Paint safe tar removal

[BadgerRivFan]

Like I say, not much you can do if you need to park your vehicle under a pine tree because thats the ONLY space available when you want to go boating at a crowded lake marina or attend an outdoor concert at a backwoods bar up Nort.

Doesnt get much better than a summer (or winter for that matter) weekend in the Northwoods!

Last May we ran into a tavern hosting a $1 "Blue Smoothie Party"... Now thats living!

 

[Dellinger]

One caveat to using Tarminator is to be aware of plastic on front grills or after-market rust-or-chip coatings applied to lower rocker panels as the solvents will discolor or "soften" them, leaving them a dull grey instead of black. You may need to test a small area before going willy-nilly everywhere and ruining a grill or have the coating rub off on a microfiber cloth or worse, into your wash media.

That leads to another question, what do you use to wipe off the tar with?? A "cheap" microfiber towel dedicated for use to removing tar that you throw away or some thing else? If you are like me, you HATE getting tar in your wash media (microfiber chenille noodle pad/wool pad/boar hair bristle brush/grout sponge). Or does the tar dissolve enough that the soap-and-water remove it without this concern?

Lonnie makes great points, take notice. Always be careful with solvent around molded plastic trim. Solvents can remove color or distort it. Running boards are a great example, especially considering tar removal on 4 door, diesel, 3/4 ton trucks with the in style wide and tall aggressive bogger tires sticking out of the fender wells with no guards (or that style is popular in my market.) I typically spray down the running board with a QD ratio of ONR and then treat the lower rockers/ doors with said solvent.

And, yes Lonnie, I do use Costco Kirkland yellow MF towels for this purpose. I have about 60 towels dedicated for just this and they ARE UGLY! During the initial wash (prior to decon) I have a mitt that is dedicated to the lower portions of quarters/ doors. It is used for only that purpose as it is just not safe to use any where else.

And I just ran up against my most fit antagonist today... 10 year old rubber on a `66 Mustang that was auto-crossed for almost a decade without a solid detail. M101, Acetone, and a plastic razor blade did the trick. Not fun. I tried every process and solvent and finally `got `er done`. Almost ran out of ideas though. (Front chrome bumper was the worst/ hardest to remove the rubber/ tar from... amazingly enough, or not.)