Hand cleaner as tar remover! You gotta see this!

[Older]

I saw a woman using her ice scraper to clean the snow from her hood. I did a double-take on that one.

I couldn`t get my phone out fast enough to capture that one as traffic started moving.

[Setec Astronomy]

As Gearhead noted, I think it was well-intentioned advice, they just needed to use the smooth stuff instead of the pumice. Of course the smooth stuff can be hard to find these days, depending on what cleaner you are looking at.

As Gearhead also noted, I always liked having a choice of grit/no grit, depending on what you were trying to get off your hands. Boraxo would give me a rash on the backs of my hands after a while. Fortunately today we have cheap nitrile gloves.

[Desertnate]

Wow! When I saw the title, I was thinking something along the lines of hand sanitizer and thought maybe you`d discovered some odd, legit, off label way of removing tar. Then I saw the pictures....

Great recovery, that damage was pretty ugly.

[BLagunas6]

Wow! When I saw the title, I was thinking something along the lines of hand sanitizer and thought maybe you`d discovered some odd, legit, off label way of removing tar. Then I saw the pictures....

Great recovery, that damage was pretty ugly.

HAHA I thought the same thing

[Accumulator]

All I can think is ?!?What`s wrong with people?!? I honestly don`t see how somebody who`s presumably functional enough to drive could do that and be surprised by the result. Not even some tiny little test spot...IMO it`s an inappropriate level and extent of damage for anything, not just a black car.

We always had a dispenser [gritless hand] soap and a Boraxo dispenser side by side, you could clean with or without grit...

Same here, and yeah maybe the counter guy was thinking of Goop/etc. Though I`ve about had it with the "use weird stuff to do automotive things" mindset; it`s not all that hard/expensive/[whatever] to just use the right stuff and get the desired results.

No, doubt that cleaner was loaded with pumas.

I doubt it too, more likely some pumice. Although it did kinda look like claw marks...

Heh heh heh...sorry, sorry...couldn`t resist, that image cracked me up.

Mikelambert- Nice save for a "what can ya really do at this point?" situation, but I dunno if I`d want the owner as a regular customer.

[RaydiantDetail]

I have heard of people using hand sanitizer but never abrasive hand cleaners. WOW!

[Don]

I was thinking of the petroleum-based (NON-pumice) GOOP too. WOW, that stuff made a mess!!!!

[Lonnie]

This advice is kind of like "uninformed" individuals who uses cheap paper toweling and Windex to clean their touch or navigation screens and instrument panel plastic, then wonder why it is SOOO scratched up. Same thing goes for "use a microfiber cloth" to wipe that off whatever car-care product with. Microfiber cloth type and quality can vary significantly, to say the least.
I must say again, the information and expertise shared within this forum by many of you have made me a (somewhat) better detailer and allowed me to separate detailing fact-from-fiction (myths) and avoid detailing faux pas (errors and mistakes).

[rlmccarty2000]

I too was thinking about hand sanitizer. I have heard (never tried) that hand sanitizer will remove tar. Possibly the alcohol will dissolve the tar. What was this person thinking? They couldn’t see the scratches appearing? I really wonder about the intelligence of some people.

[pdqgp]

At least now I know how to clean my hands and my test panel hoods and doors while introducing defects before setting up product testing.

WOW! I remember face-palming myself when a neighbor clean the bugs off the front of their car with a magic eraser and some cleaner. It was a dark brown metallic car too. I thought that end result looked bad.

[jatleson]

I was expecting to see the best way to remove tar not Darwinism at work. What`s next, the dry cleaner suggesting bleach to remove water spots? Great recovery Mike.

[Mike lambert]

Thank you!

[grungy]

In my younger days, I did use one of these to remove some sort of paint contamination: https://www.hisglassworks.com/shop/m...3/m/3m-pad.jpg

I worked well, but gave similar if not worse results.

[Accumulator]

In my younger days, I did use...

Heh heh, I`ll give you credit for admitting that

But I do genuinely wonder *why*...

[Street5927]

Wow....did he forget to mention that it would also remove the clear??? lol. It`s funny what people will tell others. I was detailing a black Acura a few years back, and my neighbor, who is in his 70`s came over and said "If you really want to make that thing shine, use black shoe polish, that`s what we used in the old days"..... uggh!!!