[Security_IE]

My '21 X5 went through a road paving job the other day and got blasted with asphalt tar. Front, sides, back. Everything has black tar struck to it. Tried the foam gun and pressure washer on it today. No go. Tried some Simple Green around a fender and that worked but very slowly and a ton of scrubbing still needed. Any suggestions on a good tar remover to break this stuff down? I'm good with doing a full detail once it's clean, as I'm sure I will need to use something that will strip the wax off of it. Fun times for a vehicle I've had for two months.

Thanks in advance.

[denaliman]

I use tar-x from car pro. For really tough tar I have used prep-sol. Don’t use on ppf though.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Security_IE

My '21 X5 ... got blasted with asphalt tar ... Any suggestions on a good tar remover to break this stuff down?

Yup, Rapid Remover:

(1.) Wash & dry the area well (sounds like you did, but if you've driven the car since, do it again)

(2.) Spray on RR, give it 60 secs of "dwell time"

(3.) Using a clean MF rag, lightly rub the surface until dry

Repeat until gone with a clean MF each time.

Given your pic, plan on at least 2 - 3 applications in the same area until it all comes out. Note that sometimes it'll look like there's still something there, but this may be chips out of your paint and/or clear coat etching. The easiest way to tell is to put your hand in a ziplock or baggie and rub your fingers over the area; if you feel nicks (vs bumps), thats means you need paint repair. Bumps means you need to clay that area which, depending, you may want to do after as well after the RR.

If you do have nicks & chips you might want to have a pro polish it out and/or touch-up the paint & clear coat.


Now for the controversial part:

You may want to ditch the foam gun / 2 bucket wash method

The reason is, unless you really enjoy it - like a lot, and would do it every day if your family didn't hate you for it - because it takes awhile, and it requires water & a lot mess, even for people who don't mind doing it, it tends to lessen the number of times they do it.

If you're interested, a much less time consuming and equally good method (better IMO) is using a no-rinse wash like Optimum or Meguiers or whatever (I like Optimum wash-n-wax):

(1.) Mix the NR double-strength w/ 1/2 gallon of distilled water, put 3 clean MFs in the bucket.

(2.) Put some NR solution in a plant sprayer & spray one panel

(3.) Take an MF from the bucket, squeeze just until its not sloppy and fold into 4ths; each clean 1/4 of MF will be used for 1 panel, hood=2 panels. NEVER put the MF back in the bucket, once it's out, it's out.

(4.) GENTLY wipe the panel in 1 direction until the dirt is gone, use a 2nd dry 1/4 of MF in the other hand to dry the panel

(5.) Optional: spray on a hybrid ceramic finisher like meguires

If you do this every 2ish weeks (takes like 20 min max) it'll provide a sacrificial coating and things like tar, bugs, and bird poop comes right off with no etching.

You can also do ceramic, PPF, or both, but for $100 all-in for years you can do 20 minute no-water washes every few weeks (30 sec set up, minimal mess, no hoses, etc) and, to my eye, it's equal or better than ceramic with minimal scratches.