Tar spatter

[Rolfe]

I know there are detailing threads around, but this is a very specific query. What's the easiest way to get tar spatter off paintwork?

I just had Caliban hand-washed, and have only now realised how much tar spatter he's picked up over the winter. I can get each spot off with a fingernail, but it's all over the place and I need a more efficient way to do it. All advice gratefully received. (Never bothered about this on Prospero because he was a very dark blue and it didn't show.)

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

I need this all the time.

Matte Green really shows up the tar spots sadly.

Halfords Bug and Tar remover.
Easy peasy and smells lovely!

Halfords Bug & Tar Remover 500ml | Halfords UK

Shop the latest Grease, flies, and sticky road tar can be tough to remove, which is where a specialised cleaner is ideal. Tackle those stubborn contaminates that regular washing doesn’t remove with Halfords’ Bug & Tar Remover. at Halfords UK

www.halfords.com

 

[Rolfe]

Ta muchly. I do have some bug-spatter stuff left from last summer, not sure if it does tar too but it probably does.

ETA: No, the bug-spatter spray doesn't claim to deal with tar, and when I tried, no it doesn't. I'll pick up some of the Halford's stuff tomorrow.

 

[Lovemyev]

You can use a bit of that fossil fuel ️ stuff on a soft micro fibre cloth to shift tar spatter.
I have a petrol lawn mower, so always have some at hand in a plastic fuel canister.

 

[Rolfe]

I don't have any! (I do have a petrol snow clearing machine, but it's empty and we didn't have enough snow this winter for it to be worth my while going to get any fuel for it.)

 

[Lovemyev]

I don't have any! (I do have a petrol snow clearing machine, but it's empty and we didn't have enough snow this winter for it to be worth my while going to get any fuel for it.)

All of my gardening equipment is either straight unleaded fuel or is it then mixed with a two stroke oil to run my two stroke machines.
So, I always have a small quantity of fossil fuel at hand.
Switching ALL of these items over to battery power units, would cost a small fortune unfortunately.

 

[Rolfe]

I still had a can of unleaded when Prospero went to the great Copart in the sky, but a week or so later a neighbour phoned me in some distress saying that her car had been returned from a repair job with so little petrol in it that she was nervous of being able to make the nine miles to the nearest fuel station. So I donated the 5 litres that was in the can to her, and became a petrol-free household.

We don't talk about the 1,000-litre kerosene tank in the back garden...

 

[Alb]

White spirit will do the job but for anything solvent based, make sure you reinstate the wax coating after.

 

[Ian Key]

WD40 will also work but as you will more than likely have the same problem again why not get some proper tar remover?

Autoglym's Intensive Tar according to their blurb, dissolves tar, oil, grease, silicone, wax, gum, tree sap, fuel stains and adhesive residues from paintwork and plastics and can be used on the interior of your car to remove ink, chewing gum, glue residue and oil stains from fabric seats, carpets and hard surfaces.

Now I've read that I'm off to order some from Amazon

 

[Rolfe]

Tell me, does the tar just build up gradually or can it be one or two specific episodes?

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

Tell me, does the tar just build up gradually or can it be one or two specific episodes?

Well seeing as no one has replied to you @Rolfe, If my experience is anything to go by, it just builds up gradually.

What surprised me more, is that I thought it was a summer issue, what with the warmer weather softening up the tar on the roads etc.

My recent 6 months of mainly cold wet weather has put that to bed though, as my car is peppered with tiny black spots.

Mostly from the rear of the front wheel arch, all along the sides and around the back.

Only visible if your really looking and then of course as you see one you then see hundreds!!!

I tend to do one panel per wash and carry on doing that all year.
A bit like painting the Forth Bridge.

I just can't be arsed to do the whole car in one go.

Too much like hard work.

 

[Rolfe]

Only visible if your really looking and then of course as you see one you then see hundreds!!!

That's exactly it! That's a good tip to do a bit at a time. (Although they did paint the Forth Bridge (not the road bridge, it doesn't need painting) with a new paint recently and they say that will do it for ten years now.

 

[Archev]

That's exactly it! That's a good tip to do a bit at a time. (Although they did paint the Forth Bridge (not the road bridge, it doesn't need painting) with a new paint recently and they say that will do it for ten years now.

Waterless car wash / polish shifts it beautifully- and bird muck etc etc.

 

[Rolfe]

You probably need to tell me more about that, because the stuff I got in Halfords didn't really work. I diluted it 1 in 6 like they said and sprayed it on. It didn't say anything about how long to leave it, but leaving it longer didn't seem to make much difference. It possibly softened the tar a bit but it certainly wasn't wiping off.

In the end I sprayed all of the lower part of the car and drove to the hand car wash, so at least the car was washed and didn't have product drying on it, but it didn't really shift it. Each individual spatter will come off with a fingernail and enough time, but there are really too many to do it that way.

 

[Archev]

The clue is in the action - I don’t dilute the waterless car wash I get on Amazon. It’s used neat.

 

[Rolfe]

The stuff I got from Halfords was a specific tar and bug spatter remover which was meant to be used before the wash proper. Isn't really working. Do you have a link to this magic potion? I see Ian Key also mentioned an Autoglym product.

 

[Archev]

The stuff I got from Halfords was a specific tar and bug spatter remover which was meant to be used before the wash proper. Isn't really working. Do you have a link to this magic potion? I see Ian Key also mentioned an Autoglym product.

Aye there’s loads of them.
Williams
Dirt Devil
Showroom shine
I tend to spray a door or a wing etc leave a few mins and remove then buff up with two separate microfibre cloths. Might need a bit more agitation where there’s tar but comes up grand and leaves a good polish
In between I use a snow foam type product in my pressure washer. Usually weeks apart as A - the tri coat red paint doesn’t show the dirt - B - or my specs need cleaned more often.

 

[Archev]

Aye there’s loads of them.
Williams
Dirt Devil
Showroom shine
I tend to spray a door or a wing etc leave a few mins and remove then buff up with two separate microfibre cloths. Might need a bit more agitation where there’s tar but comes up grand and leaves a good polish
In between I use a snow foam type product in my pressure washer. Usually weeks apart as A - the tri coat red paint doesn’t show the dirt - B - or my specs need cleaned more often.

I remember just before the great CCC covid came calling we visited my son in San Diego. I took his Nissan Titan pick up truck and searched the local car accessory shops for waterless car cleaner and spent two days polishing hell out of the truck while he and Daughter in Law were in Palm Springs. The day they returned he traded the Nissan for a new Ram pickup

 

[Rolfe]

Probably got a great price for such a clean vehicle!

 

[johnb80]

I know there are detailing threads around, but this is a very specific query. What's the easiest way to get tar spatter off paintwork?

I just had Caliban hand-washed, and have only now realised how much tar spatter he's picked up over the winter. I can get each spot off with a fingernail, but it's all over the place and I need a more efficient way to do it. All advice gratefully received. (Never bothered about this on Prospero because he was a very dark blue and it didn't show.)

White Spirit or paraffin or diesel will usually soften and wash away tar spots. I would suggest avoiding petrol, thats a bit harsh and can remove protective wax etc.