North American Turbocoupe Organization



Easy Sap/Tar Removal Technique
Spooler87 Offline
Posting Freak
#1
Unfortunately, I have to park my black Turbo Coupe under or near a cottonwood tree. If any of you have ever had the unfortunate pleasure of owning property with one of these trees, you will know that they mysteriously piss out tree sap in tiny droplets over night, along with a lot of pollen. Since cutting the damn thing down is not an option, ive been searching for a way to clean the sap off of the car without hurting my paint. Most of the over the counter tar/bug/sap removers are pure snake oil in my opinion. Nothing Turtle Wax works. Stoner "Tarminator" works well, but it works pretty slow. I searched around on Autopia one night after using tarminator and plastic razor blades for 3 hours baking in the sun one day.

VERY simple and safe solution. Isopropyle (sp)Alcohol. Simply soak a microfiber rag in this stuff, set the rag on the spot to be cleaned, and make sure you keep it wet. After a minute or two, you can simply wipe off the problem area!

Two things. You can scrub at it and it comes off fairly fast, but you run the risk of marring your paint. You could always polish afterwards. The alcohol will not damage your finish, but It will strip off any wax/sealer that you may have used. Follow it up with a little polish and wax. This is by far the easiest way to remove this stuff, and it also works on Pine Sap.


Just thought I would share, since you can find the isopropyle alchohol in any drug/convenience store, and it goes a long way. A medium size bottle is only 2.50 here.
All hail Project "Marauder" !
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qumanchew Offline
Member
#2
That sounds like a very good trick, I'll definitely be trying it. I've tried almost every product made for this with very poor results.
87 tbird 5 speed with 3.73, 255 pump, kirban, large front mount, custom rotated upper, AC & pwr steering gone, .48 T3, ported E6, 3" DP. Shelf: T3T4
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Cerebral Offline
Senior Member
#3
My cousin is a detailer and he told me this, works great. Also if you dont have any alcohol, but do have a little sister/girl friend, finger nail polish remover works good too.
1987 Automatic TC- parts car

1987 5 Speed TC, K&N on Vam,Boost controller, T3, Bob's Log, Stinger 3 inch exhaust with Magnaflow, FMIC, Forge Dual Piston B.O.V., Ranger Roller, Esslinger Adjustable Pulley, Boport Drop in Valve Springs, Pyro Pete Clutch
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Bill S. Offline
Senior Member
#4
The nail polish remover is acetone (usually), be careful with that stuff. It can remove paint.
'88 TC T5
'85 XR7 Roller
Mods on hold pending swap.
Stinger header & mBC on shelf
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Spooler87 Offline
Posting Freak
#5
Yep. Acetone is nasty stuff. I refuse to use that stuff on my paint. The trick i posted wont harm paint at all.

People have also suggested turpentine, but id be afraid of what that would do to my paint.
All hail Project "Marauder" !
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#6
I haven't had a Cottonwood problem, but I use lighter fluid for a lot of cleaning on paint. Great tar remover.

I agree on Acetone. It will remove paint and the fumes are not healthy.

I haven't tried it on auto paint but I wouldn't use turpentine.
Pete Dunham


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Turbojet Offline
Senior Member
#7
I have used WD-40 on bugs and tar, works really good.
Then I wash it off with soap and water right after.
The Family:
86
87
88
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Protouring442 Offline
Member
#8
WD-40 is a great bug remover. I used to use it on the windshield of my Harley T-Sport. Soak the bugs, wash the bike, then wash the windshield. Worked like a charm.

For really nasty tar I used painter's wax remover. You need to re-wax the area after however as the stuff removes all wax!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
Wait, where does this go?
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Matt S Offline
Posting Freak
#9
I claybar my car once a year, and apply Meguiar's synthetic NXT wax every 3 months throughout the year and the fir tree sap simply washes off with the terry wrapped sponge I use. Sometimes the sap is quarter sized so I might scrubb a little with the terry sponge but that's it. IMHO it way beats anything carnuba I've used and usually has some ability to bead and shed water after as much as 6 winter months under a car cover. Bird poop that's baked in the sun for a couple days in the summer slides off the car in one piece so long as I keep the wax up.
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Spooler87 Offline
Posting Freak
#10
I use the same wax matt. Ive tried lots of the "parts store" available wax, and the NXT wax gives my black TC best shne out of them all. I clay bar once in the spring and once befor the car is stored. That plus a bit of light polish and NXT make the car look like new. ALot of people cant believe I do it all by hand....They say it ooks like machine polshed.
All hail Project "Marauder" !
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