how to remove road tar

Clay bar works great for road tar. If it's really bad, try RainX bug & tar remover.

 

Try paint thinner on a paper towel. If that doen't work, try lacquer thinner, a more agressive solvent that won't hurt auto paint but will strip wax.

Once the tar is off, wash and wax the car to make road tar easier to get off.

 

Go to your local parts store or Walmart and buy the correct product for the job. I used a product called Trax that I got at Advance Auto. (Stream) recommended RainX bug & tar remover which is an excellent product.

Use the correct product made specifically for the job of removing tar.

The last thing you want to do is use something that could ruin your finish or soften up the paint. Blizzard Pearl is very expensive to repair for the reason it is a three step paint.

I have a post below (I feel like the Karate Kid) on my enjoyment of cleaning the tar off my Blizzard Pearl.

 

peanut butter on the cheap.

 

have a glance at this :
Zaino Store

 

claybars don't remove tar very easily - it sorta smears it around.

 

Forgot to mention - if you have the clear bra film, be VERY careful when cleaning the tar off those surfaces. Very easy to damage & replacement is the most likely fix.

 

I always use a bottle of Bug and Tar Remover. Be generous when using it. Soap the spots for a minute or two. Then use a soft cloth to rub it off in circular motion. You may need to apply a few more time to get it shine like new. I also use the electric buffer to take buff off the tar. It saves a lot of work and time. Works wonder for me every year. (I won't risk it by using paint thinner.)

 

MMB,
If you like the Meguiar's product line (good stuff, btw), you might want to use the Ultimate Quick Wax instead of the Ultimate Quick Detailer for your "after wash sealer". It will do a better job of sealing your oem finish.

Meguiar's has a great "car crazy" forum that explains the particulars in "much more better" detail.

Check it out at:
Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

 

There are a lot of really fine products for protecting your car's finish. A detailer is not one of them. The purpose of a detailer is to clean the surface of water spots or very mild dust (although you are risking scratches or swirls).

In my opinion (and yes, I know everyone has one), you should use a bug and tar remover. There are several good ones. Stoner has a particularly good one, but I think mineral spirits would work just fine. I would never use clay to remove tar, it would contaminate the clay so quickly you would probably have to discard it after each use, and most clay will work for several uses. After you have removed the tar with the remover, wash it thoroughly and use a polymer. It is almost as easy to use as the detailer and lasts a really long time. Beads beautifully too.

Meguiars has several really nice "waxes" that are polymers. I prefer the NXT product, but there are several others that work nicely too. I think the Zaino products probably bead longer than any others, but only marginally and I can't ever plan ahead enough to mail order them. Just don't go for the store brands, the difference is minimal in price but not in results. Turtle Wax has a couple of nice products like "Ice" but I find it more trouble to remove than NXT. Mothers has a couple of nice products too. For tar you might want to use Meguiars Cleaner Wax. It is nice and long lasting too.

It depends on what you want and sometimes on the color of your car. Some "waxes" look better on dark colors, some on light.

 

I also have the blizzard pearl. I just did the first of two sealer/polish applications-- "Nu Finish" ( directions say 30 days apart). I like this finish because it is easy to apply and wipe off. It contains no waxes, but cleans and seals the clearcoat. It says the clearcoat is not adversely affected- in other words it uses not abrasives but chemicals to clean and seal. It leaves a great shine and bead.

It also made small tar bead removal easy! Orange bottle- Target.

 

Stop the madness.

Yes, "tar remover" will work. Several other products will work (like peanut butter).

Want to know the easiest, cheapest and safest?
WD-40.

Easy to find, cheap to buy. Will NOT harm anything on the car. Works as well if not better than "tar remover" and certainly better than anything else on the market.

And if you want to go a bit further in the cheap department, just buy what WD-40 mostly is, and use that: kerosene. Super cheap in a 1 gallon container. And if you use it from the bottle, you also don't add propellants to the atmosphere.

Again, will NOT harm the paint or anything else on the car. Makes cleaning up any gooey tar mess a snap.

Follow by washing the car so there are no oily spots, and you're good to go.

Personally, I'd stay away from the clay - I only use that on an otherwise CLEAN car.

 

I have used NuFinish and I still have some of it somewhere in my garage. You are right, it does not use abrasives but it uses a very strong chemical and is not highly regarded in most of the detailing forums. If it continually removes part of the finish to make it shiny, it makes sense that it will eventually remove lots of the finish.

If you like it and have good luck with it, great, but take some time and read some of the comments on various detailing forums. Some of those people are really talented and very experienced.

 

As I myself and several others have recommended, peanut butter will do it but still requires some elbow grease (i.e. a fair bit of rubbing), so be prepared. The smooth hydrogenated stuff does the trick (makes you have a second thought about eating it ). For fear of scratching, I'd not use the crunchynutty stuff.

 

This got me to thinking about a good website for checking the chemical makeup of products... Check it out at:

Consumer Product Information Database

I was a bit surprised to find that WD40 does indeed contain kerosene.

 

Rain X works

 

Avon skin so soft works great, wash with shop and water after using skin so soft.

tl