O.K. love bugs are back. What can we do to help protect our vehicles? I don't know about any other state but this is a big problem in Florida. They say to get them off the cars withen 24 hours or they will eat up your paint. The car washes and detailers will get rich the next 3 months. Is there anything I can buy to help? I hate having to clean my lade every time I drive it.:banghead:

O.K. love bugs are back. What can we do to help protect our vehicles? I don't know about any other state but this is a big problem in Florida. They say to get them off the cars withen 24 hours or they will eat up your paint. The car washes and detailers will get rich the next 3 months. Is there anything I can buy to help? I hate having to clean my lade every time I drive it.:banghead:
Sucks doesnt it ? I just washed and waxed the deville , and by the time i got to work i had 3 of them on it ....

i would sugest a good wax on it ,the mirrors and the, headlamps ...then go to a autoparts store and buy some of that screen that covers the nose , it doesnt look great but it protects the paint a bit and prevents the little buggers from getting into the raditator and decreseing its efficency ...

also , try to follow big rigs if you can they will punch a hole thru these "clouds" of lovebugs for you , you can stay far enough back for him to see you so he gets a nice buffer behind him and you get a bug break ....this time of year i spend more time behind big rigs than making good time ont he way to work. But dont get behind dumptrucks or rockhaulers ....but that truck for publix , wallmart or whatever will do nicely for you....

did you know it used to not be so bad down here ?i was told these critters were introduced to controll the mosquito population , but the idea didnt work and we ended up with more mosquitos and more love bugs .....

man we have alot of tampa people ....wonder why we cant get a meet going ....

Wow I'm lost, what're love bugs?

hang on ill grub up some pics ....

basicly think of them as two fireflys joined together at there ass ....

http://www.kudzumonthly.com/kudzu/may02/lovebuglove.jpg

http://www.snopes.com/critters/graphics/lovebug.jpg

The
"love bug" (also known as the honeymoon fly, telephone bug, double-headed bug, united bug, and March fly) is a nuisance any Florida motorist is unhappily more than passingly familiar with. Though these bugs neither bite nor sting, at certain times of the year their sheer numbers transform these innocuous insects into airborne hordes seemingly determined to devil anyone fool enough to take to the road. The adults splatter on windshields, lights, grills, and radiators of motor vehicles, and their dried remains are hard to remove. Suicidal pairs of love bugs have been known to cause overheating of motors when large numbers of them are drawn into the cooling systems of liquid-cooled engines. Unlike other bugs, something particular to them adversely affects the paint jobs on cars, pitting and etching the paint if their mortal remains are left on a vehicle for more than 48 hours.

Every May and September these sex-crazed critters become an annoyance bordering on intolerable as the air teems with mating pairs. But the "love bugs" haven't always been part of the Floridian landscape, thus we've seen an abundance of "mad scientist" stories about how the state came to be infested with them. (Love bugs are not solely a Floridian plague; they range throughout the Gulf states and into Mexico and Central America, as well as up into Georgia and South Carolina. But they seem particularly enamored of Florida.)

Truth is, Mother Nature is far more to be feared than any mad scientist and is far more capricious. In this case, she inspired some of her children to migrate to a new area, and in doing so prompted the creation of a number of rumors which attempt to explain why these critters came to take up residence in places where they weren't found before.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/lovebugs.htm

according to this they werent brought here to controll skeeters ...hell if i know anymore

O.K. love bugs are back. What can we do to help protect our vehicles? I don't know about any other state but this is a big problem in Florida. They say to get them off the cars withen 24 hours or they will eat up your paint. The car washes and detailers will get rich the next 3 months. Is there anything I can buy to help? I hate having to clean my lade every time I drive it.:banghead:
Same with mine I hate these bugs as well. Please give me the name of the brands of wax and any other stuff I should use to get them off.

For me it's the friggin' birds!! those guys are excellent bombers. They can hit a car going in the opposite direction at 70mph!!. True story..I seen a bird fly through a parked Corvette window and shit on the seat in his pass!

Sucks doesnt it ? I just washed and waxed the deville , and by the time i got to work i had 3 of them on it ....

i would sugest a good wax on it ,the mirrors and the, headlamps ...then go to a autoparts store and buy some of that screen that covers the nose , it doesnt look great but it protects the paint a bit and prevents the little buggers from getting into the raditator and decreseing its efficency ...

also , try to follow big rigs if you can they will punch a hole thru these "clouds" of lovebugs for you , you can stay far enough back for him to see you so he gets a nice buffer behind him and you get a bug break ....this time of year i spend more time behind big rigs than making good time ont he way to work. But dont get behind dumptrucks or rockhaulers ....but that truck for publix , wallmart or whatever will do nicely for you....

did you know it used to not be so bad down here ?i was told these critters were introduced to controll the mosquito population , but the idea didnt work and we ended up with more mosquitos and more love bugs .....

man we have alot of tampa people ....wonder why we cant get a meet going ....


I don't know why they would come up with some stupid idea like that. What where they thinking? What do you think would be the best wax? Have any opinions? We really should get a meet going it would be fun. I'm sure we could do something real simple and put it together pretty quick. Maybe we should start a thread to get something organized.

For me it's the friggin' birds!! those guys are excellent bombers. They can hit a car going in the opposite direction at 70mph!!. True story..I seen a bird fly through a parked Corvette window and shit on the seat in his pass!

Trust Me- I would deal with a bird over love bugs any time. These things can do almost as much damage as an egg if you let them sit on you paint. They really suck and they come in the 1,000's.

amen , my folks bought a brand new GMC safari back in late 92 , after its brekin period they took it on a trip to sebring .....lovebug heaven lemme tell you ...by the time we got back love bugs destoryed the $300 "bandit" grfics package that came with the GT package and destoryed boath driver and passgener mirror houseings ...these ovesbugs are nothing to screw around with , my front lower bumper cover is edivdecne of this too ....

out of everything ive put up with from mother nature these and moose are about the worst .....

but at least the moose will totoal the car ....the lovebugs just remove/pitt the paint in less than 24 hours...VERY acidic little mosnters

and by the way when you get a good "cloud" it sounds like rain .....im surpised i havent had cooling problems yet with this car ....

Just keep riding behind those 18 wheelers. That is of course untill somebody comes up with a great idea of how to get rid of these things. People complain about the weather and hurricanes. They should come visit in off season when the love bugs are here then they will really have a reason to stay were they are at. It would be nice if lovebugs and snowbirds were here together crowding up the road maybe there cars could take the hit instead of the locals. :histeric:

You may want to look into a product called Rejex. It's supposed to stops bugs and even brake dust from sticking on your car. It works on wheels I know.
Here's a link:

http://www.e-tackle.com/rejeX.htm

im gonna have to look into that stuff ...been thinking about buying it for awhile now ...

Never heard of it. But really going to consider buying some. Has anybody used this stuff for the love bugs? Does it work? I might just have to be the tester. What could it hurt.:)

..I seen a bird fly through a parked Corvette window and shit on the seat in his pass!.....ahaaaaahhhhaa LOL!!


Anyways, this love bug bizness sounds real nasty, no one mentioned it when I was considering the cali or florida move...thank god I went with SoCal :-)

odd thing about us here in floirda ...we forget about them till the first lovebug hits the windsheild ..then were like "oh crap "

That's the truth.

Hey we should try to get all the tampa members to do a meet at Pizza Suprema in Tampa on Bruce B. Downs in super target parking lot. The problem is it's always discussed and never followed through on.

man thats close to me ....yah we need to get the ball rolling ...im feeling some good pizza too ....ulcers be damned i will at what i want ...even tho im paying dearly for it ...

btw we had one other tampa meet ...but thats been over a year ago , me brett sandman , scrapyard were all there ...it didnt go like i wanted it to so this time i wanna get some food and maybe beer (in small ammounts ) involoved so we can all bullshit more effectively ....

love bugs suck, i have at least 2 spots on my LS where the paint has been eaten away.....pizza suprema has no beer.....how about beefs on 54...or better yet, the beefs on cross creek and morris bridge, which is my hangout :)

I thinking right now

love bugs suck, i have at least 2 spots on my LS where the paint has been eaten away.....pizza suprema has no beer.....how about beefs on 54...or better yet, the beefs on cross creek and morris bridge, which is my hangout :)
sounds kickass too ....

i revived a dead thread int he meets section ...but any other ideas on getting the word out .....there is aton of tampa people here ...

its be awesome to make this a monthly thing ....

wonder if sal could come up for one ...or even meet him halfway between here and where hes at ...coarse thats smack dab in the galdes aint it ?

btw im only free fri-sat-sunday..... mon thru thurs i go to work and school ...up at 8 home at 10 .....well i cant meet up anywhere after 10 but thats past most poples bedtimes

What about Fishing peers at the skyway Bridge Could have a cookout

thatd be badass too ....but yall wouldnt be able to handle my steaks ....there just too awesome

the only way I cook my steaks is in the Big Green Egg. Have you ever seen that thing. I own one of those. They are the best.

oh those look neat , i had to do a search on them to find out what they are ...

I think both locations would be decent. The Skyway is more central for different areas to attend, but pizza suprema is good if its just Tampa people. Just some suggestions. Would still have to look into the beer thing. You can move this if you want just knew that the other thread wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about since we started talking different areas on here first.

Or we could all drive to Yee-Haw Junction (SR 60 + Florida Turnpike) and see who has the most love bugs on there car.:histeric:

the only way I cook my steaks is in the Big Green Egg. Have you ever seen that thing. I own one of those. They are the best.

My father-in-law brought one of those all the way here from Arkansas for Thanksgiving one year.

He SWORE to us that our turkeys wouldn't be any damn good compared to his, and dammit, he was going to do it RIGHT with or without our approval.

So he brings that stinky thing here in his MINIVAN. Then he starts drinking at 9:30 AM. The damn smoked turkeys he DEMANDED we let him cook ended up charred beyond recognition. Poor little guys had their wings burned down to a little nub!!!

(it wasn't the egg's fault, I think it was the bloody marys)

(this was NOT the same Thanksgiving where he demanded that I shoot one of my dogs)

My father-in-law brought one of those all the way here from Arkansas for Thanksgiving one year.

He SWORE to us that our turkeys wouldn't be any damn good compared to his, and dammit, he was going to do it RIGHT with or without our approval.

So he brings that stinky thing here in his MINIVAN. Then he starts drinking at 9:30 AM. The damn smoked turkeys he DEMANDED we let him cook ended up charred beyond recognition. Poor little guys had their wings burned down to a little nub!!!

(it wasn't the egg's fault, I think it was the bloody marys)

(this was NOT the same Thanksgiving where he demanded that I shoot one of my dogs)
lol:histeric:
This sounds like a really fun family to spend the holidays with. Atleast everybody must go home laughing. If i was cooking that turkey for you it would have been the best damn turkey you ever had. Please dont be upset but I'm not throwing the stinky thing in my lade to prove it.Turkey cooks a whole lot faster in an egg then in an oven plus you can shove a beer in its butt for extra flavor.:histeric:

Whew, I was afraid this was a thread about STDs.

Wow I am shocked! I had no idea these things existed. I'm gonna go scrape the bugs off the front of my radiator first chance I get. Thank god I live in NJ, all we have here are deer. Watch out in October, mating season. Deer everywhere.

these are also quite a problem , commonly refered to as the Caerbannog cave rabbit...

it did make a apperance in monty pytons "holy grail"



http://arago4.tn.utwente.nl/stonedead/movies/holy-grail/thumbnails/21-gore.jpg

What the hell is that?!

What the hell is that?!
Thats what I was thinking. He we were talking about grilling up some steaks and you put that on the same page. Looks like road kill to me!!!:eek:

What the hell is that?!


Well, that's no ordinary rabbit!
That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! He's got huge, sharp-- eh-- he can leap about-- look at the bones!


-Monty Python's "The Holy Grail"

:crying:

these are also quite a problem , commonly refered to as the Caerbannog cave rabbit...

it did make a apperance in monty pytons "holy grail"



http://arago4.tn.utwente.nl/stonedead/movies/holy-grail/thumbnails/21-gore.jpg"Whah?! It's a rabbit!" Yah, but he's got a nasty temper!"

Thank god I live in NJ, all we have here are deer. Watch out in October, mating season. Deer everywhere.I beleive they have been known to leave a mark or two on cars at impact as well. I don't think wax will make a difference in their case.
I dunno?

"Oh lord Marge! Close your eyes dear, we're drivin into a swarm of mating deer!" :eek:

Marge- "Oh dear"

so ...whats the scoop ? i might have to start PMing all the tampa folks to get this going

love bugs?

I was never told of this when I planned to move to FL....

this is not going to be cool... atleast I will have my Oldsmobile, but the thing is getting a brand new paint job..... what is the "season" for them? I think I'll miss them this year, but probably get them next year.

You can add me to the Tampa area! come early Augest I will be living in my apartment in Clearwater. When that happens, we are definitly going to have to get a meet together. Any local tracks?

I just feel soo left out... I mean... a 1989 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale... my DeVille(s) will be back in NY..... but, thats ok, the Olds is a cool car too :)

Jacksonville counts as living in Tampa, right? :shhh:

Hey if I come , it'll be the only Catera ..

most liekly ...unless there is one already in the lot.... LOL ...there is a surpisng ammount of those critters here

I beleive they have been known to leave a mark or two on cars at impact as well. I don't think wax will make a difference in their case.
I dunno?
Hahaha, ok a deer will leave a bigger mark than a lovebug will. I should know $1,600 later. At least a deer is easier to dodge than a cloud of acidic insects.

so ...whats the scoop ? i might have to start PMing all the tampa folks to get this going

You know I'm good to go just waiting for everyone else's $.02.

Hahaha, ok a deer will leave a bigger mark than a lovebug will. I should know $1,600 later. At least a deer is easier to dodge than a cloud of acidic insects.

I agree that a cloud of acidic love bugs are impossible to avoid, but if you go to the car wash right away there would be no damage. Just a pain in the ass. On the otherhand I know deer can total the car. When I was in Tenn. for honeymoon came around a bend on mountain and there it was a deer in the road. Thought we were dead, but thank heavens it moved quick enough. Never even had a chance if it didn't move.

see signature

At least a deer is easier to dodge than a cloud of acidic insects.
Yep that is some what ture. In montgomery we don't have love bugs, but go into the country at night and your car will look like this.
http://img129.echo.cx/img129/2143/summerbugs3yl.jpg
well at lease that's better than this
http://img77.echo.cx/img77/852/024et.jpg
The person that posted the pic of the taurus said it sounded like he was driving in rain.
I feel sorry for the people in FL :(

When you hit a love bug cloud thats exactly what in sounds like. Its raining love bugs.

There Back!!!! I hate these things. I went to Ft.Lauderdale this weekend and just had to scrub the Lade for 2 hours to get them all off:crying: . These stupid bugs are the biggest annoyance of the year.

There Back!!!! I hate these things. I went to Ft.Lauderdale this weekend and just had to scrub the Lade for 2 hours to get them all off:crying: . These stupid bugs are the biggest annoyance of the year.

Why not get one of those clear 3M protective covers for the front of the lade and the mirrors?

Why not get one of those clear 3M protective covers for the front of the lade and the mirrors?

Don't they look ugly!!!

there prefectly clear , how could they be ugly ?

there prefectly clear , how could they be ugly ?

I was thinking of those black things(nets or mask) Guess I should have read better. Sorry. Anyway I will have to look into these things don't think I have ever even seen one. Well maybe I just didn't pay it any attention. :thumbsup:

I was thinking of those black things(nets or mask) Guess I should have read better. Sorry. Anyway I will have to look into these things don't think I have ever even seen one. Well maybe I just didn't pay it any attention. :thumbsup:
a BRA..... i aint afrid to say it ......LOL

there hella expensive ....like 300 bones , a clear film that goes over the nose like window tint , you leave it on untill it gets pretty badn then peel it off and go get another .....spend 300 now , or 1200 to fix the nose

a BRA..... i aint afrid to say it ......LOL

there hella expensive ....like 300 bones , a clear film that goes over the nose like window tint , you leave it on untill it gets pretty badn then peel it off and go get another .....spend 300 now , or 1200 to fix the nose

I tried to look them up for possible purchase and couldn't find it anywhere, I did find an automotive write up on one. Is thing like a one time use thing or what. That was kinda the impression I got.

yah once applied you cant take it off without ruining the product ....its real purpose in life is for lease vehicles , you apply it at the begining of the lease and remove it at turn in to avoid the "excess wear and tear" charges

http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-169/cuiriFP/view.jhtml

Thanks I will show this to Tommy.