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How to Clean Pollen Off Your Car Safely

How to Clean Pollen Off Your Car Safely

Do you keep getting a fine yellow dust on your car? Its Pollen, and during Pollen season it is a real issue.

But before you rip in and try and get it cleaned off there are three important things you need to know to avoid damaging your paint...

Three things you need to know about Pollen:

1.       Its sharp and will scratch, under a microscope it has sharp edges that can scratch your car.

2.       It’s acidic and can damage clearcoat. When it mixes with water it can etch and damage your clear coat.

3.       It’s going to keep coming. During the pollen season it will keep landing on your car. Unless you keep your car in the garage with the door shut you need to accept this is about managing, you can’t pollen proof your car.

How to Safely remove Pollen:

  • Do Not rinse your car without soaping first. If you rinse pollen off with a hose or water blaster it will push the pollen across the surfaces where it can scratch your clear coat. Instead foam soap on first and let the soap dwell 3-5 minutes before rinsing off. This time allows the soap to better loosen the pollen, and the soaps also add lubrication, this means more is removed with less scratch risk. Rinse all the soap off. Do not use a wash mitt or pad. You do not want to rub pollen across the surface or get it on your wash mitt. You can follow up with a bucket wash with a premium soap as a second step after Pollen is removed if you like, but do not do this until the Pollen is removed.

  • Do Not wipe with a dry cloth.

  • Foam the soap onto the car without touching it. Use a snow foam or pre-wash in a foam cannon (on a water blaster), or a foam gun (on a normal hose) or a hand pump.

  • Use a good PH Neutral Soaps for removing normal Pollen like:

- Valet Pro Foamula One (PH Neutral)

- Chemical Guys Honeydew Snowfoam.

- Fireball Snow Foam (PH Neutral Arriving September)

If the Pollen is very bad, or has been on a long time use an Alkaline Soap like:

- Valet Pro Citrus Pre-Wash in a hand pump (Alkaline)

- Fireball Alkaline Pre-Wash (New - Arriving September).

  • Once Clean add a layer of smooth protection to your paint, this will not stop pollen landing on your car, but it will make it easier to remove and reduce the risk of damage to your clear coat. It also will look better!

  • The more regularly you wash the less pollen will build up and the less damage it will do.

How do I stop Pollen landing on my car?

You can’t.  But you can make it easier to remove and protect your paint by adding layers of protection onto of your cars paint. We have a massive range, but these are our top picks:

  1. Autostolz Enhanced Spray Wax with SiO2 – Easy to use, fast, spray and wipe, lasts up to 90 Days.
  2. Autostolz Enhanced Wax – Applied by hand with an applicator, lasts typically 9 months. Very Easy.
  3. Combining 1 and 2.  Autostolz Enhanced Wax then Autostolz Enhanced Spray Wax with SiO2 as a top up to increase protection.
  4. Fireball Angel Tears Ceramic Coating – 1-2 Years, or ValetPro 24+, these are our picks for the best and easiest ceramic coatings to apply.

We have longer lasting Ceramic coatings up to 10 years but these need to be applied by an approved installer.  If you would like us to put you in contact with someone let us know.

Common Questions About Pollen

What if I want to quickly remove it without foam or a snow cannon? Can I just wipe it off? 

You can use a high-quality Microfiber cloth like the Rock car Roadie or the nice Rockcar Pegasus cloth, and a waterless wash or quick detailer like Autostolz Waterless Wash. Remember the pollen you wipe off is now on that cloth, so take steps to reduce the risk of dragging pollen across the paint by:

1.       Rolling your hand back as you wipe raising the lead edge of the cloth, so that the first contact point of the cloth moves back.

2.       Use cloths folded flat into four the size of your hand. 

3.       Swap to a clean side after each wipe

4.       Have Plenty of Quality Microfiber Cloths so you can swap regularly.

5.       Wash your microfiber cloths properly with a Microfiber Cloth Cleaner to ensure everything is removed. We Have Microfiber Cleaners from Fireball, Valet Pro and Chemical Guys. Our favourite is Fireball Towel Cleaner, it is exceptionally good.

6.       Use High quality microfiber cloths, we recommend those made in Korea like Rockcar Roadie or the premium Pegasus Cloth, these are extremely high quality and a true 70:30 blend.  Do not use cheap Microfiber cloths, they will scratch as much as Pollen will.

Will water spot remover remove pollen?

No. both are acidic. Pollen should be removed effectively by
either an alkaline or PH Neutral prewash or snow foam.

Should I clay to remove Pollen?

No. Claying Pollen will shift it across your paint. Pollen is sharp and will scratch. You can technically clay Pollen, but it is not recommended as it will scratch. Pollen should be removed easily with the soaps we have recommended, if there are marks still there it is most likely etching damage from the pollen not the pollen itself.  This will require machine polishing to remove the top damaged layer or clear coat.

Should I bucket Wash Pollen?

No. We do not recommend a bucket wash or washing with a wash mitt or pad for Pollen. This would drag sharp pollen across your paint where it can scratch.  Pollen would get into your wash mitt or pad, and into your wash water.  As Pollen floats, it is not trapped by dirt traps.  We recommend removing Pollen with a Snow foam in a foam canon (on a water blaster) or foam gun (on a normal hose), or a pre wash in a hand pump bottle like the Chemical Guys Mr Sprayer.

What Soaps do you recommend for Pollen:

For Moderate Polen a high-quality PH neutral Snow Foam that has high lubrication is recommended like Fireball Snow Foam (PH Neutral), or Valet Pro Foamula One (PH Neutral).

If Polen is bad or has been on there a while we would recommend an Alkaline soap like Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash and Fireball Alkaline Pre Wash (New - Arriving September) These are  Alkaline so neutralise the acid of the Pollen and have stronger cleaning power.  They are a good option for when there is a lot of Pollen that has been there for a while. 

Can I do this for other vehciles like a motorbike, motorhome, caravan,boat, truck or something else?

Yes. The challenge and process is the same.

Pollen

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Mr. Sprayer Foamer

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Mr. Sprayer Foamer is the foaming pump sprayer that makes any cleaning job fast and easy by dispensing a constant stream of thick cleaning suds wit...

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