Acetone for removing pine sap.

[10Ranger]

Where we stay in the summer there is a white pine tree over the front of our 5er. By the end of the summer there are several gobs of pine sap on our front cap and a little on the roof. I've used alcohol in the past to remove the spots with pretty good success. I recently helped a friend do some roof repairs using acetone to clean the areas needing repair. I got to thinking that maybe the acetone would remove the sap so I put some on a cloth and tried it on a couple spots on the front cap and it worked great. My question is, will it damage the finish on the cap and will it damage the the decals?

 

[Scrapper]

Acetone will remove the gelcoat finish and the decals, in fact it may eat the decals.

 

[BehindBars]

In my experience, acetone is pretty nasty stuff. Plastics, decals ,and finishes can be damaged. I might use it to clean latex paint off of an aluminum ladder, but I would never use it on a RV exterior.

 

[Theo-FRF]

I have used Rapid Remover with success on both the TT and the TV without any damage. DO NOT use it near the edges of your RV's graphics, though.

I like to "soak" the sap spots by cutting a small 1/2" by 1/2" paper towel square doused with Rapid Remover. After about 3-4 minutes, you can use a clean cloth to wipe-away the sap. Then clean/rinse the area with water, dry and smear-on a bit of wax.

https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Spra...&keywords=rapid+remover&qid=1597258111&sr=8-2

 

[waybeck2018]

In 2018 we camped in New England for two weeks, in New Hampshire we were under white pine trees. What a mess. Awning, roof, TV and the mat on the ground. Dirt stuck to our feet it was so bad. We were wondering why most of the "permanent" campsites had blue tarps over them. Now we know. Always ask first, we do. Never again want that aggravation. GOOP worked pretty well, rubbing compound helped some and alcohol at least softened it some. Knowing how acetone works I avoided that suggestion from several people.Never want that to happen again.

 

[jeff64-FRF]

I try to avoid acetone. Soap and hot water, mineral spirits or isopropyl alcohol are my go to solvents. Some cleaner waxes.like others said , acetone dissolves things you don't want dissolved

 

[{Tpc}]

I’ve used purell to get sap off my truck. Of course that’s painted metal, and you don’t want to do in the heat of the day if you can avoid it. It may work for this as well.

What you do is put a small amount on the sap droplet in question and let it sit for a short time (a min maybe?) then using a soft cloth and gentle pressure just rub in a circle, rinse and repeat until it’s gone. I usually have a wet cloth to quickly wipe off the area right after as well.

The Purell has just enough alcohol content to get through the sap, and I guess the thought is if it doesn’t eat your hands it should be ok for this? I try to do it quickly because I don’t want to hurt the paint on the truck, but I feel like if a little purell can hurt the paint...might be something wrong with the paint lol.

So maybe try it in a more hidden spot and see what the results are like. Of course if you have a ton of spots or really big one this could take awhile.

Acetone would probably leave a mark as it might attack the coating. I would not recommend trying that at all. You could always try denatured alcohol which I think is much less harsh, or if you can find it, 3m bug and tar remover. I’ve been able to use the purell trick on road tar from recently repaired roads on my truck as well. I have never tried on the trailer though..never had the issue.