat understandable.

[Evan.J]

Re: getting pollen and sap off the hood

Hmmmmm I wonder if there is etchings along with maybe the start of clear coat failure? Tho being a newer style car could that be? I know from my experience Hyundai's have one of the harder clear coats.