Horrible road grime, tar, bugs, and rail dust on wife's DD.

[Krwtek1]

Looking for help. My wife drives a lot. Her white '11 Escape has 90 k of all weather highway driving. I have kept it washed and regularly polished/ protected with off the shelf products. Even with regular weekly washing it has a significant amount of road grime, tar, bugs, and rail dust that are too stubborn for conventional washing or clay. What can i use to remove these contaminants? I would love to remove the contaminants, clay, and use my newly acquired WG 3.0 swirl kit to build up a protective layer. Ive had great luck with WG Sealant on my DD truck.

What are your product recommendations to remove the contaminants from paint, trim, headlamps, and glass?

What would you use to protect these surfaces after corrections are made?

What products and steps do you recommend for maintaining the vehicle? I would like to use regular was products that wont strip the protectants.

[andy2485]

Id use chemical guys bug remover wash or buy bug and tar remover from ag. And lots of elbow grease.

[vandau]

I have a white RAV4. For bugs and contaminants, I use Meguiar's Rinse Free wash to spray off. If the bug contaminants are stubborn, I let the product dwell before removal. After cleanup, I always apply Meguiar's Quik Spray Wax or Synthetic X-Press Spray Wax.

I also have a sealant underneath. Any good car shampoo shouldn't strip it.

[EVOlved]

Pre rinse the bug guts with a apc or bug/tar remover, wash, then use iron x or equivalent, then clay, then polish to your hearts content, then of course the LSP of your hearts content.

As far as maintenance if doing regular 2bm any mild soap should work fine my favorite is lusso auto bathe (very expensive) , or you could go with Meg's gold class or just about any of the CG soaps.

You can also clay the glass. The trim just hit with apc scrub then IPA or eraser wipe and hit it with your choice of sealant/restorer.

[Gad]

CarPro TRIX (Tar and Iron Remover) did a great job removing iron particles and tar for me. It also worked quite well breaking down the bug guts on the front of my car. I haven't picked up a dedicated bug remover yet, but I'm willing to bet the Sonax insect remover is quite good. For the wheels you can't go wrong with Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner.

I'm not sure if the TRIX removes any of the LSP, so someone else can chime in on that (I'd also like to know!).

If you want long term protection (3-6 months), go with a paint sealant. If you want great protection that adds a little more of a warm glow, go with a quality carnauba wax. My personal favorite wax is Collinite #845. Great durability and gives the car a nice, warm glow.

[Krwtek1]

Alright, i am ready to order, i have the DP bug/tar combo, CG bug bugger shampoo, iron x, and an extra safe scrubber in my cart. Im looking for a maintenance car was soap that will work well but not strip protectants. What is your recomendation?

[hammy1983]

i just did a 2009 F150 lariat with a 6.5 box that had a ton of rust tar and left of residue from removed decals.
-soaked it
-spray stoners tarminator
-washed it
-sprayed it was carpro ironx
-rinsed it
-clayed it with ONR as lube

The tarminator and the iron x removed most of the rust and tar and also took car of the residue. The little bit it didnt remove was removed during claying.

I followed that up with a polishing pad on my rotary with Optimum polish II and it removed all the swirls and left a nice finish.