Young troublemakers or protesters have been egging cars for a long time. Eggs can be a popular tool for pranksters since eggs are incredibly difficult to clean. They can also damage paint if owners don’t tend to their vehicles immediately.
If you’ve dropped an egg at home before, you’d know how difficult eggs are to clean. Eggs are slimy, so cleaning them with a mop or a piece of wet cloth just causes the egg to spread. In fact, painters during the Renaissance made use of egg yolks as paint because egg stains were practically permanent.
However, they can be easily cleaned with the right know-how. In this article, we’ll discuss how to get eggs off your car and talk about how they can damage your vehicle’s paint.
How to Clean Egg Off Your Car
There are several ways to clean eggs on a car. This will depend on whether the egg is still wet or if your vehicle has been left out in the sun and the egg has stuck to your paint.
Using Wiper Fluid
If your windshield has been egged, you should spray windshield wiper fluid immediately and activate your windshield wipers. According to several online experiments, the soapy solution is effective when it comes to clearing egg residue from your field of view. However, after the egg has been wiped from your field of view, you should still clean the runoff on your vehicle’s body immediately.
Using Waterless Wax
Waterless wax contains lubricating polymers that function as a substitute for water, trapping loose dirt and soil and pulling it into your microfiber cloth to prevent scratches and swirl marks on your clear coat’s glossy finish. Its cleaning properties can also allow it to get rid of egg stains.
Start by spraying the affected area and letting it sit for around 10 minutes. Afterward, you should try to scrape away as much egg residue using a plastic scraper. Then, wipe off any remaining egg residue using a microfiber cloth.
With Distilled White Vinegar
If your vehicle’s paint or body has been egged, then you should prepare the following:
- Distilled white vinegar
- Microfiber cloth or towel
Before you use the vinegar and towel to wipe off the eggs, pick up as many eggshell pieces from the surface. Wiping the egg residue when there are still eggshells present can scratch your paint. You can use a spray bottle to spray the vinegar onto your paint or you can soak the towel with vinegar. After getting rid of the eggshells, gently wipe away the egg residue from the paint. Rinse the egg off the towel and reapply vinegar to the towel or paint if necessary.
With Brake Cleaner
Brake cleaner fluids are intended to absorb and degrade oil, grime, rust, and even paint, so if you require a more powerful answer to your egg stain problem, they might do the trick.
Use a heavy-duty paper towel and fold it multiple times until it’s a small square. Spray some of the brake cleaner fluid onto the paper towel and wipe the affected area firmly and smoothly. Reapply brake cleaner as needed. Keep in mind that brake cleaner fluid is mildly corrosive, so it might actually take off some paint.
Using Car Soap and Hot Water
Using distilled white vinegar is the best solution to remove eggs that have possibly dried onto your vehicle. However, if you don’t have white vinegar, then there’s another method that makes use of the following:
- A garden hose
- Hot water
- A microfiber cloth
- Car soap
After washing the egg’s impact zone with the garden hose, check if there’s any remaining egg residue, and then spray some of your hot water and soap mixture onto those areas. Allow it to sit for a few minutes before beginning to remove the stain with a microfiber cloth.
Sanding and Buffing the Damaged Paint
If the egg or any of the removal procedures mentioned above has damaged or chipped your car’s paint, you might need to sand and buff the damaged area.
You’ll need the following:
- Variable speed polisher
- 1,000-grit sandpaper
- Buffing compound
- Wool buffing pad
- Polishing pad
- Polishing compound
- Spray detailer
Put water on 1,000-grit sandpaper and sand the damaged or discolored area. Afterward, remove the sanding marks with the variable-speed polisher.
Then, use a 100% wool buffing pad and buffing compound to polish over any buffing marks that remain. The sanding scratches should be gone now, but the surface will have swirl marks from the wool buffing pad. Change to a soft polishing pad and a final polish. To erase the swirl marks, use a high-speed buffer. Finish the job with a spray detailer and clean the damaged area.
If the damage is serious and buffing it out doesn’t fix it, you’ll need to take your car to a professional body shop to have the damaged area inspected and repainted.
Why You Need to Clear Eggs Immediately
If you have egg on your car paint, you should clean it within an hour after it has been splattered. If it dries, your vehicle’s clear coat can get damaged. This is because eggs contain amino acids that chemically etch themselves onto the surface of the paint soon after contact. This is called crazing, and it causes the paint’s clear coat to crack and deteriorate.
Additionally, shattered eggshells are also quite sharp. Car paint damage from eggs is possible when they’re thrown at high speeds, since the impact can cause the shards to penetrate the clear coat and scratch the paint. You should also be careful when it comes to cleaning the eggshells off your paint. You shouldn’t wipe off egg stains without removing the eggshells first, as tiny eggshells can become abrasive and scratch paint.
You might not be able to stop people from messing with your precious ride, but you can prevent them from further damaging it. You should wash off the egg residue from your car as soon as possible. However, if your vehicle has received minor paint damage, then going to a paint shop or a detailer might be your best course of action.
Where to Get Cleaning Products for Your Car
Glass cleaners, car soap, and wax are some of the cleaning agents you can use to remove the egg splatter from your car. These are relatively easy to find, but getting the best deals to get your money’s worth is not. At CarParts.com, you can find an excellent array of solutions for your cleaning needs at unbeatable prices.
Never worry about getting subpar products when you shop from us. All our cleaning products passed stringent standard tests, so you’re sure to get effective products. We also source them from top industry brands.
Use our search filters to find what you need and check out securely in minutes. All our cleaning solutions are on hand and ready to ship from a distribution center near you, so you can count on our fast and reliable shipping.
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Any information provided on this Website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional mechanic. The accuracy and timeliness of the information may change from the time of publication.