{"id":8724,"date":"2012-10-18T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=8724"},"modified":"2016-10-16T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-16T17:27:10","slug":"got-tar-tar-x-and-tarminator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/got-tar-tar-x-and-tarminator\/","title":{"rendered":"Got Tar? Tar X and Tarminator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been using various products to remove road tar from cars over the years, but all are not created equal! \u00a0Here in Utah they LOVE to re-tar the roads every summer! \u00a0So this past summer I got a chance to do some more &#8220;testing&#8221; of the various products. \u00a0The two most impressive and SAFE products are Tar X and Tarminator. \u00a0I mention SAFE because you can use lots of different solvents; such as gasoline, camping fuels, paint thinners, acetone&#8217;s&#8230;. but many of them don&#8217;t have the safe factor built in. \u00a0I have used other solvents, but have noticed a hazing of the paint with them, IMO they must have helped contribute to the haze. \u00a0While Yes they might work faster&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;faster doesn&#8217;t equal safe. \u00a0These products also work very well for Tree sap and adhesive too.<\/p>\n<p>The sooner you can remove the Tar the better, and quicker the clean up will happen. \u00a0I&#8217;ve had to remove tar that was over a year old, it was solid and was slow to get back into soft mass of tar. \u00a0If the tar is old, and you cannot pick at it with your finger nail, you need to allow the product to dwell on the surface for as long as possible. \u00a0By nature, these Tar removal products will &#8220;evaporate&#8221; fairly quick, so I spray them on a rag and hold it against the tar for as long as possible. \u00a0On the larger &#8220;blobs&#8221; I will scrape the surface of the tar with my nail, thus allowing the solvent to penetrate the tar more easily. \u00a0If you aren&#8217;t getting the tar to soften, try that method. \u00a0Using nitrile type gloves will help with the possible irritation of the chemicals with your skin. \u00a0My hands get all dried out and rough, and manicures are so expensive these days! \u00a0I typically have to use an old terry cloth with the solvents and I will have to throw them out in most cases afterwards. \u00a0I always suggest a good APC spray to help remove any residue of the solvents and a quick polish before you apply your LSP of choice.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8330\/8084772920_d694c06190_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8186\/8084773489_3626571046_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8463\/8084767594_3b35b910c5_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Yes there are still water spotting, but final clean up and quick polishing yet to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8464\/8084768097_faef2d680a_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I tested both products and here is what I found:<\/p>\n<h2>Tar X<\/h2>\n<p>Pros: \u00a0Its dispensed by a trigger in a fine mist, very good dwell times, easy to travel with, can be flown on a plane.<br \/>\nCons: \u00a0More expensive, cannot get locally (mail order).<\/p>\n<h2>Tarminator<\/h2>\n<p>Pros: \u00a0Can be found locally if you&#8217;re in a pinch, much more economical.<br \/>\nCons: \u00a0Aerosol style can.<\/p>\n<p>In closing, I don&#8217;t think you can go wrong with either product. \u00a0I will give an ever so slight edge in performance, solely based on dwell time before drying, to Tar X.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers,<\/p>\n<p>GREG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Got Tar? Greg Nichols of Reflections Detailing highlights the pros and cons of two of the best tar removing products on the market, the Stoner Tarminator and CarPro Tar X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,18],"tags":[689,968,967,949],"class_list":{"0":"post-8724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-decontamination","8":"category-product-reviews","9":"tag-reflections-detailing-of-utah","10":"tag-road-tar","11":"tag-tar-x","12":"tag-tarminator"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Got-Tar-Tar-X-and-Tarminator.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-2gI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8724"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8733,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8724\/revisions\/8733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}