Jump to content

Removing Tar


Paul H

Recommended Posts

Hi not Triumph related but could affect our cars 

My son has just rung to say hes just set up his caravan to find tar on the paint work - its rock hard and several mm thick with the odd stone . He did go through roadworks about 15 miles down the road so this is where the damage happened 

Any ideas how to to remove safely with out damaging the paint 

tar.JPG.e93de1229f79e6675b8b2657b82eec03.JPG

My current thoughts are turps or mentholated spirits 

Any advice welcome 

Paul 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe turps / white spirit or methylated spirit (though the idea of cough-syrup-flavoured-booze caused a chuckle) should be effective on tar and reasonably safe on paint. Or you can buy tar remover from most motor accessory shops; I'm not sure what's actually in it.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, NonMember said:

I believe turps / white spirit or methylated spirit (though the idea of cough-syrup-flavoured-booze caused a chuckle) should be effective on tar and reasonably safe on paint. Or you can buy tar remover from most motor accessory shops; I'm not sure what's actually in it.

 

3 minutes ago, NonMember said:

I believe turps / white spirit or methylated spirit (though the idea of cough-syrup-flavoured-booze caused a chuckle) should be effective on tar and reasonably safe on paint. Or you can buy tar remover from most motor accessory shops; I'm not sure what's actually in it.

I’ll blame my spell checker or if that fails a senior moment !!!

Thanks

Paul

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

white spirit    safer   or petrol  ,  less safer    .......... in no particular order

tar remover ,  probably is petroleum by product

claim on the local  council ?????

Pete

 

Robin my son has Dash Cam footage and will be taking photos tomorrow of the roadworks , Thanks for advice WD40 which he has already has been suggested 

Paul 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a towel, soaked in turps /parrafin then hung owa the area

cover towel wid a plastic bin bag, let it soak away t,get at the tar if its really stuck on

give it a while, re dosing frae the top noo an then

 

..Note, excess rub,n will and can leave marks int pent,

as tar could ev bits of grit init of road, which is moer than likly

hence the leave it t,soak actionee

 

then whenst soaked and its soft,

a dish of the aforementioned  above stuff

a soft pent brush

start at top and work yer way doon

 

bung some catch tanks or dishes underneath, then can re use the stuff thats dribbled doon {after its gone thru a seive of sorts }

whenst all off, then give a good wesh with hot water / detergent   t,get the residue away

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As it's a caravan I'd try contacting a caravan dealer for advice, or going for a propriatry tar removing - and reading the bottle very carfully.

While most of the products suggested so far should be fine for auto paint on a metal car body I'd be less confident when it comes to the coloured plastic body panels on a caravan...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stripped my cars with white spirit, meths wasn’t great as I think it’s too volatile and the white spirit was able to soak in better, but it did take multiple applications. I’m sure petrol could work but more hazardous to all concerned. Would be worth checking before applying, whatever you use is safe for the fibreglass, plastic or whatever it is made from.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Petrol certainly works, but as a first step try a cheap car polish - Tesco's is £2 per bottle - and I've found that plenty on a cloth removes a lot of stuff from my cars before repolishing with a better brand. This will remove the easier deposits so you'll have less struggle with the heavier stuff, if they haven't already been softened or thinned out too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Paraffin and water was the method of cleaning  bodywork in the earliest days of motoring when it was called  “coachwork” (No, I am not that old.. ) and neat paraffin  always seems to have been the thing for removing tar as it was cheap and not aggressive to the paint and gave a bit of a shine.

Remember that  thick wax that covered all new cars delivered to dealers?

They used to remove it with paraffin. 

A very expensive  “Tar remover “  I came across some years  ago smelt suspiciously like paraffin to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 06/06/2019 at 13:59, Pete Lewis said:

claim on the local  council ?????

 

Taking the cost of a drop of petrol on a rag out of the council tax seems a bit petty. "Stuff happens, deal with it" always worked before the world went snowflaky and everyone wanted paying for the slightest thing. 

Sorry to sound grumpy Pete. Performance Direct just tried to auto renew me 120quid for a policy that was 88 quid last year and still 88 as a new customer. 36% more for loyalty!  I'm raging at the modern world where everyone wants their hand in your pocket and that includes claims for trivial things. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, ShaunW said:

Sorry to sound grumpy Pete. Performance Direct just tried to auto renew me 120quid for a policy that was 88 quid last year and still 88 as a new customer. 36% more for loyalty!  I'm raging at the modern world where everyone wants their hand in your pocket and that includes claims for trivial things. 

Shaun. If its not too late take out a brand new policy with Perfomance Direct but do it through 'Top Cashback'. Use a different email address to book policy. Then you get new policy rates plus cashback. PM me if you've never done it before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done similar before Badwolf and that's something I'll look at, cheers. The most ridiculous thing I had to do once was cancel a policy at midnight and then start a new policy at 00:01 .....with the same firm! They even gave me the full 'you do realise sir that your car will be uninsured during the break' speech. 😂Thankfully I survived the whole minute without getting nicked or bursting into flames. 

... Sorry all about hijacking the thread. I'm all zen again now. 

Yep, petrol will do it and if it's gone hard then a little waft with the wife's hair drier or a hot air blower (with a thermostat like the small soldering blowers) will soften it.  Just put your hand near it if you do, and if it's too hot for your hand then it's too hot.  I had a rubber wheel that went in a drill to remove sticky stuff once, I wasn't a fan and thankfully tried it on the tape behind my number plate first. You could def see where it had been and needed a lot of polishing to remove the slight scuffing. All it really did was to move the sticky around and I got it off with meths in the end. 

As usual, if in doubt try the solvent on somewhere unobtrusive first, not slap bang in the middle of your bonnet. Cue story about birdbob, a scratchy washing up pad.... and a new(ish) XK8. I appreciated her trying, but that's where the appreciation started and ended! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reminds me of who remembers Cubs and Scouts  doing odd jobs for a shilling   Bob a job week.

Guy at work got them to  wash is prized Jag ,  you will find the bucket and sponges in the  garage

What they found was pads of steel wool   that gave it a nice sheen   , took him weeks to polish it out

All for 10p  !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking of rental cars, i used to service a fleet of them. The transport manager asked i would pick one up from the airport as a favour... He gave me the key, told me what floor on the car park and that it was a white cavalier........... Duly arrived on said floor to find about 40 white cavaliers.... No reg number and no key blippers in those days..........Took bloody ages to get the right one!!!!!

Tony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, mark powell said:

A customer returned a car during the winter and wasn't too pleased to be charged for damages.... He had defrosted ALL the windows with a BRICK....

I have a friend who used to work for a car rental company, he says the way some of the cars were returned was unbelievable - dirt, damage, litter and bits missing. He reckons that some renters used to steal the battery and tyres, replacing them with old units or old wheels from their own or a mate's car. Some of them would even drain the clean oil and steal that and the filter, replacing it with the old stuff from another car. They would also deliberately break the cars and just abandon them, claiming that the car had broken down and demanding a refund, but it also meant they didn't have to return the car but could continue on the rest of their journey and just leave the car behind with the hire company picking up the collection costs. It was usually easier to refund than contest it.

However: ref Mark's post - he had to collect a van from a Traveller Camp that had been rented but never returned. He went in with a transporter and was given the keys for the van, but every member of the camp lined the lane, and as he drove up they smashed every window and battered every panel and light with pickaxe handles. The van was effectively written off in about 100 yards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Outside a school evening event it snowed heavily, my friends Capri was covered , the keys woudnt work he even tried the tailgate

Sod it they are all frozen, so he Pee's on the drivers lock to warm it up , I just made the comment this cars yellow  yours is white

Wrong car , but a nice yellow stain  down the door for someone to wonder what  happened here,

Pete

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...