Cleaning Tar Off Paint + Another Question

[emerson1]

I have an 08 Silverado. First question, took it to get washed today and noticed on one side I drove through some kind of black tar/pavement/whatever. No there are splatter globs in the normal areas the tires shoot dirt. They are black and very tough to get off. I tried with my nail with little luck. Is there some kind of product that will tear through this stuff without damaging the paint?

 

Another question, how do I get my dome lights to turn on when I open the door? I found the knob to do it manually, but I have to physically turn them on and off.

 

1 more, should my dealer have tubes with my color paint? I bought it used so there are a couple deep scratches and I have a dark color, also my front is getting torn up from road debris. The paint they used seems really weak in defending chips and scratches.

[Luvbelly]

I have used 3M adhesive remover in the past. It did a pretty good job of getting the tar off and since it's designed for use on painted surfaces it seem like a safe choice. As a precaution I did wash the vehicle after use and put on a fresh coat of wax making future tar removal a bit easier.

[Diesail]

WD-40 will take it off. You will need to wash and wax the area afterwards.

[Stevens03]

I use WD-40 as well.. then some fresh wax

[Matt_]

last month my entire truck got covered in tar.... like completely covered, due to road construction and the car in front of my splaterring it up.

 

i went to the store and got some "Lifter 1" bug and tar remover.... its a spray and works great. There was also a turtlewax version, but the Lifter1 spray worked better...

[lbkthree]

I've tried just about all of them and so far the best one I have found is by Stoner called Tarminator, which is made by the same company that makes Invisible Glass. The Lifter 1 works very well too. I usually have a few cans in my garage. As for the dome light, there should be a dome light override button right above the dimmer knob.

[jro909]

acetone....its what they use at the factory from what i heard

[RyanbabZ71]

Dupont Prep-sol works great but strips wax.

[peirek]

This is pure opinion and not intended to disagree with previous recommendations.

 

I just use the wax I normally use to polish up the vehicle (I wont mention the brand in fear of starting an unintended debate). I find it dissolves the tar just fine. Probably not as fast as some of the harsher (IMHO) methods already stated. But I do fear what is in those chemicals that are dissolving the tar so easily..... WD-40 would probably be the safest, after just plain old wax, in my mind.

 

Oh and I am NOT a chemist and quite frankly it was one science subject I really struggled with...............

[oldschool327]

Goo Gone works great

[sonjaab]

Ordinary mineral spirits does the trick also cigarette lighter fluid or charcoal lighter

fluid too. BUT mineral spirits works best and has a higher flash point so its safer!

 

Caution.........ALL of the above are FLAMMIBLE so use caution!.

 

DO NOT use laquer thinner, acetone, nail polish remover etc............

That stuff will strip the paint/clear coat right off!

[medic9126]

Mother's Clay Bar system before every wax job (every 6 months)

[gregrocks89]

if you got tar and stuff on any chrome or your rims "never dull" works wonders. it does take some elbow grease but it takes it off and shines it up. I use it on my chrome cuase i always end up with tar and shit all over my truck