Gotta Love the Love Bugs??

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anniemae

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Dec 13, 2011
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Yesterday, leaving St Pete in my nicely washed and shiny MH, heading for our first stop to meet up with folks from Naples in Lake City Fl.  we met up with our friends,The Love Bugs.  What a mess, with the hot sun helping to bake them on.  Washed the windshield when we arrived at our CG but waited until the morning shade to really clean up the Mess.  Lots of elbow grease.  Vacuumed the radiators, need to check the air filter. I used the glass cleaner with H2O which seemed to work ok.  Any suggestions for the next time to clean them off or prevent them from sticking?
 
I used to dread riding my motorcycle around love bugs.  My bike had a small, short windshield and a fairing that would get covered with bugs.  Before cleaning I would take a large towel, wet it good, and lay it out so that it covered my fairing and windshield.  I left it on my bike for a couple of hours keeping the towel wet.  This seemed to put moisture back into the bugs and made them easier to clean.
 
Not a cure, but a really good wax coating will help clean up. If you cannot clean them the same day you squash them, try dryer sheets (wetted). It takes some elbow grease but they do remove a lot. After the dryer pads you still have to wash away the residue from the dryer sheets. I once stopped on the way home and put liquid dishwashing soap on the front (not the windshield) and let it dry. When I got home I took a pressure washer (with the low pressure nozzle) and sprayed them off - seemed to work ok, but I am uncomfortable with what the soap would do to the finish long term.
 
A combination of good wax job before the bugs and keeping them moist for  awhile before attempting to clean has worked for me.
 
Definitely don't let them sit for very long.  Soak them with water, let sit to soak in water, spray off the worst, then elbow grease.  Getting them wet does seem to make it easeir.  But I still hate the darned things!  And, whatever you do, avoid things like spraying first with WD-40 which tends to fry them into place (don't ask how we know) and makes cleaning off even worse.

ArdraF
 
Forgive me for being a northerner. 
What are these Love Bugs you are talking about? 
From the sounds of some of the replies, they are the size of Hummingbirds and fry real well in the sun!
 
denmarc said:
Forgive me for being a northerner. 
What are these Love Bugs you are talking about? 
From the sounds of some of the replies, they are the size of Hummingbirds and fry real well in the sun!
Click to expand...

They are poor creatures that lose their lives to vehicles that smash into them as they fly around while copulating.
 
As crazy as it sounds or seems... try good ol' Coca Cola.  Pop open a can of Coke, wet your sponge/cloth and wipe away.  Some say to shake it up first, but I'll leave that up to you.  Either way the acid in it will/should help get rid of THE LOVE BUG GRIME!

Gotta luv 'em!

FYI, they only come out around Mother's Day and Labor Day.
 
denmarc said:
Forgive me for being a northerner. 
What are these Love Bugs you are talking about? 
From the sounds of some of the replies, they are the size of Hummingbirds and fry real well in the sun!
Click to expand...

  Easy.... make love not war....bah humbug.

Carry a shotgun and blast them before they get too close.    :)
 
We live on the edge of Love Bug Country.  South a few miles and sometimes in the spring and fall there will be bugs.  They can get quite bad in deep SE Texas some years.  Due to the dry weather the last couple years they haven't been bad at all.

I have one rule to eliminate the problem of love bugs.  I don't go where they are.  I stay away from them every chance I get.
 
For any of you who are not familiar with love bugs, below is a link to some Google images.  If the bugs and their juice are not removed from the paint on the vehicle in a timely manner, it will remove the paint.  Also after a day or two, they are very difficult to remove.

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS477US477&q=love+bugs+on+cars&gs_upl=0l0l1l145068lllllllllll0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Tb2tT6qYE8b1gAeamP2nCQ&biw=1249&bih=586&sei=Wb2tT_KuH8nIgQeKrpGlCQ
 
I found that the best way to clean love bugs is to use warm soapy water (concentrated liquid car wash) and a soft scrub brush. Clean up the mess and towel dry. Just did that today after driving my car from St. Petersburg, FL to Dade City and back. It works on my RV, too. Of course, when I get on a ladder to clean the massive windshield on my Class A I feel like one of those critters.  8)
 
Rode the bike today and got a few love bugs. One hit my right sunglass lens and another got between my left ear and glass bow. I've read that hydrogen peroxide sprayed on them will tend to soften them quite a bit. Haven't tried it yet.
 
try the Mr Clean majic eraser. Otherwise I lay a damp cloth over them. Something like a large beach towel and keep it saturated with water, it softens them up and then just spray them off. There is NO truth in the rumor they were a University Of Florida experiment that went bad :mad: I hear that every year.
 
Drove down to Tampa from Ocala on Friday and back this afternoon.  Had quite a collection by the time I got home.  I used Dollar Tree's Awesome and they came right off.  I can't wait to start the trip north this week and see what the front of the trailer looks like.  By the time I get home, it usually is black.
 
John,

Just cleaned our storage shed today and found some Awesome. Didn't know where I got it! Will have to try it if the bugs get worse. I usually go out early in the morning and wipe the car down with a micro fiber towel. Gets all the junk off easily.
 
I would buy Awesome by the gallon if Dollar Tree offered it that way.  About the only thing I don't use it for is in my morning coffee.  Yet.
 
The bugs haven't been too bad this year.  Last year we must have hit 20,000 in about two hours.
 

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