Irreversible car damage - cost of parking daily under a Gum tree

This post discuss one of the lesser issues with these trees (read main post first, and the greater risks). Namely, the irreversible damage that these trees are causing to our family car.

Here's an image of our car, parked in our own driveway, after a single moderately windy night:


"Big deal", I hear you saying. "Just a couple of leaves, get over it!"

Well, unfortunately it is a bit of a problem. Tree sap from gum leaves will very quickly permanently damage a car's paint.

Tree sap is among the toughest contaminants to remove from a vehicle's finish--and among the most damaging.
Once tree sap bakes onto a vehicle under a hot sun, it become like a resin. After baking into the finish, the sap eventually etches into the clearcoat and paint, causing webs of deterioration around every spot of sap.
Baked-on sap will not wash off, and even many solvents won't take it off. Hard sap shrugs off virtually all combination cleaner waxes, not to mention spray cleaners.
The conventional way of dealing with sap is to use a polishing or rubbing compound. This takes off the sap but also a layer of the clearcoat or paint, causing swirl marks that are quite pronounced. 
So what are the solutions to this? "Easy!" I hear you say:

  • "Just park your car somewhere else, like in the street!"
    • Not really an option, parking space is limited, and all streets have similar trees all around our home.
  • "Just clean your car so the sap doesn't permanently damage it!" 
    • Sure... because I have 30 minutes every morning to give my car a good wash before rushing off to work.
    • Or because using all that water and soap washing the car every morning would be the "more environmentally friendly" thing to do.
  • "Just buy a tarp or build a car-port!"
    • Firstly, space doesn't really allow for it. Secondly, I'm pretty sure the council has some restrictions around this, as I've seen virtually none in the area. 
  • "Just get the car repainted!"
    • That would fix it. Only that the cost of a full repaint is estimated between $5,000 and $10,000 [1, 2, 3]. And this would only fix the problem once. How often do I re-paint? Once a year? Once a decade?
  • "Just deal with it, it's just paint!"
    • I guess... since there's no other reasonable option. Only that this basically instantly devalues any car we'll ever own from now on until forever.
The ongoing financial costs and time costs of this seemingly minor issue are vast. This is still nothing in comparison to the personal safety concerns outlined in other posts, but it is not just a whinge-fest either. The problem and impact is very real.




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