Autocar product test: What is the best insect remover?

Price: £8.99

What’s included: 500ml

Buy from: Amazon

GTechniq’s excellent W8 Bug Remover is easy to use and effective. Simply spray onto any offending insects, and leave it to work for three to five minutes. If necessary for the really stuck-on ones, you may need to rinse and repeat. This product worked a treat on our windscreen in particular, getting rid of even the tiniest trace of insects, and leaving no residue behind. For the more stubborn bugs, a small amount of elbow grease was required, but that’s it. You can also use this product safely on wax coatings.

Autocar says: 4.5 stars

CarPlan No.1 Super Bug Spray

Price: £9.99

What’s included: 600ml

Buy from: Amazon

If you want to add a bit of brightness to your bug removing, CarPlan’s No.1 Super Bug spray is the way to go. It’s neon-bright and very thick. To apply, we spritzed it onto all offending items, followed the ‘up to five minutes’ dwell time suggestion, then wiped off. If you’ve got lots of insects to tackle, it can be a bit frustrating as the spray comes out in quite a narrow stream, but on the other hand, if you only have a few, it targets them well. It did a great job cleaning our glass and paintwork, and also made quick work of insects, tree sap and bird poo. Compared with many other products we tested, you get more product for your money (600ml), and it’s well priced in the first place. 

Autocar says: 4.5 stars

Meguiar’s Heavy Duty Foaming Bug Remover

Price: £16.99

What’s included: 444ml

Buy from: Amazon

As this product is a foam, it didn’t run off the car when we sprayed it on, which definitely helps deal with an attack of the bugs. It’s very easy to use, didn’t require any scrubbing to remove even the most baked-on insects and easily dealt with road grime and tar. It’s clearly a powerful product, but you can safely use it on paint, chrome, glass and plastics without it causing any discolouration. 

Autocar says: 4 stars

AutoGlym Active Insect Remover

Price: £9.95

What’s included: 500ml

Buy from: Amazon

This product takes only 30 seconds of dwell time to work. We were a little sceptical but needn’t have been. It’s a foam and, like Meguiar’s, it stays put on your car’s surface when you spray it on. The incredibly short time was plenty and it worked really well, destroying nearly all bugs and insects. A few particularly well-stuck ones required another go-over. It can be used on all exterior surfaces.

Autocar says: 4 stars

TurtleWax Insect Remover

Price: £7.00

What’s included: 500ml

Buy from: Amazon

TurtleWax’s Insect Remover can be used on glass, plastic or metal. Simply spritz onto any insect remains – or bird poo – on your car, leave to dwell for one minute, then wipe away. The product works very quickly and did a good job. However, we found it left a few annoying smears on our windscreen despite the claim that it gives a streak-free finish. Some more persistent bugs required a second spray too. This is the cheapest product we tested.

Autocar says: 3.5 stars

CarGods Bug & Sap Remover

Price: £9.99

What’s included: 500ml

Buy from: Amazon

CarGods’ Bug & Sap Remover can be used on windscreens, headlight lenses and painted surfaces. It suggests applying liberally, and allowing a couple minutes of dwell time for the product to work. Once you’ve exhausted your patience, remove everything with a cloth or soft detailing brush. To get rid of some very baked-on tree sap, we had to deploy elbow grease, but it was incredibly effective on insects, leaving no trace of their existence. 

Autocar says 3.5 stars

Gyeon Q²M Bug & Grime

Price: £9.50

What’s included: 400ml

Buy from: Amazon

For use on all exterior surfaces, including bare aluminium, chrome and ceramic coatings, Gyeon’s Q²M Bug & Grime is a good product to have around. The suggested process is to spray on, allow two minutes of dwell time, then get the pressure washer out to blast everything away, without needing to agitate. We are aware that not everyone will have a pressure washer, though, so tested with and without. With the pressure washer, a few insects (or parts of them) remained, but the majority had completely disappeared. Without the pressure washer, it still did a good job, but some required some extra scrubbing. 

Autocar says: 3.5 stars

Dodo Juice Flies Undone

Price: £9.75

What’s included: 500ml

Buy from: Amazon

On paintwork, Dodo Juice’s Flies Undone was highly effective at destroying bugs and bird poo. Apply directly to the affected areas of your car’s bodywork, leave for a few minutes and wipe off. That’s great. However, it’s not recommended for use on glass, including your windscreen, in case of smears. Unfortunately, insects aren’t picky where they choose to meet their fate, so you’re likely to need a product that can tackle glass too. If you do use it on your windscreen, you’ll need a dedicated glass cleaner afterwards, which adds to the number of products required to do the job.