# Review: SONAX Insect Remover - How to avoid getting a new paint job



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*Review: SONAX Insect Remover - How to avoid getting a new paint job *

SONAX Insect Remover










*Here's the back-story...*

So my brother-in-law PJ dropped his boat and truck off yesterday for some upcoming projects. I walked outside to greet him and as I walked by the front of the truck I saw what must have been a HUGE FREAKING BUG!

*Here's the front of the truck. See it?*










*Now remember - this is just the GUTS. This means the bug had to be much larger!*










*Eww.... ick....* :bolt:

These bug guts appeared to be fully dried. There was no liquidity or goo to the guts at all. That stuff was a dry as bones in the desert.

One thing that works against fossil fuel powered vehicles is the engine HEAT that is generated, which is transferred to the sheet metal hood where it plus the Florida sun bakes dead buts on hard.










PERMANENT DAMAGE

The acids in bug guts can be so corrosive that they will eat or etch through the urethane clearcoat finish right through to the basecoat. Once this happens - it's game over.

You then have two choices,


Touch-up paint
Repaint

Neither are going to make you happy.

*Better Solution?*

*REMOVE THE BUG GUTS AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!*

The SONAX Insect Remover uses an enzyme that chemically dissolves dried bug guts and also neutralizes the gross mess.

Because I like my brother-in-law, he's a cool cat, and knowing the SONAX Insect Remover is just inside down outside the garage, I walked as fast as I can and grabbed the Insect Remover and a couple of clean microfiber towels and went to work.

_*Spray spray spray...*_










_*Dwelling and dissolving...*_










*Turning solids back into liquids*

As I stood there and watched, in a matter of seconds, the SONAX Insect Remover began dissolving and liquefying the bug guts. It was impressive to see.










_*Wiping...*_










Clean and SAFE!

There's does not appear to be any chemical etching or staining to the area but there does appear to be a small chip in the area but if you look at the original picture, it's a few inches away from the impact zone. I'll fix this with some Dr. Color Chip while the truck is here.



















Review

*First* - I've been to the SONAX company in Neuberg, Germany. They are HUGE. When I left Meguiar's they had 5 chemist. When I visited SONAX - they had _30 chemists!_ And one thing for sure, SONAX makes great products and also very *SAFE* products.

*Second* - Those bug guts were dried on hard like concrete. The massive size of the splatter zone was not just huge it was gross. I actually figured there would be some staining of the paint surface but luckily - nothing. I've used this product before and it's always worked great. But to spray it on and watch it immediately go to work dissolving the layer of dried bug guts was impressive. I would not have been surprised if it would have taken longer and/or if it would have taken multiple applications. But what you see in the pictures is the real-deal. I sprayed the product on, waited less than a minute and then wiped the paint clean, dry and shiny.

I've seen the damage bug guts will do to car paint. It's never pretty and it's rare you can simply do some paint correction and make the damage disappear. The best thing you can do is remove the offending, corrosive guts on the paint as fast as you can. Then ascertain the damage if any.

If you live in an area where you're all to familiar with what you see in the pictures above - then next time you're placing an order with Autogeek, get yourself some SONAX Insect Remover and keep it and some clean microfiber towels behind the seat for Bug Guts Emergencies!


----------



## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

Mike Phillips said:


> *Review: SONAX Insect Remover - How to avoid getting a new paint job *
> 
> SONAX Insect Remover
> 
> ...


Nice post Mike, I've found the Gtechniq Bug Remover to be really potent stuff (think Bug Removers are generally) and on one spot it managed to kill the hydrophobicity of my lite-coating. Have you had any experience of the same, I am very very wary of using unless I have to.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

atbalfour said:


> Nice post Mike,
> 
> I've found the Gtechniq Bug Remover to be really potent stuff (think Bug Removers are generally) and on one spot it managed to kill the hydrophobicity of my lite-coating.
> 
> Have you had any experience of the same, I am very very wary of using unless I have to.


Most quality brand name coatings should be chemically resistant to most insect removers.

That said, I always take examples like this and put them into EXTREMES to help myself and others wrap our collective brains around the topic.

Here's how I would put this station into EXTREMES.

Will spraying an insect remover onto coated paint (to remove bug splatter), *add* more ceramic coating?

The answer is, of course not.

Now what's the opposite of the word ADD?

*Subtract.*

So realistically, if we take things to extremes, (which is what OCD type detailing fanatics tend to do), then using an insect remover will damage the coating or whatever LSP you're using on your car.

So if you use an insect remover, consider your options to re-protect the affected area or panel.

This is why I'm a fan of AIOs over all other options. You can quickly recover from damage. Been liking the new Z1 Ceramic AIO from Dr. Beasley's lately for this ability.

*Mellow Yellow 2-door Chevy - Dr. Beasley's Z1 - Corrected & Sealed - 1965 Corvette *










Going to use it on this *floaty toy* this weekend.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

On the AGO forum, a bug sponge was brought up, here's what I shared on this topic,

More...

*Just to comment on bug sponges. *

These things are safe on hard paint, but on softer paints they will scratch or "mar" the paint. For anyone reading this into the future, the correct way to use a bug sponge is to *FIRST* _get it wet in some soapy water_.

This will actually soften the coarse feeling sponge. It will still be "scrubby", but it will be a lot less aggressive.

*Here's a basic Bug Sponge. When it's dry like this it's very stiff and coarse.*










*Dunk it into some clean soapy water and then squeeze a few times...*










*This will load it up with soapy water plus soften it up a bit...*










*Pre-soften dried bug guts*

Even with a bug sponge, if the bug splatter or bug guts are *DRY* - then do your car's paint a favor and get it wet first. Either spray the area down with water or place a wet towel or even wet paper towel onto the dried bug splatter as this will HOLD the water onto the dried guts so the water can go to work doing what it does - dissolve and soften.










After you place the wet towel on the dried bug splatter










Add even more water so the towel is completely saturated. The towel holds the water onto the body panel and now the water can do it's thing.










Just a friendly tip to help you remove corrosive bug splatter without marring your car's finish.

You could also spray the SONAX Insect Remover onto the bug spatter and a section of the towel, place this on the bug splatter and then get the towel wet with some water. Now you would have SONAX and water working for you.


----------

