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Now that Brood X is here, get those cicadas off your car

Cicada
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Posted at 10:59 PM, Jun 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-09 11:53:49-04

After 17 years, Brood X is here, hatching in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. and popping up everywhere.

That also means they are becoming a pain for drivers who smash into them trying to just get down the road.

The mess can be hard to clean off cars because squished cicada guts can bond with the car's paint and surface. The guts of some bugs can also be acidic.

Letting the dead bugs sit on the car in the summer heat will only make things worse.

Car detailing experts recommend cleaning them off right away, in addition to cleaning the car every day.

Drivers can use a simple mix of diluted household cleaner, a clean rag, and a little elbow grease to keep cars clean.

“There’s not a product that I can put on and the bugs just magically come off,” Chuck Brosz, managing partner of White Rock Car Bath, in Texas, told Geico. “There’s always a degree of labor and attentiveness, and easy does it.”