{"id":1781,"date":"2010-05-03T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2010-05-03T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2016-11-16T13:03:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T18:03:38","slug":"safely-removing-pollen-will-save-your-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/safely-removing-pollen-will-save-your-paint\/","title":{"rendered":"Safely Removing Pollen Will Save Your Paint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah\u2026Spring.\u00a0 Birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, and flowers are starting to bloom- Love is in the air.<\/em> But as I start looking around all the splendor nature has provided, I am reminded that love isn\u2019t the only thing in the air during Spring.\u00a0 Pollen has turned my black sedan into a yellow submarine, and unless you\u2019re a fan of the Beatles or hoping it will help my car \u201cbloom\u201d you\u2019re already thinking like me- Get it off!<\/p>\n

\"Pollen<\/p>\n

It seems as though as soon as you finish washing a car in the Spring, the pollen that you couldn\u2019t see floating by as you washed and dried has started to lay itself down on your smooth, silky, shiny paint.\u00a0 But believe or not, that really isn\u2019t a problem.\u00a0 Sure, pollen gives black cars a nuclear green glow, and white cars look like yellow, but the pollen just laying there isn’t all that bad. The problem comes after you decide how to best remove it.\u00a0 There are a few ways you could do it, but only one guaranteed to not ruin your paint.<\/p>\n

Pollen is something you want to remove as often as you can.\u00a0 While there are many forms of pollen, two popular forms around this time of year are flower (like Morning Glorys) pollen and tree (like pine) pollen. \u00a0Although it is mighty small, a single pollen grain can cling to the various pores of your paint.\u00a0 Once there, it’s the acidity of the grain that can cause damage. The acidity is often activated in pine pollen (for example) when it rains can cause staining and premature oxidation over time.<\/p>\n

So how does it cling and how do I avoid damage when removing it? Both of those answers could be answered by taking a microscopic look at pollen.<\/p>\n

\"Microscopic<\/p>\n

\"Microscopic<\/p>\n

\"Microscopic<\/p>\n

Yes, that Flail looking thing is pollen.\u00a0 It uses the prongs to hold on tight to bees, mites, and your car\u2019s paint in hopes of doing its job.\u00a0 Those same prongs are the reasons you should avoid two popular pollen removal techniques: The Wipe and The Rinse.<\/p>\n

Using the wipe seems \u201cokay\u201d at first, but even one swipe on dry paint with no lubricant could start the viral streaks and light scratches that ruin your perfect paint.\u00a0 Think it\u2019s too light to do damage?\u00a0 Maybe, but that Flail look-a-like is just one at a microscopic level.\u00a0 Multiply that one times a lot, add some pressure, and dry paint\u2026now that is a disaster waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

Another popular technique is simply \u201chosing\u201d the car at the house or spraying it off at the carwash.\u00a0 While you do in fact remove much of the pollen this way and don\u2019t threaten the paint in any way, you do miss the pollen closest to the perfection.\u00a0 Even with hot water and a pressure washer, the pollen is still there, hanging tight.\u00a0 Not only is it not gone, but you have now activated some of its acidic qualities.<\/p>\n

So what to do?\u00a0 Do it right and take your time.\u00a0 A good old wash: soapy water, gentle agitation, and dry<\/a>.\u00a0 The soap will encapsulate the pollen and loosen its grip on the paint.\u00a0 Light agitation will move it out of the pores and leave you with a glossy, scratch free finish. \u00a0While you may not be able to wash your car every night, when you do take the time you\u2019ll end up with one that allows you to enjoy the love that\u2019s in the air<\/em> and not hate the scratches in your paint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pollen has turned my black sedan into one of a yellow submarine, and unless you\u2019re a fan of the Beatles or hoping it will help my car \u201cbloom\u201d you\u2019re already thinking like me- Get it off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":21417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,63,29],"tags":[316,620,257,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-1781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-decontamination","8":"category-general-detailing","9":"category-washing-drying","10":"tag-contamination","11":"tag-pollen","12":"tag-swirls","13":"tag-washing-and-drying"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/4556143916_f495275706.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-sJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21418,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/21418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}