Really stubborn/OLD Tar/Asphalt specks

[BigLouMaxSE]

I recently bought a used 2003 Caribbean Blue Infiniti G35 coupe. I saw there were tar/asphalt specks sprinkled along the passenger side (and some around the whole car), and figured it would be no problem to clay bar away – I was planning on doing a full polish/detail anyways with the new addition to the driveway.



Anyways, I’m finding that they are VERY stubborn, and really refuse to come off. My best guess is that they remained on the car for AT LEAST 4 months prior to me owning it (best case scenario; car was stored for winter by previous owner and I bought it March). I had some minor success with the clay bar I tried using to test (old Meg’s clay bar, lightly used). Best case scenario with the clay bar: I was able to remove the majority of the tar/asphalt speck (after working the area for awhile), and the paint felt smooth, but a dark circle was clear left on the paint; there was a super thin layer of the substance left (barely noticeable, if at all, by touch). No amount of additional clay bar rubbing was doing anything to remove the thin layer left after removing the bugling/protruding material.



I jumped on here, searched at what people were using, and found my way to Tarminator. I was really hoping this would help out given its popularity, and that it would solve the issue of having thin spots of tar/asphalt left behind almost flat on the paint. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the success I was hoping for. I started small… spot treatment, and made no dent (didn’t even break up one speck), and worked my way to dousing the panel eventually. The specks didn’t “dissolve” before my eyes as I was banking on. The specks remained (even the bulges in most cases), and the wax was gone. Even if the spot treatment worked… it would take FOREVER to rid the whole car of the specks.



Any suggestions? I’ve noticed Tar-X… but am hesitant to spend as much on that if it can’t be guaranteed to work in my situation.

I’m not opposed to using a new clay bar (probably my next step pending replies, maybe I’ll have more success), knocking down the tar specks as much as possible (likely leaving the extremely thin residue), and continuing with my polishing stages, but obviously I am worried about dragging that little bit of tar/asphalt with the pad and marring the paint. Thoughts on this?



Thanks.

[Barry Theal]

good old Laquer Thinner. It kills me everytime I see someone using clay for tar.

[Richard Grasa]

Try a little lacquer thinner. Not something I would usually recommend, but when all else fails it should take the tar right off. Just don`t let it dwell too long and it won`t hurt the paint any.

[BigLouMaxSE]

Barry and Rich:

Thanks for the advice and quick responses.

For lacquer thinner, what kind of dwell time would you recommend? After applying and using the lacquer thinner (non-absorbing towel and moderate agitation?), will a normal car wash solution be fine to neutralize the solvent?

[Ron Ketcham]

Please, don`t use lacquer thinner on a modern clearcoat! Will look ok for a while, but as time goes on, there is an 80% chance that right where the lacquer thinner was applied, the clear will dull out and can not be repolished.

Be safe and don`t spend big bucks, what you need is a hydrocarbon/petroluem based solvent with a slow evaporation rate.

Modern clears are a poly/urethane molecular chain, and a slow evaporative solvent will not harm them, unlike clorinated solvents such as MEK (base of lacquer thinner), xylene, acetone, etc and these solvents should only be used by trained professionals for the use they were intended for which is "reducing or liquifiying" paint resins, etc.

Get some inexpensive "mineral spirits", any hardware or paint store has them and price is going to vary, but that only due to the company marketing them, they are all the same. (I usually buy Ace Hardware`s, but only because there is a store within a mile of the shop)

Soak a rag, spread in on the panel, IE, get it wet with the mineral spirits, leave it wet, let is set, do this in a shaded area, best when the temperature is below 80F as it will stay active longer before it evaporates.

Soak it again in 10 minutes and then you use a rag with some more mineral spirits on it to test if the spots have broken/liquified.

Should be coming off by now, and no damage to the resin system -"binder/film former" of your clearcoat.

Then wash with your carwash solution and reapply your wax/sealant.

Grumpy

[Thomas Dekany]

Very informative post Ron!!!!



Thank you!




Please, don`t use lacquer thinner on a modern clearcoat! Will look ok for a while, but as time goes on, there is an 80% chance that right where the lacquer thinner was applied, the clear will dull out and can not be repolished.

Be safe and don`t spend big bucks, what you need is a hydrocarbon/petroluem based solvent with a slow evaporation rate.

Modern clears are a poly/urethane molecular chain, and a slow evaporative solvent will not harm them, unlike clorinated solvents such as MEK (base of lacquer thinner), xylene, acetone, etc and these solvents should only be used by trained professionals for the use they were intended for which is "reducing or liquifiying" paint resins, etc.

Get some inexpensive "mineral spirits", any hardware or paint store has them and price is going to vary, but that only due to the company marketing them, they are all the same. (I usually buy Ace Hardware`s, but only because there is a store within a mile of the shop)

Soak a rag, spread in on the panel, IE, get it wet with the mineral spirits, leave it wet, let is set, do this in a shaded area, best when the temperature is below 80F as it will stay active longer before it evaporates.

Soak it again in 10 minutes and then you use a rag with some more mineral spirits on it to test if the spots have broken/liquified.

Should be coming off by now, and no damage to the resin system -"binder/film former" of your clearcoat.

Then wash with your carwash solution and reapply your wax/sealant.

Grumpy

[C. Charles Hahn]

Please, don`t use lacquer thinner on a modern clearcoat! Will look ok for a while, but as time goes on, there is an 80% chance that right where the lacquer thinner was applied, the clear will dull out and can not be repolished.

Be safe and don`t spend big bucks, what you need is a hydrocarbon/petroluem based solvent with a slow evaporation rate.

Modern clears are a poly/urethane molecular chain, and a slow evaporative solvent will not harm them, unlike clorinated solvents such as MEK (base of lacquer thinner), xylene, acetone, etc and these solvents should only be used by trained professionals for the use they were intended for which is "reducing or liquifiying" paint resins, etc.

Get some inexpensive "mineral spirits", any hardware or paint store has them and price is going to vary, but that only due to the company marketing them, they are all the same. (I usually buy Ace Hardware`s, but only because there is a store within a mile of the shop)

Soak a rag, spread in on the panel, IE, get it wet with the mineral spirits, leave it wet, let is set, do this in a shaded area, best when the temperature is below 80F as it will stay active longer before it evaporates.

Soak it again in 10 minutes and then you use a rag with some more mineral spirits on it to test if the spots have broken/liquified.

Should be coming off by now, and no damage to the resin system -"binder/film former" of your clearcoat.

Then wash with your carwash solution and reapply your wax/sealant.

Grumpy



I`ve also used VG New Car Prep like this, and it works great.

[Richard Grasa]

Please, don`t use lacquer thinner on a modern clearcoat! Will look ok for a while, but as time goes on, there is an 80% chance that right where the lacquer thinner was applied, the clear will dull out and can not be repolished.

Be safe and don`t spend big bucks, what you need is a hydrocarbon/petroluem based solvent with a slow evaporation rate.

Modern clears are a poly/urethane molecular chain, and a slow evaporative solvent will not harm them, unlike clorinated solvents such as MEK (base of lacquer thinner), xylene, acetone, etc and these solvents should only be used by trained professionals for the use they were intended for which is "reducing or liquifiying" paint resins, etc.

Get some inexpensive "mineral spirits", any hardware or paint store has them and price is going to vary, but that only due to the company marketing them, they are all the same. (I usually buy Ace Hardware`s, but only because there is a store within a mile of the shop)

Soak a rag, spread in on the panel, IE, get it wet with the mineral spirits, leave it wet, let is set, do this in a shaded area, best when the temperature is below 80F as it will stay active longer before it evaporates.

Soak it again in 10 minutes and then you use a rag with some more mineral spirits on it to test if the spots have broken/liquified.

Should be coming off by now, and no damage to the resin system -"binder/film former" of your clearcoat.

Then wash with your carwash solution and reapply your wax/sealant.

Grumpy



Thanks for the info Ron. I`ve personally never had a problem with using thinner on tar. When I use it, which is very rare, I make sure not to let it dwell for more than a couple seconds since that`s about how long it takes to remove the tar. Would you say that makes any difference, or once it just touches the clear, that`s it and there`s the 80% chance of future problems?

[Ron Ketcham]

Just providing information that was gleaned from years of working with the Body/Paint Tech Centers of the Big 3 and DuPont, PPG, BASF and Sherwin-Williams automotive paint engineers.

That and being V.P of Operations for my old companies Auto Preservation New Vehicle Processing Center, which did over 1,000 vehicles a month, plus being a consultant to Ford Pre-Delivery Center in Mira Loma,Ca, which performed pre-delivery of 500 to 700 vehicles a day for Ford dealers in the L.A. area.

Seen too many times damage show up in a few weeks where lacquer thinner or pure xylene, acetone, etc was used to remove tar, overspray, etc from clearcoats.

Grumpy

[Richard Grasa]

Just providing information that was gleaned from years of working with the Body/Paint Tech Centers of the Big 3 and DuPont, PPG, BASF and Sherwin-Williams automotive paint engineers.

That and being V.P of Operations for my old companies Auto Preservation New Vehicle Processing Center, which did over 1,000 vehicles a month, plus being a consultant to Ford Pre-Delivery Center in Mira Loma,Ca, which performed pre-delivery of 500 to 700 vehicles a day for Ford dealers in the L.A. area.

Seen too many times damage show up in a few weeks where lacquer thinner or pure xylene, acetone, etc was used to remove tar, overspray, etc from clearcoats.

Grumpy



Good to know, thanks

[BigLouMaxSE]

Please, don`t use lacquer thinner on a modern clearcoat! Will look ok for a while, but as time goes on, there is an 80% chance that right where the lacquer thinner was applied, the clear will dull out and can not be repolished.

Be safe and don`t spend big bucks, what you need is a hydrocarbon/petroluem based solvent with a slow evaporation rate.

Modern clears are a poly/urethane molecular chain, and a slow evaporative solvent will not harm them, unlike clorinated solvents such as MEK (base of lacquer thinner), xylene, acetone, etc and these solvents should only be used by trained professionals for the use they were intended for which is "reducing or liquifiying" paint resins, etc.

Get some inexpensive "mineral spirits", any hardware or paint store has them and price is going to vary, but that only due to the company marketing them, they are all the same. (I usually buy Ace Hardware`s, but only because there is a store within a mile of the shop)

Soak a rag, spread in on the panel, IE, get it wet with the mineral spirits, leave it wet, let is set, do this in a shaded area, best when the temperature is below 80F as it will stay active longer before it evaporates.

Soak it again in 10 minutes and then you use a rag with some more mineral spirits on it to test if the spots have broken/liquified.

Should be coming off by now, and no damage to the resin system -"binder/film former" of your clearcoat.

Then wash with your carwash solution and reapply your wax/sealant.

Grumpy



You pretty much read my mind and answered my next question before I posted it! I started reading up on different solvents earlier (mainly because I had a full bottle of acetone laying around, and was looking to see if that would be a fine substitute for lacquer thinner - it`s not) and came across the same type of warning on lacquer thinner and suggestions to use mineral spirits for tar vs other solvents as it`s good for breaking down tar without harming paint.



Thanks for your explanation and recommendations, I appreciate it. I`ll report back once I`ve had a go with this process.



I`ll be sure to stay away from rubber pieces while I`m doing this (I assume the petroleum based solvent/mineral spirit may react with rubber if I let it sit?).

[Ron Ketcham]

It could slightly soften it if left on for more than a few minutes, however, once it evaporates, on most rubber parts, the part goes right back to normal.

grumpy

[IHA Mark]

3M adhesive remover is what you seek for stubborn tar...