Heavy Tar and Road Paint in Wheel Wells

dnoraker

dnoraker

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I have 113k miles of road tar buildup on a customer car, plus a healthy spray of road paint. The paint is fine, but the wells are completely caked.

I have Tarminator, but it isn't cutting the tar fast enough and I would need multiple cans to get it all off, I'm guessing. I also have Goof Off I can try, which is what I've used just for road paint before.

Is there anything that works faster? So far, I've just sprayed a ton of Tarminator on it and put a cup underneath to catch the drippings.

I also have plastic razor blades to help coax the material off.
 
I have some Trix, but yikes- that's an expensive way to remove that much tar. Tarminator is a lot cheaper.

I used Tar X last time a had a well that was close to this bad, but it took a couple hours to do the whole car and I used an awful lot of product.

These wells are BAD. The worst I've seen on 200+ cars I've detailed in my life.
 
dnoraker said:
I have some Trix, but yikes- that's an expensive way to remove that much tar. Tarminator is a lot cheaper.

I used Tar X last time a had a well that was close to this bad, but it took a couple hours to do the whole car and I used an awful lot of product.

These wells are BAD. The worst I've seen on 200+ cars I've detailed in my life.
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I would still use trix and let it dwell for 10 mins and see what you get.
 
I would stick with Tar-X for op's purpose. Also, a steam/vapor cleaner with a non-metallic scraper would work well especially in conjunction with Tar-X.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using AG Online
 
Evan.J said:
Trix will work great for the tar.

Road paint you will need lots of patiences time and plastic razor blades. I know Mike has posted about Stoners Xenit working for road paint. I have a car coming up with some paint on i that I have to remove so I will be giving that stuff a go.

Stoner® XENIT Natural Citrus Mold Cleaner THE FASTEST WAY TO CLEAN DIFFICULT GRIME! Intense orange cleaner, stoner cleaner, all purpose cleaner,
Click to expand...

Is Xenit generally available at auto parts stores? And, any one in particular that usually has it? I have O'Reillys, Pep Boys, Auto Zone all within 10 minutes.
 
dnoraker said:
Is Xenit generally available at auto parts stores? And, any one in particular that usually has it? I have O'Reillys, Pep Boys, Auto Zone all within 10 minutes.
Click to expand...

Ive never seen it locally. I just got it from AG. I certainly wouldn't hurt to call and see if anyone does.
 
See if you can find someone who sells malco local. The graffiti remover basically lets you wash the paint off. They have a new degreaser called red hot I believe that works great for oily stuff. Both are rather inexpensive.
I do not care for a lot of the products they sell,but they have certain items that work for strange and tough situations.
 
I did about as much as I'm willing to do on this car. I at least got the most visible areas cleaned out. I ended up using mostly Tarminator, but added some steam to help soften the tar. The plastic razor blade helped remove some of it, but it still took a really long time to even get half of what was in the wells (I think I spent a couple hours already). I used over two full cans of Tarminator. TRIX kind of worked, but I don't think it was strong as Tarminator and the smell has horrid along with Tarminator in my garage.

The last time I had close to this much tar, I used Tar X and I think that may have been more effective. I was unfortunately out of it for this job.

I've never seen so much tar in my life. It was like the guy drove through construction sites every day (I think he's actually in sales). The vast majority of it was on the right side in the wells. Very little on the paint.

The road paint ended up coming off reasonably well because it had splattered on top of the caked-on tar instead of the bare plastic.
 
I am surprised that you guys do not have at least a couple of bulk type tar removers available. Stoners will do the job but would be a relatively mild product. Trix will also do something of a job but it is compromised for heavy duty cleaning because it incorporated the iron removal element. A good dedicated tar remover will make light work of almost any amount of tar contamination - if you have to deal with tar on a regular basis, you should look into this in your local market. There simply is no need to spend hours working on it .

.... Sorry, you have identified that tar-x works. Dodo also has a product. For bulk they will both be quite costly though.
 
PiPUK said:
I am surprised that you guys do not have at least a couple of bulk type tar removers available.

....Sorry, you have identified that tar-x works. Dodo also has a product. For bulk they will both be quite costly though.
Click to expand...
There are, and have been for many decades, chemical supply companies
in the USA that make/have-made bulk-type tar removers available.

However:
IMO...Unless they are more "enthusiastic", so to say;
or: of a Detailing Business entity's mind-set/need...

Many, many folks on the AGO forum do not shop at these
chemical supply companies for their bulk-chemicals.
Or wait for their jobber to come around.

-Under these set of circumstances it appears that:
Costs/price-points are weighed differently.


:)

Bob
 
PiPUK said:
I am surprised that you guys do not have at least a couple of bulk type tar removers available. Stoners will do the job but would be a relatively mild product. Trix will also do something of a job but it is compromised for heavy duty cleaning because it incorporated the iron removal element. A good dedicated tar remover will make light work of almost any amount of tar contamination - if you have to deal with tar on a regular basis, you should look into this in your local market. There simply is no need to spend hours working on it .

.... Sorry, you have identified that tar-x works. Dodo also has a product. For bulk they will both be quite costly though.
Click to expand...

Precisely.

I know there has to be a better way, but I don't know where to look. I've been detailing for pay as a hobby-level business for about 8 years, but only recently has it really picked up- I maybe did 40 cars last year and will probably do 50+ this year. Not a lot, but it's MN and there just isn't much work in the winter. I've learned most of what I know from trial and error, reading forums, and occasionally getting to hang with a detailing superstar who lives about 45 minutes away. With a wife, three kids, and two other businesses that occupy most of my time, it's very difficult to take a ton of time to find information, so I take a shot in the dark on a forum and just go with what I know if I can't find quick information.

I've maybe run into 3-4 vehicles out of 200+ that could have used more than Tarminator or Tar-X, so I haven't actively pursued a more powerful product. The vast majority of my work is paint correction, and they're usually fairly nice vehicles. This Impala I'm working on is a road warrior and obviously drives through a ton of road construction.
 
IMO...Unless they are more "enthusiastic", so to say;
or: of a Detailing Business entity's mind-set/need...

Many, many folks on the AGO forum do not shop at these
chemical supply companies for their bulk-chemicals.
Or wait for their jobber to come around.

-Under these set of circumstances it appears that:
Costs/price-points are weighed differently.


:)

Bob
Click to expand...

I'm in that transition from enthusiast and hobby businessman to a solid PT businessman with a very PT sub-contractor on the big jobs. I'm mostly getting a lot of referrals for more nice vehicles with a few well-used DDs in the mix like this one, but I've had a couple local dealers send me some work in the last couple months, and I just can't be using top of the line products on $3000 auction cars. I've switched to some Meguiars Detailer Line products in some cases, which work great and are usually cost-effective. However, I just haven't found an efficient and affordable tar (and sap) remover.
 
A high percentage citrus (dlimonene) product will eat that tar for breakfast. Sometimes you have to think beyond AG. Check with your local chemical or janitorial suppliers. They may have a good dlimonene product (needs to be at least 40%) and they may sell an industrial tar remover in bulk. You have to think bigger if you want to be competitive and have credibility.

Some of the big detailers may not be able to get a swirl free finish like us agers, but i gaurantee that they would get that tar off lickity split. Most big detailers have a good tar remover in bulk. They may even have heated pressure washers. A couple big detailers in my town would throw that suckee on a lift and have the wheels off in no time.

Think bigger and smarter. You dont need a lift but tarminator, trix etc is for small fries and hobbyist.
 
I am gonna revive this thread here.....I have in our shop a horrible tar removal job on a Toyota truck.

If you do this professionally then using stuff in cans, as in aerosol, will cut deep into your profits. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get some "mineral spirits" and soak the tar areas. Then use a steamer or pressure washer to wash it away.

If you can break the top coat of tar that has most likely hardened then what's underneath should be fairly soft and much easier to dissolve.

Now this job we have is BAD.....it's all up in the wheel wells, inside the wheel barrels and on the paint. Worst tar vehicle I have had in almost 27 years of detailing.

Estimated cost to remove just the tar....no detailing or anything else? I would not touch it for anything under $1200.00. Just way too much manual labor.

Anthony
 
How about a heat gun? I used it for removing the gunk after track days. This was before I learned about taping up the panels :/
 
i use autosmart Tardis, great stuff and cheap as chips (5L comes in at the equivalent of $35). not sure its available in the states though.
 
heat guns will work to a degree....as in be watchful what materials you are heating! Just a second too long in one area and it's a goner, a melted mess.
 
Most of the production detailing chemical companies carry a tar remover or similar solvent that generally consists of naptha, xylene, kerosene, and other light distillates (mineral spirits). They can normally be had for about $20 a gallon. Probably a little more than what you pay for straight mineral spirits, but the naptha and xylene both tend to be more effective than mineral spirits.
 
I just pull the wheels off and get out my steamer. The tar and crud comes off in layers as you get it hot. Plus I will hit it with Gunk Foaming Engine Cleaner then use a pressure washer.
Then after I get it down to the plastic liner with no crud on it I give it a heavy coating of cheapo tire coating them wipe it off after half an hour or so.

Leaves a perfectly clean and shiny surface with much less chance of the next slop sticking as hard.
 
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