[davidCSE]

Hi there,

Got to get some serious cleaning and care going on my 2012 Passat SEL. This thing was kept immaculate by the prior owner and I have fallen short!

The car's been at my parents' house where there is a large pine tree that drops its needles on anything within a 20 mile radius. So needles have accumulated between various panels, under covers, and anywhere you can imagine.

In particular, I wonder if anyone has suggestions for getting the needles out from the tiny space between the rear windshield and the C panels. There's just a couple millimeter gap there, but the needles have made their way under there, and even under the edge of the glass itself.

Any suggestions on how to clean these out of that space? I'm conscious there's a seal/gasket/adhesive there that I don't want to damage -- i.e., the bonding agent between the car and the glass.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dutchmastr9]

Hi there,

Got to get some serious cleaning and care going on my 2012 Passat SEL. This thing was kept immaculate by the prior owner and I have fallen short!

The car's been at my parents' house where there is a large pine tree that drops its needles on anything within a 20 mile radius. So needles have accumulated between various panels, under covers, and anywhere you can imagine.

In particular, I wonder if anyone has suggestions for getting the needles out from the tiny space between the rear windshield and the C panels. There's just a couple millimeter gap there, but the needles have made their way under there, and even under the edge of the glass itself.

Any suggestions on how to clean these out of that space? I'm conscious there's a seal/gasket/adhesive there that I don't want to damage -- i.e., the bonding agent between the car and the glass.

Any thoughts?

compressed air or a somewhat high pressure water stream

 

[davidCSE]

Alas, no compressor

I really need to find some way to get air without investing in a giant compressor and tank, since I don't need air very often, and my Dad's garage is the designated shop area. Which we'll probably be losing inside a year anyhow.

Anyway, I lack compressed air to blast in the crevice, and on top of that, the needles themselves are coated in nice, sticky pine sap, effectively gluing them in place.

I'll have to devise a tool of some sort to move them out of there without marring the paint. I'll report back for future reference once I figure something out.

Thanks for the response!

 

[davidCSE]

Success with vacuum!

Just by way of follow up, turns out the sticky sap issue was not such a problem after all.

A bit of suction from a regular household vacuum cleaner got all the needles out of the crevice. Thank goodness!

In addition, the same pine tree had deposited a couple significant globs of sap on the car's paint over the course of the year. I was fearful these would damage the paint over time. I was successful getting them off using a combination of Goo Gone and some very old bug/tar removing wipes. I kinda suspect it was Goo Gone doing the work because the wipes themselves were completely dried out. But maybe the Goo Gone helped reactivate them.

It required some time on each of the globs. I gave the Goo Gone 10-15 minutes to sit on them first, then rubbed with the Goo Gone/wipe combo for probably 5-10 minutes per spot, with some judicious thumbnail action along the way. Eventually they came away, leaving no damage in their wake.

I'd previously waxed the entire car, so after these removals I followed up with some soapy water on the affected areas, a wipe down with clean water, and then reapplied wax to the areas. Done!