Living in the middle of Arkansas Delta farmland definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. One huge advantage is the reasonable cost of living, but an equally huge disadvantage is bugs… and lots of them!
In fact, driving down the highway here at night is pretty much guaranteed to get your vehicle completely covered with bugs (or at least what is left of them). They hit the windshield with such frequency, it sounds like you’re in the middle of a storm, and people around here call it “bug rain”.
The problem with all these bugs is that not only do they make the front of your vehicle unsightly, but the longer they stay on the harder they are to remove, especially when the summer sun beats down on them.
So I was intrigued, when Don from the awesome products, Corp. reached out about one of their products they call their “Bugs Off Pads”. He claimed to have a way to safely and easily remove all the bugs with ”one product that replaces all other exterior cleaning products for the body of the vehicle/RV, does a better job than the products currently in use, and can also be used on all interior surfaces!”
By nature, I tend to be a fairly skeptical person. So while the notion of a quick and easy way to remove all the baked-on bugs on the front of my truck sounded intriguing… It also sounded too good to be true!
But, when Don offered to send me one of their “Easy Reach Kits” for me to try and review I agreed, but only if I could publish a completely honest review of the product, good or bad. Don was quick to encourage me to do just that, and this article is the result…a 100% honest review with no bias or strings attached.
The kit came in the mail a few days later, so I said out to test the company’s claims. What I decided to do was compare their Bugs Off Pads to the current products I’ve been using and to see exactly how their claims stack up.
Here’s the test subject, my 2020 Ford F250. Granted, it’s not covered in bugs as much as I would’ve liked for this test but the ones that were on there had been baked-on for several days, so I thought it was a good place to start.
I decided to use the new bugs off pads to clean the driver’s side of the truck (hood, grill, bumper, etc.), and use my current set up of sponges and scrub brushes to clean the passenger side. Using just car wash soap and water. I proceeded to wash the passenger’s side in my normal manner. I used my sponge first to remove loose dirt and then scrubbed with the brush to remove the bugs. This pattern doesn’t normally remove all the bugs in the first attempt, and that proved to be true today also. After rinsing, I could see there were several bits of bugs left, so more scrubbing with the brush and soapy water got approximately 95% of the bugs and bug guts off. This whole process took about 10 minutes or so.
Now on to test the new stuff…I expected the Bugs Off Pads to be pretty stiff and scratchy, but surprisingly they were very soft and didn’t really feel abrasive at all. After a few minutes of rubbing, I was done with the driver’s side and rinsed it off, expecting to see pretty much the same thing that I always see, lots of bug-bits left in place. Surprisingly, there were hardly any bugs left at all…there were a couple scattered here and there, but nothing like what I was used to. The bits of bugs that were left, came off, pretty easily, with a second set of rubbing from the pads. All in all, the whole process for the driver side took about four minutes.
I then proceeded to duplicate this test with the driver’s side and passenger’s side mirrors. Once again, the Bugs Off Pads got the mirror every bit as clean as what I’m used to, but in half the time, and with just a little bit of rubbing…no strenuous scrubbing required.
Included in the kit was a blue wheel cleaner/ brake dust removal pad. The claim for this product was to easily clean wheels and remove all break dust using only water, and once again, the skeptic in me figured this was too good to be true.
So I devised a similar test, and used the new cleaning pad on the right side of a wheel, while using my normal scrubber and wheel cleaning chemicals on the left. The left side of the wheel went first, and got nice and clean after two attempts, which is my norm. On the right side the blue wheel cleaning pad got the wheel just as clean with only water, just as Don had claimed.
So my last test was checking to see how the Bugs Off Pads worked on the RV. The Easy Reach Kit includes an applicator that can screw onto the end of an extension pole for use in hard to reach places. I decided to try this on the front cap of our RV, where I normally have to use a ladder.
Again, I was skeptical at how well this holder would grip the pad, but it actually stayed attached better than expected, and the Bugs Off Pad worked on the RV just as effectively as it did on my truck.
So what’s the final verdict? In the end I would definitely recommend the Bugs Off Pads, and specifically the Easy Reach Kit. In my experience, the pads definitely worked to remove baked on bugs much easier than the sponge and scrubbers I have used in the past. Don’t get me wrong, you can get your vehicle, clean with either method, but the bugs off pads sure seemed to get the job done quicker and with much less effort.
I would compare it to getting a smooth finish on a project when woodworking. You could sand a piece of wood by hand with sandpaper, or use an electric sander. The end result might be the same, but the electric sander gets it done quicker and easier. And, that’s how I feel about the Bugs Off Pads…they’re a great way to get your vehicle or RV clean quicker and with less effort, without using harsh chemicals, or breaking the bank in the process.
If you found this helpful and would like to give them a try on your own, check out the link below to order a set for yourself or someone you know.