Cleaning

[MacDaddy]

Good afternoon,
We had our 'van on a storage site for about three months maximum until recently when we've brought it out of storage and parked up behind the new house.
The storage site was behind a dairy farm and as you would expect there were quite a lot of flies.
When we got it back the 'van is covered with what I can only assume is the fly equivalent of sh*t - it's everywhere, little black spots.
To make matters worse they are proving extremely difficult to remove, the only thing that seems to work it T-Cut and even that requires a lot of elbow-grease to go with it, it took me all day just to clean the back pannel. I'm also not keen on using T-Cut too much as the 'van is a three tone colour scheme and I've noticed on the darker colours that it's very easy to go through into the white underneath.
So my question is - what is the best stuff to use to clean this off with minimal effort and damage to the paintwork? It's really making our very nice Hobby look quite grubby.

Thanks in advance.

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Many years ago AutoSmart used to supply a product especially to remove flies and there innids, I always used to swear it was nothing else but Flash liquid in an AutoSmart bottle, as it looked and smelled exactly the same. Worth a try for a couple of quid. Good luck.

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Hi MacDaddy i have used Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover on mine in the past and it comes off with ease. Worth a try and it doesnt damage your paint work like T-cut.

Cheers

 

[Firkle]

Two other things you could try are the proprietary spray type window glass cleaner or car alloy wheel cleaner but test a small out of the way patch first. AutoGlym also sell wipes for removing bird droppings from car paintwork.

Regards

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Two other things you could try are the proprietary spray type window glass cleaner or car alloy wheel cleaner but test a small out of the way patch first. AutoGlym also sell wipes for removing bird droppings from car paintwork.

Regards

Hi Firkle

If you dont wash off the alloy wheel cleaner properly then it is very corrosive and it does actually eat into plastic. I found out the hard way when i sprayed it on to my alloy wheels on the car and then didnt wash it off properly. The cleaner ate into the plastic wheel centres and corroded them so badly that i had to replace them.

Just a thought.

 

[Martin24]

I would use the autoglym intensive tar remover as directed, wash off then dry and polish before waxing. I do regularly use autoglym caravan cleaner as well which is very effective but see which is easiest for you

 

[RichardJ]

Hi Mate
This i can answer quite easy, buy a good quality TFR from a good source, ensuring it is either low caustic content or 0% caustic, spray on neat, borrow a hot water jet wash, get the water to 55 degrees and simply jet off, all flies and other deposits will come off.
My van is stored on a farm, i own a company supplying vehicle cleaning products, (not auto smart or any big name) i simply use our own TFR 6, for all types of cleaning, diluted for normal cleaning of vans to 10%.
Do not use anything that needs to be rubbed in....

 

[Red_Mick]

Hi Mate
This i can answer quite easy, buy a good quality TFR from a good source, ensuring it is either low caustic content or 0% caustic, spray on neat, borrow a hot water jet wash, get the water to 55 degrees and simply jet off, all flies and other deposits will come off.
My van is stored on a farm, i own a company supplying vehicle cleaning products, (not auto smart or any big name) i simply use our own TFR 6, for all types of cleaning, diluted for normal cleaning of vans to 10%.
Do not use anything that needs to be rubbed in....

Excuse my ignorance, but what is TFR??

 

[RichardJ]

Hi Mate
Sorry, its Traffic Film Remover, as I stated do not get the type that needs rubbing

 

[TonyG]

I was always told that the last thing you should use on a caravan is a pressure washer!!!

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Quite correct , the quickest way to water ingress is use a pressure washer on you caravan,it will remove the sealant with ease .
Whilst there is - goood advise on here I feel pretty sure that Fenwicks do a fly remover and is very paint friendly.
Parksy is in the know better than me with the Fenwicks products and Im sure he will advise better than me . Come on Parksy

 

[Parksy]

Quite correct , the quickest way to water ingress is use a pressure washer on you caravan,it will remove the sealant with ease .
Whilst there is - goood advise on here I feel pretty sure that Fenwicks do a fly remover and is very paint friendly.
Parksy is in the know better than me with the Fenwicks products and Im sure he will advise better than me . Come on Parksy

I'm not aware of any Fenwicks product that is specifically for removing flies and insect remains Sir Rog.
Neat Fenwicks sprayed on to the affected area and left for a while to soak into the remains before washing with very hot water should remove dead insects, otherwise I'd follow the advice given by 'Dirksdonuts' earlier and use the Autoglym intensive tar remover, again rise with hot water.
Pressure washers shouldn't be used near to the mastic sealed areas on caravans because of the danger of washing mastic out of joints.
After washing the caravan the application of a good quality polish will remove any stains remaining.
After polishing apply a good wax coat ( use a product containing carnauba wax if possible) and this will lessen the tendency of bugs to stick to paintwork, after that use wax after washing to build up a good protective wax coating.
Note that polish and wax are entirely different products used for different applications, click here to read about the differences.

 

[forestgump]

i agree hot water soaked over the area and strong fenwicks mix warm water should brake down the crapp rubbing to hard will just wear away the marks and the paint you need to lift the marks.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

just had a google round and found Maguiars do a dead fly remover with mitten and bug remover I hope this helps and I opoligise for giving false info (Fenwicks) do not do a fly remover