Removing tar from tires... HELP!!!
 

OK, not sure if this is the right area for this but here goes...

Thanks to the city highway department I currently have a ton of thick gooey tar covering about 1/4 of my right front tire. Apparantly they had just filled a pothole that I drove through. There has to be like a pound of this crap on there and it is VERY out of balance, as you can imagine, and nearly impossible to drive over 35 mph. I've tried scraping the crap off with a putty knife and screwdriver but it's stuck too well.

HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS STUFF????

I'm considering just rotating the tires and doing some major burnouts.

Thanks in advance.
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You might try something like Wesley's bleech white. Do not try anything that is petroleum based as it will hurt the rubber. Unfortunately as the tar is petroleum based you really need to get it off as soon as possible.

im sure that oreilys or autozone sell tar remover, its a solvent base so make sure to wash the areas with soap and water well after cleaning it

Matt

Yeah...I guess that kerosene wouldn't help? My sister managed to get a TON of black tar spots all over her car once, and we washed it in kero and again real quick with soap and water and it removed the tar. I'd say check the auto stores...I know they have bug and tar remover.

I'll give the tar remover a shot.

Stressing here that this is ALOT of tar. I'd say like a quart jar worth stuck to the tire and up in the tread.

Any thought on using heat? Thought maybe I could take the tire off, let the air out and maybe use a hair dryer or heat gun (on low) heat it up enough to scrape it off.... ARGH these tires have 5000 miles on them!

Hmm...baby oil? Thats what we use to get tar globs off of our feet after being in the Gulf. Would be a heck load of baby oil though...

Maybe some concentrated automotive degreaser, like Zep or Bulldog Degreaser, and let it sit?

Honestly, I don't have a clue on how you're going to get it out of all the nooks and crannies of the tire...hell call up the city and see if you can get reimbursed for a new tire!!

Acetone. (aka Nail polish remover.)
Use a little on part of the tar and see if it comes off.

I use Acetone to remove oil and cosmoline from old military rifle stocks.
(Use in an area that is open. Acetone has some fumes!!)

IF you need a lot, try Lowe's or Home Depot. They should have it in the gallon cans. . . about $10-15.

WD-40 works on tar very nicely.

soften it up with a heat gun then solvent and putty knife if its that thick

I like the idea of putting them on the rears and doing donughts! Maybe tape some carboard in the wheel wells so the flying chunks dont gouge the paint

Professional car detailers that prepare cars for the best and most expensive car sales in the nation use mineral spirits on tires especially to get the white walls extremely white. I've used mineral spirits and it far exceeds the results of anything else I've ever used.

ok, burnout did the trick (mostly). got alot of it off and heated the tire enough to scrape it out of the tread with a screwdriver.... :-X22

Now to get it off of the screwdriver... :-roll

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I use to do the road repair with the tar and we would get it on the truck tires ever so often. Tried alot of stuff and what worked best for us was just use the screwdriver to get the big chunks off and then just drive. It would shake and shimmy like crazy but after a few miles it would settle down and work its way off. We would always block off where we worked but there always seemed someone was determined to go through it anyways. They would go a block or so and stop and get out to see why their tires where suddenly bad. Tip if for some reason you would have to drive over sealed cracks and such that the faster you roll over it generally won't stick to the tires.

that happened to me but it was a really hot day, and the crack filler was realy soft i drove over it and it stuck to the tires stopped quickly pulled off as much as i could with my fingers and then just burned the rest of it off

Don

I had forgotten that diesel fuel or kerosene will really loosen large deposites of tar and asphalt. That is what road repair crews use in the beds of their dump trucks before each load is dropped in. This will loosen it up to the point a pressure washer will be able to knock off the remainder.