Tar Spots

[Concerned cat]

Wacky Racer said:

White Spirit or Petrol, both cheap, but white spirit is safer I suppose.

You & I omitted lighter fluid!!

[Blue62]

nickg123 said:

Wow! I think AS would be horrified to hear that, I've seen plenty of cars with stains on plastic areas from spilling petrol down the car, a lad I know with a new Red seat Ibiza ruined his front bumper trying to remove tar with Petrol, obviously it's only really bad if an area has been painted but to be fair I'd say 7 maybe 8 out of 10 cars I get through the door have all had paintwork done so would never risk it.

PVD Approved - DMC Newbury

I must admit that I was surprised when he said it, with the obvious caveat to wash the car down straight after using petrol. I personally use white spirit in very small amounts on only the stubborn marks that won't come off using a cleaner fluid.

[WinstonWolf]

Margarine. Be prepared to be totally amazed...

Rub a bit on the spots, wait a few moments and watch it come off easily when you rub it.

You may think I'm joking, but I'm not.

[Howard-]

Far Cough said:

Polish is the least harmful way

Polish is the most harmful way.

You shouldn't polish the paintwork until you're 100% sure it's free of contaminants, i.e. by washing, de-tarring if necessary, then claying.

I think Tardis is excellent. Spray it on, wait a little bit and then you can watch the tar spots practically drop off. Buff over with a cloth, then rinse it all off and you're ready to clay/polish (or just wax).

[swisstoni]

Paraffin works too.

[hygt2]

Far Cough said:

Polish is the least harmful way , WD40 is also pretty good but the detailers potion of choice is called "Tardis" which you spray on and it dissolves the tar spots. Google it to see the results. The only thing is that Tardis will remove any wax you have so that will need to be reapplied.

I wouldn't use WD 40 on bodywork!! Polish is abrasive. Try Autoglym Tar Remover.

[R_U_LOCAL]

Quick update.

I ordered a small bottle of Tardis from ebay and tried it out a couple of weeks ago. My car is only 8 months old and I like to keep it clean, so the winters accumulation of tar spots was starting to bug me.

I washed the car first and then sprayed each panel one at a time - leave it for a minute and you can see the tar dissolving and running off the car. First spray removed 90% and a quick rub with a microfibre and a dab of Tardis removed the rest. It's one of the most effective cleaning products I've ever used.

I understand it strips any existing protection away, so I gave it a polish with Autoglym resin polish and a coat of protective wax and the paint literally looked better than new. Very impressed - thanks to whoever recommended it.