Tar Removal

Since I have a white car, road tar shows up really well and last week I decided to wash the Cobra

When I attempted to wash the tar off it just smudged and left a brown skid mark

So I decided to give white spirits a try, that mineral turps and not Gin or Bacardi to who ever is thinking I wasted alcohol.

Now all I did was dampen a rag with the turps and the skid marked tar just wiped off in on wipe and the hard little balls of tar took only 3 passes with the cloth, So all in all, mineral turps gets rid of tar real easy as.

but I also took a bowl of soapy water out and washed off the turps cos I thought maybe it might spoil the clear coat paint.

There are products on the market especially for tar and bug removal - perhaps they contain turps as well. But just buying turps would probably be cheaper.

Meths would have been a better one to use although turps isnt aggressive enough, or you could have done what most normal people do and buy some wax and grease remover which is actually designed for this problem :fing: :mooning:

Janianne wrote:There are products on the market especially for tar and bug removal - perhaps they contain turps as well. But just buying turps would probably be cheaper.

It isnt actually Jan, we sell 1L turps for $8, and 1L prepsol (wax & grease remover) is only $6.50 or $3.50 per litre for refills

Prepsol is the best of whats on the market. Have found the bug and tar removers not the great if you having to do lots of cars. IMO! But the inframax infrastructure boys gave me the stuff they use to clean the tar trucks and it is fantastico. One wipe and its gone but have run out of it now When they tarsealed the car yard there was stuff all over the house and it took it all off easy as. Smelt like it had a kersosene base to it. Wasnt prepsol tho Gav! Any ideas??

Allshookup wrote:Meths would have been a better one to use although turps isnt aggressive enough, or you could have done what most normal people do and buy some wax and grease remover which is actually designed for this problem :fing: :mooning:

But why spend money when I don't need too I have the turps sitting in the cupboard already and it works, Turps doesn't need to be aggressive enough though, One wipe removed the tar, Wax and grease remover will have some type of turps in it too.

Nakichique wrote:Prepsol is the best of whats on the market. Have found the bug and tar removers not the great if you having to do lots of cars. IMO! But the inframax infrastructure boys gave me the stuff they use to clean the tar trucks and it is fantastico. One wipe and its gone but have run out of it now When they tarsealed the car yard there was stuff all over the house and it took it all off easy as. Smelt like it had a kersosene base to it. Wasnt prepsol tho Gav! Any ideas??

The Boss reckons that it would be an industrial tar remover, which would be fricken expensive, but they do do the best job.

FJ wrote:

Allshookup wrote:Meths would have been a better one to use although turps isnt aggressive enough, or you could have done what most normal people do and buy some wax and grease remover which is actually designed for this problem :fing: :mooning:

But why spend money when I don't need too I have the turps sitting in the cupboard already and it works, Turps doesn't need to be aggressive enough though, One wipe removed the tar, Wax and grease remover will have some type of turps in it too.

Wax and grease remover has no turps or turps based products in it :fing:

Allshockup wrote:
Wax and grease remover has no turps or turps based products in it :fing:

Prove it then......It will have some type of petroleum spirit product in it, which is what Turps is.

Unless its organic??, or You have an alcohol base solvent.

Found this on the Internet, its a New Zealand Website too....And its called "Chauffeur's Choice Wax & Grease Remover" and it contains "Petroleum Spirit" or Turps. Which You said it does not

http://www.mchem.co.nz/wax_and_grease.html

And Tar & Wax remover: http://www.mchem.co.nz/tar_and_wax.html

Or this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine_substitute

FJ wrote:

Allshockup wrote:
Wax and grease remover has no turps or turps based products in it :fing:

Prove it then......It will have some type of petroleum spirit product in it, which is what Turps is.

Unless its organic??, or You have an alcohol base solvent.

Found this on the Internet, its a New Zealand Website too....And its called "Chauffeur's Choice Wax & Grease Remover" and it contains "Petroleum Spirit" or Turps. Which You said it does not

http://www.mchem.co.nz/wax_and_grease.html

And Tar & Wax remover: http://www.mchem.co.nz/tar_and_wax.html

Or this too: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine_substitute

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine_substitute[/quote[/url]]
that cheap stuff, it might as well just be turps, we sell quality wax and grease

Why didn't you just say that you were doing a sales pitch then??

What's in your brew??......Water and Palmolive??.......Your soaking in it.

Allshookup wrote:

Nakichique wrote:Prepsol is the best of whats on the market. Have found the bug and tar removers not the great if you having to do lots of cars. IMO! But the inframax infrastructure boys gave me the stuff they use to clean the tar trucks and it is fantastico. One wipe and its gone but have run out of it now When they tarsealed the car yard there was stuff all over the house and it took it all off easy as. Smelt like it had a kersosene base to it. Wasnt prepsol tho Gav! Any ideas??

The Boss reckons that it would be an industrial tar remover, which would be fricken expensive, but they do do the best job.

Guess thats why the boys only gave me a 1 litre container of it. They be here again next week to do the driveway. Maybe I will have to do some baking and see if I can get some more

heres a question for you tho ..... it wouldn't matter what you used to remove the tar - wouldn't that remove your protective coat of polish so after you have used any of these wouldn't you need to apply a new coat of polish to seal it again?

Yep! So you wouldnt want to remove tar every day. Mind you with the roadworks in the naki at the moment. Its either tar or cement.

ThMule wrote:heres a question for you tho ..... it wouldn't matter what you used to remove the tar - wouldn't that remove your protective coat of polish so after you have used any of these wouldn't you need to apply a new coat of polish to seal it again?

That's why I washed the areas again afterwards.

OK time to set the record straight.

Sunday was not a good day for me as my MS had me almost totally immobilised and it tends to do that to the grey matter too. I am not one to make excuses but when Gav asked me about the chemical makeup of Wax & Grease Remover and if it was turps based I just grunted at him and hence totally mislead him. But now that I have at least half a brain working and half my limbs semi-operating, I am able to clear this issue up as I will admit when I am wrong.

As per the MSDS sheets I have in front of me, Wax & Grease Remover (Prepsol) is made up of 10-60% Turpentine Substitute and 10-60% Petroleum Solvent and Mineral Turpentine is made up of 45-55% Medium Aliphatic Petroleum Solvent and 45-55% Light Aromatic Petroleum Solvent.
So... FJ you are correct in what you are saying and I gave Gav the wrong info so I am wrong not him. The moral of this little lesson - don't ask me any technical questions when I am in the middle of a MS attack unless I have the relevant information in front of me.

And Sam in answer to your question about having to repolish your car, any solvent based product will remove polish from your vehicle so yes, you will have to repolish it. Most solvents will not affect the clear if you are just wiping on/wiping off. When I am colour matching a fuel cap, I drown it with W&G to get a wet-look sample which does evaporate rather steadily but it has never had any diverse affects on the clear itself. When I have finished, I give it a glaze and it is all good. This is common practice, even spraypainters use W&G for matching colours.

Just another bit of useless information... I have always found Methylated Spirits to be a handy product for many uses. I have used it for tar removal myself when I have not had any W&G on hand, I also use it to wipe the phones down especially during flu season (being alcohol based and all), and have you ever gone to glue anything together and get super glue all over your fingers and everywhere else, a bit of Meths will get you out of a sticky situation. I had a staff member superglue his elbow solidly to the counter one day - he wanted me to pass him the scraper so he could scrape himself free. All I did was got the Meths, poured it around his elbow, worked it in and he was free. Just don't drink the purple stuff - the reason they put the purple dye in it was to taint the taste of it as all the alkies took to drinking it prior to it being coloured.
Yours faithfully
PK

Thank You for the info PK.

This thread wasn't about who is right or wrong but merely Me telling others that I figured out the Turps removes Tar really good cos having a white car it shows up even worse. And it was the only other thing I had apart 500lt of Petrol to choose from.

Hope You are feeling better now, but one last question......Why did Gav super glue his elbow to the counter for??

The reason I have the Turps too was because when I had My Pursuit Ute it had this shitty looking weather shields on it and they were stuck on with double sided white tape and when I took them off it left most of the tape behind, so I asked the local panel beater what they use and he said to use Turps, So I worked the Turps in and it all rolled up into a sticky ball and took it off sweet as.

I can relate to what PK just said about using meths to clean bugs off phones. When I used to do temping work in offices and had to use phones and switchboards some were really yukky so I used to use meths on them. Made the plastic really sparkle. And PK - I hope you are feeling better now.

Thats cool - I just thought I would clarify things so you guys would stop throwing your toys at each other W&G will create sticky balls too.

And it was not Gav who glued himself to the counter, it was another guy I had working for me. It was so dam funny - even he couldn't stop laughing but I think his was more from embarrassment more than anything else but I had to be the responsible employer and rectify the situation after picking myself up off the floor.

Thanks guys - I am feeling a bit better - I just gotta find those lil aliens that zapped all the strength outta my limbs so I can get it back and start doing some real work. Bit scary since I only have 2 days left on steroids and feeling like this - I think if I go to my GP she will be straight on the phone to Auck Hospital and they will probably instruct another course of steriods so I have till Thursday to come right so I crossing fingers, toes and everything else at the moment.

ThMule wrote:heres a question for you tho ..... it wouldn't matter what you used to remove the tar - wouldn't that remove your protective coat of polish so after you have used any of these wouldn't you need to apply a new coat of polish to seal it again?

Yip, that's why I use nice soapy water, my Brand New Orange spethial cloffff's & patience...

Where can I buy some patience?

psychokitty wrote:Thanks guys - I am feeling a bit better - I just gotta find those lil aliens that zapped all the strength outta my limbs so I can get it back and start doing some real work. Bit scary since I only have 2 days left on steroids and feeling like this - I think if I go to my GP she will be straight on the phone to Auck Hospital and they will probably instruct another course of steriods so I have till Thursday to come right so I crossing fingers, toes and everything else at the moment.

I will chase those lil aliens off our planet.
I will also have everything crossed (Sorry STELF, but it the very best cause).. Get better soon lil Kitty.. we need you fit & ready for the nail gun target shooting at The AGP...