Car WashHow to get bugs off your car with Tommy’s Express
Every spring, our communities nationwide face a fresh wave of springtime bugs smeared all over our cars. Whether you’re up against Florida Lovebugs or your neighborhood moths and mosquitos, Tommy’s Express is here to help you clean bugs off your car.
So, what’s the problem with bug splats anyway?
Bug splats will eat at your car’s paint
It turns out that liquified insects and the bacteria that try to decompose them are quite acidic. This means that over time, bug splats will begin to chemically cut into your car’s clearcoat, dulling your car’s appearance and putting your paint job at risk.
Bug splatter messes with your vision
When you’re behind the wheel, anything that gets in the way or increases the risk of an accident is a problem.
Bug guts can obscure your vision, diffusing light across your windshield at night.
They can also smear when you turn your windshield wipers on in the rain or build up, becoming a distraction.
Keeping it clean with science
Unfortunately, bug splats are hard to wipe away, even relatively fresh. As a natural, organic material, bug guts are naturally oily and sticky and won’t easily mix with water. Even high-quality automotive soap might not cut it without some elbow grease.
If they bake on your windshield or hood in the sun and harden up, they can be even harder to get off.
Tommy’s Express has you covered with a variety of wash services specifically designed to break down and remove stubborn grime like lovebug splats and other insect splats.
These include:
- Presoak treatment: Ever notice that Tommy’s Express doesn’t have a team member spraying down cars before the wash? Our washes use a specially engineered presoak arch right at the front of the tunnel, which applies an even, targeted coat of concentrated presoak detergent with warm water to each highly-bugged area on your car without wastage. Our presoak detergent is alkaline-based, and during bug season, we adjust our concentrations to make sure it cuts through layers of bug guts more efficiently, along with other common car soils like road tar, dirt, and dust.
- Friction & pressure: After the presoak, we have stages of high-pressure body soap applications and repeated contact with soft cloth brushes to help agitate, scrub, and lift bug guts away. Because our body soap is mildly acidic, it does a good job getting rid of the bug slime first loosened up by the presoak application.
- Ceramic Body Wax®: One of the best ways to prevent bug splats on your car is to add a protective layer between future splats and your clear coat. We do this with our high-quality Tommy’s Express Ceramic Body Wax® service, which helps give your car extra sheen and, with repeated visits, can build up to provide a slick protective coating that makes removing bug splats noticeably easier in the future.
Please mind the fingernail rule
If you can rub bug guts off with the pad of your finger, our wash will probably be able to get them off as well. And if we don’t completely get rid of loose bug splats on your car, please let our cashiers know so we can send you through the wash again at no charge.
However, if it is difficult to remove bug splats with your finger, and you need to use a fingernail to chip or scrape it off, then our wash system probably won’t be able to remove it.
In this case, you can remove dead bugs with a microfiber cloth or other automotive-safe cleaning tools. A variety of specialized bug and tar remover products are on the market.
You can also try laundry pads, WD-40 (not safe on plastic elements!), and even cola to help break down and loosen stubborn splats.
Clean cars are easier to clean
It is true! The cleaner you keep your car from day to day, the easier it is to clean the occasional spot here and there when you notice them. To protect your car’s paint and keep your car looking clean, fresh, and slick year-round with TommyClub®, get an unlimited car wash subscription at Tommy’s Express.
Why join TommyClub
- Unlimited on-demand washes at your chosen service level as long as your subscription is active.
- Contactless, express entry through the wash in our members-only app lanes
- Wash entry based on your license plate number; no membership cards or RFID stickers
- Manage your account any time using the Tommy’s Express app; no phone calls are required
- A full month of unlimited washes starts at only $19.99 at many locations
To get started, download the Tommy’s Express app on your personal device, provide payment information, choose a service package, and register your vehicle.
Your subscription starts right away, so feel free to stop by and let Tommy’s Express help with your bug splats today.