Tarminator, 3M, Prep-Sol

D

Durddy

New member
I have tar spots on my plastic cladding/trim (Nissan Xterra), as well as on my paint. Some of these tar specks, or whatever they are, don't seem to want to budge with soap or even straight IPA.

I am deciding what to buy next to attack this stuff but wanted to know if Tarminator, 3M Adhesive Remover, Prep-sol or even mineral spirits would have the same effect or if one might be better than the other? Thanks! :xyxthumbs
 
mshu7 said:
While I absolutely love Tarminator, I would not use it on plastic. It will discolor the area where Tarminator is used.
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Any suggestions on what can be used on plastic that will have similar results to tarminator on paint?
 
Don't take this as a rock-solid guarantee or anything (hey, different plastics are different), but I've never had problems from using 3M Adhesive Remover on plastics. It's handy stuff to have around anyhow...
 
Wipe Away is a good mild solvent that claims to have no xylene in it. HSould be safe for plastic. Tarminator works fairly well but if you use it on a wet surface it gets all funky and gunky.
 
I sprayed some 3m General purpose adhesive remover 38983 onto my friends civic headlights and the plastic melted. I had to sand out and refinish the damn headlights. Have u guys had this experience?
 
Not sure if the Tarminator would have any negative effects (discoloration) on the plastic.



Try some WD-40 on an area that doesn't have any tar on it (that you really can't see) to see if it discolors the plastic. If not, you can use it to remove tar.



As Accumulator indicated, all plastics are different so I don't think there is one "right" answer/solution here...
 
Tarminator user here. As others mentioned, the "dwell" time is not the same for every type of plastic. I have seen no issues with color-matched bumpers and sideskirts - 30 seconds to a minute of dwell time. I keep tarminator away from the uncoated, raw plastic that you typically see on car grills - It will discolor those as I remember reading a thread about it.
 
I've said this a lot. I use Acrysol for many types of issues like this. It's my absolute favorite juice. It's harmless to paint and really cuts through tar, undercoating, sap, etc. It's used my German car dealers to remove cosmoline that is on new cars. It's sold in the parts dept. Love it!
 
Excuse me, but "German car dealers" have not had to remove "cosmoline" for over 25 years, if not longer.

The product contains a percentage of xylene, just take a few minutes to Google that one, then I will shut up.

Grumpy
 
Car pro has some new product out Tar X i think, that looks like it might be a solid product. Just watched a video the other day of it. I know surf city makes something, i think like grime away or something, that might get rid of some tar.
 
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