How to remove chewing gum from metallic paint? - Dry, sun-baked gum all over the car

mrtask

mrtask

Well-Known Member
Okay, not strictly speaking a P6 issue, but maybe somebody on here has a good tip or two for me? On holiday in the sunny south of France at my girlfriend's parents place; her old man has a 17yr old BMW 730 (sadly not the rare V8 but the more common straight 6 version) in metallic silver, he took it to a car wash a month or so ago and some pesky kids had thrown their chewing gum into the rotating brushes. The stuff is all over the paintwork, and has dried really hard with the boiling hot sun down here. How do I get it off? There's an ulterior motive here, her dad is going to give us the car at the end of the summer (260,000km on it and quite a few parking dings to fix though), and I don't want to be driving it around looking like its been in an explosion at a Wrigleys factory...
 
This happened to my Mums car some time back. I used one of those portable steam gizmos that are advertised on telly now and again, cost about £40. That`s what councils here use to get it off the posh tiles in the malls etc. You could try Ice as well, but you say it`s gone hard already. Then scrape it off with a blunt tool, plastic scraper maybe, then elbow grease for the last little bit so you don`t damage the paint. Maybe a little solvent of some kind to get the very last bit off. It shouldn`t damage the lacquer. Try it on a hidden part first though. I`ve used nail varnish remover on tar before and it didn`t damage the finish.
All the best, Drew
 
I have no idea if this would work as i've never needed to try it.

Get some thickish cloth, that you don't ever want again, and
lay it over the chewing gum. Then run a warm/hot iron across the surface. The logic is that the chewing gum will stick to the cloth as opposed to the smoothness of the paintwork.

It's a trick from many years ago selling carpet and being asked how to get candle wax out of the carpet. Okay so candle wax melts but the theory is the same.

The only other ways would be very hot high presure steam or to freeze it so that it becomes brittle but i don't know how you would go about "scrapping" it off the paintwork.

Whichever option you try you must understand that it's "on your own head be it".

Best of luck.
 
I have found that denatured alcohol used sparingly on a cloth will remove tar and other sticky substances without damaging the finish.Try it in a small inconspicuous area first.

Dick West
 
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