Our detailing business has been really busy! However, I have little experience when it comes to removing excess dried hard tar and sap, any recommendations?

I have resorted at times to compounding which takes time and lots of work to remove tar, bug & tar doesnt do it!

As far as Sap, I detailed my fathers Tahoe a few weeks bad and he had really bad sap on the roof, I tried so many things to remove it finally giving up. Any tips?

 

First,
Simple green water 50/50 mix, wet the car and than spray down the whole thing with the mix. Just stright simple green on the bad tar, and other BS. Let it sit, than spray the car again to dilute it but dont rinse it off.

Next, wash the car as normal. Give special attention to the bad areas. It will require a little hard scrubbing. This should remove most of it. Keep the soap real "suddsey". It should do a decent job.

Than i would go over the entire car with rubbing alcohol or prep all, anything that will completely clean the paint. Than clay the whole car. After the claying you shouldnt really have much tar left(only the real tough stuff) and some decent rubbing compound and a buffer should take care of the rest.

Sap- it kind of depends on each situation. Sometimes i sand it off the car and then buff out the scratches. Sometimes i can get it off with clay, others i may use a plastic puddy knife. It really depends and dont even bother with bug and tar remover. Its junk.

 

Sometimes WD40 will get it off.

 

Actually I tried that (on my dads truck, not a customers) and it wasnt doing it. I gave up for now, it's on the roof and I dont want to cause further damage untill I asked. Putty knife is a good idea! I was tempted to (carefully) use a razer, but I didnt want to nick the paint.

Slomarao, thanks for the tips, I'll try that. My car is washed so often I never have dry tar on it so it's been real tough, i used simple on tires and sometimes wheels, I'll give it a shot.

 

Liberal application of Stoner's Tarminator spray.

 

I second the Stoner's Tarminator.. It works great on my company car especially Turnpike and Pocono bugs

 

I've never seen it, can I find it in a wall mart/ or autoparts store?

Is it safe for paint (hood edge, front bumper) where alot of bugs have died?

 

You can get it at Pep Boys, AutoZone, Advanced... most auto parts stores have it.

I have also used 3M wax & grease remover but it would wear some nitrile gloves with that stuff