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| Thread ID: 98053 | 2009-03-09 20:44:00 | Tar off Car Paint | johcar (6283) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 755057 | 2009-03-09 20:44:00 | I earned big brownie points yesterday - my wife came home from work (someone has to! :D ) and caught me giving her car a cut and polish. It looks good now! It's a little 1995 Mazda 121, so it just has paint (no clear coat over the top), which was getting quite oxidised. What started me on the process was finding tar on the bottom of both front doors and around the bumper by the back wheels. Unfortunately the cutting compound doesn't seem to be grunty enough to get this off, so I still have tar on the doors and bumper. Is there a safe (cheap) solvent that will do the job that someone can recommend? On a side note, I also have a late model car that has the clear coat over the metallic finish - what is a recommended polish for this (the rain no longer beads up on the paintwork :( )? |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 755058 | 2009-03-09 21:04:00 | butter | prefect (6291) | ||
| 755059 | 2009-03-09 21:11:00 | White spirits will get rid of the tar. I used it with total success. It is rather dependent on how long the tar has been there as tar tends to bond with the paint over time. | Sweep (90) | ||
| 755060 | 2009-03-09 21:14:00 | Hey prefect - didn't you see my qualifier "cheap"? :D :D Thanks guys, I'll give both methods a try... |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 755061 | 2009-03-09 21:23:00 | Petrol is a tar solvent as well but may also dissolve paint. Try a very small area with white spirits first before you go the whole hog. |
Sweep (90) | ||
| 755062 | 2009-03-09 21:31:00 | I have used both kero and turps with success, but wipe off as soon as tar is dissolved. | Richard (739) | ||
| 755063 | 2009-03-09 21:56:00 | The correct agent to remove tar and even dried on bugs is xylene . It will not affect the paint, even clear coats . It will remove any wax you have there too so be sure to reapply a real CARNAUBA-type wax afterwards . Carnuba® is a registered trademark of DuPont and usually has no CARNAUBA wax in it . Carnauba on the other hand is very expensive and most auto-wax makers use little or none of it to be competitive . It is also very hard to mix into an applicable paste as it doesn't dissolve very well nor does it like to be emulsified into a creamy consistency . Mother's® ( . mothers . com/) and Meguiar's® (http://www . meguiars . com/" target="_blank">www . mothers . com/) and Meguiar's® (http:) are two brands with the real stuff - #1 Yellow pure carnauba wax in them . Turtle Wax® is for turtles, not automotive paint jobs . It contains a lot of liquefied silicons, abrasives and essential oils, but is a poor substitute for carnauba wax . If you like Turtle Wax, just use turpentine or diesle fuel instead - they're cheaper and do the same thing . Johnson's Products produces Simonize that is very good, but uses bee's and paraffin wax in it which occludes and dulls the finish . This may not be the effect you want, but it does have it's applications on surfaces where you want to reduce solar or artificial light reflectivity . |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 755064 | 2009-03-09 22:06:00 | So are any of these products cheap? The only product that really comes cheap is elbow grease and possibly persistance. | Sweep (90) | ||
| 755065 | 2009-03-09 23:16:00 | Does anyone know whether Xylene is able to be purchased at Supercheap or Repco or the like? It looks like nasty stuff for humans, but if it does the job.... | johcar (6283) | ||
| 755066 | 2009-03-09 23:47:00 | Kerosene, turps, petrol or eucalyptus oil. Kerosene is probably the safest. If you have some 2 stroke fuel, that is good. Diesel is OK, but the smell - - - | R2x1 (4628) | ||
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