Removing Tar Spots on the cheap

I'm not connected to Auto Glym in any way, but I recommend their products for everything, cars, caravans, motorhome and even the polish to clean up the house shower screen! AutoGlym do a tar remover which is excellent, but then requires waxing over the treated area, for this I would use the collinite waxes.

Acetone is too harsh for modern synthetics, it will eventually dissolve most plastics and paint.

For tar I use white spirit. Petrol is also very good but not as safe. Any of the oily solvents will very quickly remove tar without taking the suface off. As mentioned, butter works and veg oil is also very good.

The higher solvents, Acetone, ether, xylene, (typical brake and clutch cleaners) etc will get it off very quickly but apply for too long or rub too hard they will take the surface off, avoid.

I have recently been using the dry wash stuff, it seems to shift everything and leave a real nice hard shell surface. I found the Aldi one is excellent.

Yep I can remember mums using that on kids that had been playing with tar bubbles during hot summers 

Thanks again for all these. In the end I used WD40 on the paintwork, with a coat of wax to follow. It seemed to work fine.

Perhaps caravans should be available in black. ;-)

 

Hi Hedgehurst,

Are you sure the little black spots are tar, they could be fly shite.

Try spitting on a clean cloth and wiping off.

If it is indeed tar I'd try WD on a cloth.

Unlike others on this thread though I'm of the 

" cleaner you keep it, the easier it is to keep clean "

Have used " Greased Lightning " showroom shine for yrs now and find it keeps my 'van cleaner by repelling muck & grime.

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Excuse my naïveté (I take my m/h to the Eastern Europeans up the road every 6 weeks or so)  but how does one do a 'dry wash'? It seems to me that a dry cloth or sponge would scratch the surface........

There are a growing number of dry (water-less) wash products now available. Apparently they emulsify and encapsulate the muck that you then wipe off with a dry cloth. From one the manufacturers:

"When NO-WET waterless car wash and wax is MICRO/MISTED over a soiled area, our exclusive formula has the unique ability to encapsulate and emulsify the dirt particles, lifting them off the surface, (thus no scratching) preparing them for removal by the simple swipe of a clean 100% terry towel. No need for soap, buckets, hoses, no more mess!"

I use the ALDI one on the van and have to say it does work very well, particularly to remove black streaking. It leaves a really nice finish.

Would I use it on heavily soiled area, no, but for a quick once over it really does the job. The automotive detailing world is divided to the prospect of wiping over the dirt but not seen any issues with paint marking reported so far, it seems to do what it says on the tin.

 

There are a growing number of dry (water-less) wash products now available. Apparently they emulsify and encapsulate the muck that you then wipe off with a dry cloth. From one the manufacturers............

 

Interesting. Thanks, Phishing.