Tar From Hell

J

JSFM35X

Active member
They are re-paving the roads in front and around my office. I have a White M37X as my Dialy Driver. I had so much tar/Asphalt all over my car that it was depressing. I went through 3 cans of Tarminator getting it off and not 100%. I did not clay it but I still have plenty of dots over the car. Some of the dots turned form black to Amber.

I need a good, strong, paint safe, trim safe tar remover. I have tried the OTC stuff and the turtle wax brand was OK, not as good at tarminator. Wish the made tarminator in a liquid. those cans go fast!

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I though Tardis was not availible in the states through someone in PA but I could not find it. Anyone with a lead on this?
 
I'm retired now but I used to have company cars and putting 30,000 miles on them I ran into a lot of tar. At that time I knew nothing about detailing other than washing and waxing. I tried several tar removers but never had any luck with them so I used gasoline and it worked really well. I think there was another post on this forum or AGO regarding a Mustang that had gas overflow while the tank was being filled. Posters said gas wouldn't hurt your paint but it was a good idea to wash and wax after the gas was spilled on the car as the LSP would be gone. Just a thought if nothing else works.
 
3M Adhesive remover is paint safe and my go-to. You want the 1 ltr. can not spray. It can be used with general purpose microfibers. It does not evaporate fast giving good work time. Most Carquest and paint supply stores carry it in the form I mentioned. It will strip LSP.
 
dd1101 said:
CarPro TRIX Tar and Iron Remover 1 Liter or CarPro Tar X Tar & Adhesive Remover

Hope those help
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Paul Mitchell said:
I'm retired now but I used to have company cars and putting 30,000 miles on them I ran into a lot of tar. At that time I knew nothing about detailing other than washing and waxing. I tried several tar removers but never had any luck with them so I used gasoline and it worked really well. I think there was another post on this forum or AGO regarding a Mustang that had gas overflow while the tank was being filled. Posters said gas wouldn't hurt your paint but it was a good idea to wash and wax after the gas was spilled on the car as the LSP would be gone. Just a thought if nothing else works.
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zoomzoom mazda5 said:
Same here.
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Concours.John said:
3M Adhesive remover is paint safe and my go-to. You want the 1 ltr. can not spray. It can be used with general purpose microfibers. It does not evaporate fast giving good work time. Most Carquest and paint supply stores carry it in the form I mentioned. It will strip LSP.
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Rsurfer said:
Plain old kerosene..cheap, won't hurt your paint and it works.
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dd1101 said:
Really, I'll have to keep this in mind :bigups
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Thanks you all very much for responding, I will Keep the Car Pro Stuff In mind. I had read somewhere that is discolored some trim so I will try the 3M first. 3M is expensive but usually good product. I want to stay away from the Kerosene and Gasoline route for now because of flamibility and storage issues.
 
Mineral spirits is one that I use for this, cheap and easy on the paint. If that fails then Acetone is another but it can be aggressive on the clear coat and will require polishing after.
 
Years ago, I had to drive out to East Chicago Indiana, to pick up some custom made Humes&Berg Cases for a large, very expensive Telescope Mount.

Then unavoidedly drove through a one block pass of fresh ashphalt with my then 1 year old White Tahoe.

There was not one square inch of my vehicle that was not covered, everything, even the spare tire, hitch, bumpers, all glass, grill, tires, wheels.

Cans of Bug and Tar remover? Hell, I would've had to have gone through 4 cases of such.

it was a trip to the local home improvement center in this desolate land, that looked like a "Back to the Future sequel", where I was flung back to 1955.

It took a gallon of Turpentine, and an 8 pack of paper towels, just to get 30% of it off, before the ride home back to Chicago. I spent the next three weeks, with towels, scrub brushes, turpentine, and many days of work.

Just the spare tire, after pulling it out from under the vehicle took me an hour to clean, this stuff was almost unremoveable.

I hate to even think of the possible damage it caused to the paint. Amazing that this truck still has any paint, after that fateful, nightmare of a day. Mark
 
Concours.John said:
3M Adhesive remover is paint safe and my go-to. You want the 1 ltr. can not spray. It can be used with general purpose microfibers. It does not evaporate fast giving good work time. Most Carquest and paint supply stores carry it in the form I mentioned. It will strip LSP.
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Where are you getting this in the liter can? I looked online and only saw the spray cans. Thanks
 
I use laquer thinner for nasty tar jobs. Its safe on most paints unless its a really soft paint or laquer paint.

Must test first to be sure but it works great.
 
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