2012 Volvo C70 - Tar Removal

[KMG]

So I received a phone call from one of my friend`s mothers in a panic. She was following a construction vehicle on the highway and it had threw tar all over her car. She wanted to know what she should do, so I told her to drop the car off at my place as soon as she gets off work. Having not seen any pictures or anything I was not sure what to expect when I would get home, either way I figure the sooner I work on it the better when it is 90-100 degrees out.


Before Pics
So here are a few picture before I started doing any removal work on the car. While it did have a decent amount of tar on it, it really wasn`t as bad as I was expecting.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eEp-y9Mqppk/Vc5DKfHzbaI/AAAAAAAAD6A/oXqgOMpEgEo/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0852.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QNRqOEqdcv8/Vc5DKbzlfwI/AAAAAAAAD58/ZHOeOEPXwPU/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0842.jpg
streaks of tar on hood
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CrWvMSeBdHw/Vc5DKXzVsUI/AAAAAAAAD58/azbIfpUkybI/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0843.jpg
streaks on the front bumper along with a large amount of bugs built up
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O1onlacRBQA/Vc5DKUos1zI/AAAAAAAAD6A/aspGCuNFC24/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0845.jpg
tar on the driverside of the convertible top
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1BRnx6wIOnU/Vc5DKXxb5TI/AAAAAAAAD58/KyCcDtAMoM8/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0846.jpg
more tar on the driverside of the top
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LS6UWqfhY5M/Vc5DKatn_9I/AAAAAAAAD58/zU-QHqb5uRg/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0847.jpg
tar and other road debris built up on the front fender and door
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Qy7qrP6Fa1U/Vc5DKTa-hrI/AAAAAAAAD58/W58UN8cdNzc/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0849.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mV_32ZhXM1E/Vc5DKXprmqI/AAAAAAAAD58/rZwRgY4lQao/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0850.jpg
one area of the tar that was on the windshield


Wash, Decon and Removal Process
I started out cleaning the wheels and tires as usual, and followed that up with a strong foam pre-soak and let it dwell for several minutes.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-xu2kHQCpkps/Vc5DKZF23xI/AAAAAAAAD58/Fsy1ClSodJ8/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0854.jpg


I then started the tar removal process
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vvPL5h5Gov4/Vc5DKU0_jnI/AAAAAAAAD58/kyMfjM2Xrio/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0855.jpg
this picture show Tar-X breaking down the streaks on the hood
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S0XnhZ4QWwc/Vc5DKXixevI/AAAAAAAAD58/40T9f5huTDk/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0856.jpg
another picture of Tar-X on the front bumper


After going around the whole car and treating all the areas that had tar on them, I proceeded to do a 2 bucket wash on rest of the car.


This was followed up with the decon, starting with Iron-X.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Hn6tc56CY0E/Vc5DKfKZz8I/AAAAAAAAD6A/c8ZmZ-Pqo3Q/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0858.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oaPTW9lFSiw/Vc5DKYh9PxI/AAAAAAAAD58/dIuWw9tR6mA/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0860.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bI3QDXPAvAg/Vc5DKfjFtiI/AAAAAAAAD58/L7nsepXMEiE/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0861.jpg
The entire car had quite a bit of iron deposits on it. After being thoroughly rinsed of the Iron-X I went over the car with my Nanoskin Wash Mit for one final wash.


After being dried the car was pulled inside. Knowing that the car is doomed to a life of tunnel washes, I decided to just do a quick polish to just clean up the surface a bit without going overkill on chasing all the defects. The paint was in pretty rough shape as the car really isn`t very well maintained.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mHfLFg7OD48/Vc5DKcyTYYI/AAAAAAAAD6A/FXoP2tf3x4Q/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0863.jpg
lots of swirls and RIDS on the trunk lid
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mHfLFg7OD48/Vc5DKcyTYYI/AAAAAAAAD6A/FXoP2tf3x4Q/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0863.jpg
more swirls and RIDS on the side of the convertible top


This was my first test spot, using Optimum Hyper Compound on a white LC flat pad with my Rupes 15.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u-VLREGV130/Vc5DKZwQZpI/AAAAAAAAD58/XDl1r75PW64/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0866.jpg
I was not overly thrilled with how it looked following this test spot, so I stepped up to an Orange cutting pad which yielded much better results.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7ByW54BHcZc/Vc5DKQYu1II/AAAAAAAAD58/U5GPWn0pKo4/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0868.jpg
before picture on the side of the convertible top
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h9SVn4ru82A/Vc5DKbzw52I/AAAAAAAAD6A/jLiiOy4L3ic/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0869.jpg
after picture of the same spot


Final Product
The car was the sealed off with Hydr02 and I did a quick cleaning of the interior as it was quite messy also.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-khXmCDPFd2A/Vc5DKZICexI/AAAAAAAAD6A/jR_XQpkh6IY/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0874.jpg
the front is now nice, clean and shiny
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wR5l4XhXWYs/Vc5DKRwr3dI/AAAAAAAAD58/j5FMsaXRZKg/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0871.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aZwedllbtI8/Vc5DKaUg8_I/AAAAAAAAD6A/ie2rykUMTQM/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0888.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-YWl3tNABD2k/Vc5DKcLQXHI/AAAAAAAAD58/NB3rWOfkp08/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0881.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_v8wgwWTWtk/Vc5DKSDk-YI/AAAAAAAAD58/pFljE14HxEE/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0889.jpg


A few interior shots
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dkj-U7UiaKc/Vc5DKauPXZI/AAAAAAAAD6A/B1kT8pzLdag/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0886.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uhj6SyvX3Sc/Vc5DKeWEOZI/AAAAAAAAD6A/jvJdfh0tJ4g/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0880.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6lhCpCr3Bew/Vc5DKVeKbjI/AAAAAAAAD58/mdAGRxe7Lrg/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0879.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rAqdGP-7tNo/Vc5DKcpjmvI/AAAAAAAAD6A/079KtZxHm1k/w1316-h875-no/DSC_0876.jpg


And that is it for a fairly quick and simple job. Thanks for taking a look!

[jtford95]

Great job & nice turn around. I have to get some of that tarx remover stuff

[mnehls86]

Nice job. Tar-X knocked that tar out no problem it looks like. How long did it take you to since you said it was a quick job? When it is that hot out like that I feel like it takes me forever just to get the wash cycles done trying to keep the water from drying on the car.

[mnehls86]

Great job & nice turn around. I have to get some of that tarx remover stuff
If you are ever in a pinch auto parts stores and walmart usually carry tarminator by stoners which works pretty good too.

[Migue]

Looks nice, great job on that tar.

How many work hrs to thoroughly remove the tar and polish the paint? did you only do the compound step and finished it down gently on the same pass with the orange pad or did you finish down with a polish? i saw you mentioned the car was going to be at the wash tunnel regardless.

[jsou]

Look at that tar melt! Great results. Thanks for sharing.

[Oldfordisbetter]

Great job Kevin. I wasnt sure what to expect when she was following a construction truck.

[KMG]

Nice job. Tar-X knocked that tar out no problem it looks like. How long did it take you to since you said it was a quick job? When it is that hot out like that I feel like it takes me forever just to get the wash cycles done trying to keep the water from drying on the car.

I think I had 5-6 hours in it between doing the inside and the outside, which for me is a really quick job. Most cars I do have 2-3x that amount of time in them.


Looks nice, great job on that tar.

How many work hrs to thoroughly remove the tar and polish the paint? did you only do the compound step and finished it down gently on the same pass with the orange pad or did you finish down with a polish? i saw you mentioned the car was going to be at the wash tunnel regardless.

I think I had about 2.5 hours or so in the wash, decon and tar removal and roughly the same amount of time in doing a quick polish of the car. I didn`t use a compound on this vehicle, I used Hyper Polish with a light cutting pad (Orange LC Flat Pad)


Look at that tar melt! Great results. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah Tar-X really killed in on this project. Made the work quite easy.


Great job & nice turn around. I have to get some of that tarx remover stuff

Thanks, and yes it is a nice product to keep on hand for stuff.


Great job Kevin. I wasnt sure what to expect when she was following a construction truck.

I really wasn`t sure what to expect either. I was really expecting it to be a lot worse then it was with how she described it.

[jtford95]

If you are ever in a pinch auto parts stores and walmart usually carry tarminator by stoners which works pretty good too.

Yep. Love the tarminator. I can only get it at one or two part stores where I live at tho. I think I am going to just order a few cans when I can