How to Wash Bug Juice off an Automobile Windshield

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By cajunc
User-Submitted Article

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Bugs on the windshield are just slightly better than bugs in the teeth

Bug juice on the vehicle, automobile or car windshield and in the grille is a constant problem in the South. Large bugs can actually damage the paint when they splat, but the small ones dry quickly and are more difficult to remove.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

water
Simple Green
baking soda
spray bottle
an automobile, SUV, truck or car
water and a hose

Step 1

WASH your vehicle as soon as possible after getting bugs on the windshield or grille. Begin washing with spray from a hose or at a car wash. Living in the South has a few great benefits, like mild winters and lakes and fun, but one of the real drawbacks is trying to keep a vehicle clean. Sometimes when we travel to Louisiana from Central Texas, the bugs build up on the windshield and the grille and we have to stop and rinse them off to see. After twenty years in the North, this was new to me.
Step 2

Simple Green works to help polish and detail your automobile

MIX SIMPLE GREEN with water in at least a 1:1 ratio, or 50% water and 50% Simple Green. Washing in a carwash or with a spray nozzle will remove some of the bugs, but Simple Green is a product made in the USA that seems to remove the bug juice better than anything we have found. Simple Green comes in a concentrate, so mix the product with water and put it in a spray bottle. Instructions indicate that you may use it up to 1:10 dilution ratio for heavy stains, and they recommend trying a spot test.
Step 3

Once you have a spray bottle with a mix of Simple Green and water and have spot tested it to be sure it will not harm your paint or chrome, SPRAY it on the grille and windshield of your SUV or truck or car where the bug juice is located. Wait about five minutes and spray it with water with a spray nozzle. Make sure to get all the Simple Green off, and the bugs should have loosened and washed away!
Step 4

Use BAKING SODA if you do not have Simple Green. Baking soda sprinkled on the windshield creates a gritty scrubbing surface that cleans the bugs when a little water is added to make a paste.
Step 5

Use DAWN detergent as an alternative. It seems to work better than most of the other mild detergents, particularly with a scrub brush. Simple Green is still the preferred product to remove bugs from the windshield of our vehicles, but we also tend to use what we have available at the moment.