# Bug spray and paint warning **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [September 5, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091 "2015-09-05T17:12:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![knfenimore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@knfenimore](https://community.cartalk.com/u/knfenimore)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/1 "2015-09-05T17:12:48Z")
I never knew DEET destroys paint. [https://www.yahoo.com/autos/how-something-you-spray-on-your-kids-can-melt-your-128334848277.html](https://www.yahoo.com/autos/how-something-you-spray-on-your-kids-can-melt-your-128334848277.html) ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/2 "2015-09-05T19:00:27Z")
I found out the hard way a few years ago. When we went camping we would leave the bug spray right out side the door. Spray it on as you leave…When you use it there’s always some dripping off the spray nozzle. And after a week…eventually it started to drip on the camper…after a few camping trips…the paint was pealing. Luckily the camper is aluminum…so no rust will form…But I wasn’t happy. ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/3 "2015-09-05T23:43:59Z")
Hmm, lets see, it will eat the paint off of my car but I’m supposed to spray it on my kids? No thanks. I mean as a mechanic I get exposed to lots of chemicals but this is a no-brainer. Let the kids complain a little bit. No bug spray at my house. Sunscreen either. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/4 "2015-09-06T00:32:52Z")
In addition to the paint problem. Deet will soften some plastics with which it comes in contact. Of course, all of this makes me wonder about what it might be doing to my body, but because I live in an area with a LOT of deer ticks carrying Lyme Disease, I do use Deet on the occasions when I will be hiking on wilderness trails. However, I immediately shower upon getting home and it would be rare for it to remain on my skin for more than a couple of hours. Still, I do worry about that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![JoeMario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JoeMario](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JoeMario)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/5 "2015-09-06T02:53:21Z")
Deet will melt the plastic on sunglasses. If you apply bug spray with high concentrations of deet on your face, and then put your sun glasses on, the plastic will melt where it touches your cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![Joe-Guy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joe-guy/32/124_2.png) [@Joe-Guy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joe-Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/6 "2015-09-06T04:09:46Z")
Personally, I’m not that concerned about my car getting mosquito bites so I never put deet on it. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/7 "2015-09-06T04:15:28Z")
I drive a Studebaker Mosquito Hawk, and never have problems with mosquitoes. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/8 "2015-09-06T05:11:24Z")
> **Hmm, lets see, it will eat the paint off of my car but I'm supposed to spray it on my kids? No thanks. I mean as a mechanic I get exposed to lots of chemicals but this is a no-brainer. Let the kids complain a little bit.** I don’t know where you live but here in NH…we have West Nile Virus and EEE. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/9 "2015-09-06T05:14:00Z")
I’m with ASE on this. I avoid chemicals for things where alternatives (such as clothing) can effectively accomplish the objectives. IMHO there are way, way, way too many chemicals being sprayed, applied to lawns, etc. simply to keep mosquitos away and make the grass green, even by people who campaign for clean air and protest needed highway projects because some obscure bug might get offended. I’ve known a few people that spew verbiage about being environmentally responsible… but also use Chem Lawn for a greener yard. You won’t find any companies with names like Chem Lawn in my rolodex. ---
**Author:** ![sgtrock21](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/sgtrock21/32/246_2.png) [@sgtrock21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sgtrock21)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/10 "2015-09-06T05:22:49Z")
When I was a kid pesticides were a major food group. Never hurt me. Twitch! Twitch! Twitch… ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/11 "2015-09-06T08:28:14Z")
**I don’t know where you live but here in NH…we have West Nile Virus and EEE.** I’m on the West Coast, Seattle area. Just spent a week in Oregon at Crater Lake. Campground was on a river and one evening my daughter counted 17 mosquito bites on just my left leg. No worries about diseases here. The first mosquito-borne disease I think of is malaria, but I drink enough quinine in my gin and tonics to counteract that. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/12 "2015-09-06T15:23:58Z")
**“I’ve known a few people that spew verbiage about being environmentally responsible… but also use Chem Lawn for a greener yard. You won’t find any companies with names like Chem Lawn in my rolodex.”** A BIG +1 ! My next-door neighbor is a fanatic regarding his lawn, and he regularly dumps so many chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides, and God only knows what else) on it that his lawn must have as much chemical residue as a DuPont factory. And–guess what?–two of his dogs developed cancer and his wife had to have her cancerous thyroid gland removed. I refuse to use any chemicals in my backyard, where my dogs spend much of their time, and neither of them ever developed cancer. Yes, I know that this does not qualify as a scientific study, but I think that it does indicate enough of a possible connection between his profuse use of lawn chemicals and the health of both people and animals on his property to warrant caution about spreading that stuff around. Yes, he continues to dump those chemicals on the lawn on a regular basis, despite what happened to both his wife and his dogs. ---
**Author:** ![knfenimore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@knfenimore](https://community.cartalk.com/u/knfenimore)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/13 "2015-09-06T16:25:42Z")
When I was a Boy Scout we were told not to spray bug spray around the tents or it would ruin the waterproofing. ---
**Author:** ![missileman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/missileman/32/1366_2.png) [@missileman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/missileman)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/14 "2015-09-06T16:30:07Z")
I’m not so sure that DEET is the culprit when it comes to paint damage. The chemicals that hold it in suspension are very suspect to me. There are a lot of products out there that will damage paint. One of them is household sprays like Air Wick. My cousin was told that Air Wick would clean headlight lenses. When she tried it…it damaged the paint on the edges of the headlights. My wife and I avoid DEET and have so for about 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/15 "2015-09-06T17:02:15Z")
WE al,so have to worry about deer ticks and Lyme disease. But that EEE is nasty. Could be deadly…and some 50% end up with some kind a brain damage. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/16 "2015-09-06T17:07:28Z")
I use insect repellant occasionally. I don’t put it on my face, though, and I don’t rub it in. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/17 "2015-09-06T17:09:59Z")
**“that EEE is nasty. Could be deadly”** Back in the '50s, a boy from my elementary school class was hospitalized–in a semi-comatose state–for a couple of months as a result of EEE. Needless to say, back then there wasn’t very much that they could do for you if you contracted this disease. He did eventually recover and return to school, but this kid–who had been a bright, outgoing person before becoming sick–always seemed…slow…after his release from the hospital. I don’t know for sure because I lost track of him, but I think that he may have suffered some kind of brain damage from his bout with EEE. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/18 "2015-09-06T17:34:08Z")
Of course he suffered brain damage. But young brains continue to grow, and his may have adapted to get around the problems. It does happen, and we can hope for the best. Still, it’s worth using insect repellent in the wet Eastern USA to avoid the diseases borne by these pests. My county sprays insecticide to reduce the risk of contracting a disease from them. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/19 "2015-09-06T18:39:21Z")
VDC, all I can say is that some people simply can’t “connect the dots”. They’re blind to “cause and effect”. ---
**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091/20 "2015-09-07T05:08:28Z")
I use the non-DEET version of Off that doesn’t harm plastics or paint. They’ve renamed their products since I bought it, but I guess it’s the one they call FamilyCare now. I assume it’s not as effective as DEET, but it works well enough for my needs. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bug-spray-and-paint-warning/91091.md?page=2)