Why are wasps so interested in cars?

[mmntech]

It's that time of year again when the bloody paper wasps start buzzing around half dead. I hate these things with a passion.

One thing they tend to do around this time is develop a sudden fascination with cars. Went out this morning and there were a couple buzzing around mine. They seem most interested in the rad grill and the bottoms of the doors. What up with dat?

I did a quick Google but I didn't really get a straight answer. One said it's a sticky goo that falls from trees and another said it's the heat the car gives off. Though I've seen them do this with freshly cleaned cars, and in the morning when the car is still cool and hasn't been running for hours.

 

[Oyeve]

Came in for long island people bashing, left disappointed.

 

[Mixolydian]

It's that time of year again

Don't say that. Haven't seen any in the house yet (knock on wood).

 

[Murloc]

funny, august is the period where wasps become most active here, but when they die off, I never see them. I get a shitload of flies though.
I think they're looking for heat just like the other insects in autumn.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm guessing heat, possibly combined with color. I don't have a problem with paper wasps, it's yellowjackets that bother me. In September they're getting ready to die, and have a shitty attitude. They're in every trashcan, or stray food scrap, and will attack, cause fuck you.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

funny, august is the period where wasps become most active here, but when they die off, I never see them.

You're lucky. When the wasps die off around here they come back as zombies, with an unquenchable hunger for human flesh. September is often referred to as "the plague of undead wasps of summer" here in the Pacific Northwest. But at least it distracts us from the rain.

 

[BoomerD]

It pisses me off when they build nests in/under various car parts. My expedition seemed to be particularly attractive...under the rear hatch, in the mirrors, inside the door frames, etc.

 

[Blackjack200]

Came in for long island people bashing, left disappointed.

I think WASPs are interested in cars because they have lots of disposable income and their lives are pretty boring.

 

[IronWing]

Coolant smells sweet.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, they like my cars too. I dunno what's up with that. I do see them around the front grills, but sometimes just on the car. Never thought it was a thing, hmm.

 

[slag]

funny, august is the period where wasps become most active here, but when they die off, I never see them. I get a shitload of flies though.
I think they're looking for heat just like the other insects in autumn.

But it is still summer..

 

[SunnyD]

Cold blooded insect attracted to something made of mostly metal and glass that does a great job both generating heat went it's on, retaining heat when it's off and converting UV to infrared like a greenhouse when it's sitting in the sun?

I can't imagine at all why they'd be attracted to cars at all.

That, and, well, the alternate theory is like any other person... status symbol.

 

[tooriski]

had a huge nest in the mailbox, sprayed it with hornet & wasp spray late at night and ran like hell, found them all dead by morning, like 30 of them.

 

[Murloc]

But it is still summer..

but OP is canadian.
Here the nights have gotten slightly cooler already (like 18°C), so in canada it might be already too cold for insects. If it's too cold for insects, it's not summer.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I always thought they were eating insect guts off the fronts of cars, but just being attracted to warm objects seems like a more reasonable explanation.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Came in for long island people bashing, left disappointed.

+1

 

[Midwayman]

I think wasps are into cars only if they're status symbols.

 

[rh71]

Came in for long island people bashing, left disappointed.

you really mean Suffolk county right? Because Nassau is more and more Queens-like now.

 

[T9D]

Maybe if you didn't have a pink car that looked like a giant flower.