Best product to remove road tar - Fiberglass RV
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Old 08-12-2018, 09:11 PM   #1
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Best product to remove road tar

We recently got back from a 4,000 mile trip from Colville Wa down through Vegas and up the California, Oregon, and Washington coast. We went through lots of road construction and unfortunately got lots of it on the Bigfoot. In your experience what is the best product for getting this off. In places it feels like spray on bed liner.
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Old 08-12-2018, 11:48 PM   #2
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We used to use WD-40 to remove the emulsion over spray on the trucks after doing asphalt work.
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Old 08-13-2018, 06:08 AM   #3
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I use turtle wax bug and tar remover that comes in a spray on bottle. Works better on tar than bugs and doesn't seem to hurt the paint. Walmart sells it.
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Old 08-13-2018, 06:29 AM   #4
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In the old days I used a bit of gasoline. Back then the tar stayed soft and pliable, this tar/road surfacing material seems to have dried hard. It is literally like hardened spray on bed liner. Admittedly I haven't tried anything on it yet. I was just out looking at it and trying to determine my next plan of action. There is so much to take off that I don't want to waste effort or resources trying to remove it if there is a solid easy fix.
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Old 08-13-2018, 07:06 AM   #5
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Solvents- including gasoline and many bug/tar removers- take the wax off too. Not sure about the hardening part, but I think I'd start by trying oil- mineral oil or baby oil. My wife stepped in a chunk of crude oil at a SoCal beach and mineral oil from a nearby drugstore took it right off and did not damage the skin.

That's probably why WD-40 works, too, but I'm not sure what other chemicals it might have in it.
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Old 08-13-2018, 04:42 PM   #6
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Charcoal lighter works great and easily washed off.
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Old 08-13-2018, 06:16 PM   #7
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hand cleaner

Transmission fluid

car wax

goo gone
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Old 08-13-2018, 06:21 PM   #8
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WD40 is my goto tar remover, too. kerosene works quite well too. so does paint thinner, but its more volatile and harsher on the wax. most bug-n-tar formulas are just paint thinner and some coloring.

if the spots are really bad, I soak a rag or paper towell pad in the solvent, then press it against the spots and just let it soak in for a few minutes, THEN wipe it off. keep using clean rags and fresh solvent, as you don't want to spread a film of the tar...

wd40 is basically kerosene and a bit of light oil.
charcoal lighter fluid is pretty much the same thing as odorless paint thinner.
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Old 08-13-2018, 07:27 PM   #9
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You went through a product called tack it's like a sealer or glue that they put down before the asphalt there's a product at Dollar General that's really cheap called totally awesome and that'll take it off I got it on a custom van I had a few years back and it took it off .
I found out about it from someone that was on the paving crew at the time
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Old 08-14-2018, 04:22 AM   #10
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Best product to remove road tar

Butter works well !
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Old 08-14-2018, 07:44 AM   #11
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We coat our fiberglass vehicles, Corvettes and Scamp 13' with a liquid product called REJEX. You can buy it online or at most TRU-VALUE stores. You apply it like wax and it does go on and comes off much easier. Once a year will protect your finish from bugs. road tar and bird crap and makes it easy to remove those nasty items. Been using it for years, give it a try. It's not cheap ( approx $25 a bottle) but worth every penny. And NO, I don't have any affiliation with this Company. Google it for reviews and draw your own conclusions!
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Old 08-18-2018, 10:35 AM   #12
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I've always used Vaseline to remove beach tar. Could work for this as well.
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Old 08-18-2018, 10:47 AM   #13
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I finally got it all off. First I tried gasoline and it worked good but it tended to cause the tar film to soak in and stain the fiberglass. I then tried a number of other products but the tar/tack was so thick you could barely see fiberglass thtough the tar in places. I also tried barkeepers on the areas where it stained and with the help of a little elbow grease it came clean. I tried using the barkeepers directly on the tar and to no surprise it didn't remove the tar. However I used gasoline over "wet" spots that I had applied the barkeepers on and it worked fantastic with no staining. Not sure if the barkeepers provided a film or if it was just the water hydrating the fiberglass but the outcome was excellent. Good to know for the future.
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Old 08-18-2018, 11:42 AM   #14
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Please keep in mind that gasoline, paint thinner and other light solvents are extremely flammable. Hence the recommendation of kerosene/ #1/#2 Diesel fuel as the preferred solvent. The kero and diesel are heavier with less volatility and do not ignite as quickly. Be safe.
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Old 08-18-2018, 03:37 PM   #15
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Safety always. I poured a little gas from a small container onto a paper towel and rubbed. I would never pour gas or any other flammable material directly on a rig.
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Old 08-18-2018, 06:35 PM   #16
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I use 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner. Tar is one of the things listed for removal. It won't harm the fiberglass or most other plastics. it is rated as a flammable liquid but it is not as flammable as gasoline or acetone. The odor and fumes are not overwhelming. This product is the go-to standard in our workshop for removing adhesives, oily residue, tar, etc. It comes as a spray but I prefer to get the can as it is easier to use for a controlled application on things such as spots of tar. Hardware stores and auto parts stores carry it. The spray can version is rated as combustible rather than classed as a flammable.

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Old 08-18-2018, 06:57 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by k corbin View Post
I use 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner...

I looked up the SDS on that stuff, its primarily Xylene and Naptha. Naptha is a petroleum distillate thats between kerosene and gasoline, commonly used as cigarette lighter fluid, while Xylene aka dimethylbenzene is a moderately toxic high volatility solvent, you should definitely wear suitable gloves when handling that stuff, and avoid breathing the fumes.
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Old 08-19-2018, 08:59 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RSchleder View Post
We coat our fiberglass vehicles, Corvettes and Scamp 13' with a liquid product called REJEX. You can buy it online or at most TRU-VALUE stores. You apply it like wax and it does go on and comes off much easier. Once a year will protect your finish from bugs. road tar and bird crap and makes it easy to remove those nasty items. Been using it for years, give it a try. It's not cheap ( approx $25 a bottle) but worth every penny. And NO, I don't have any affiliation with this Company. Google it for reviews and draw your own conclusions!
This sounds interesting. Do you use it on your Corvettes and Scamp instead of wax, or before/after waxing? And which of the Rejex products do you use?

Thanks

Edit: I kept getting "page not found" on the Rejex site, but I eventually got to the product page where they recommend not using it with wax (for various reasons). And what I thought were different Rejex products seem to be the same thing in different size bottles; the bottles look different for the sizes so that made me initially think they were different.
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