# white spirit for removing tar??



## -damon- (Aug 19, 2010)

sorry if this is in the wrong section.i was removing tar on a van the other day (lots of it)and my dad said i would be able to use white spirit as its around £1 a bottle.personaly i dont fancy trying it but just wanted to know how true this is??


----------



## natjag (Dec 14, 2008)

I use white spirit to *remove paint* from a brush.


----------



## -damon- (Aug 19, 2010)

natjag said:


> I use white spirit to *remove paint* from a brush.


funny enough so do i :lol:


----------



## Mr Yellow (Apr 30, 2009)

It would be fine. It won't take the paint off... it is good at cleaning oil based paints, but only before they dry!


----------



## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Been using it for years and never had a problem.


----------



## -damon- (Aug 19, 2010)

Mirror Finish said:


> Been using it for years and never had a problem.


does it not leave any marks??does it work as well as tar and glue??


----------



## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

Tardis is mainly made up with wihte spirit, the other ingredients are to aid rinsing it off i believe


----------



## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

-damon- said:


> does it not leave any marks??does it work as well as tar and glue??


You need to wash the panel after use anyway so no no marks left.
Depends on severity some times you need a glue dissolver but its cheap to see if the white spirit does it first.


----------



## Sti_Brumby (Aug 19, 2010)

Kerosene or petrol works fine.


----------



## JB052 (Mar 22, 2008)

White spirit will work fine, you just have to work a little harder than with Tardis etc. Make sure you wear gloves otherwise your hands turn white due to the de-fatting properties of the spirit.


----------



## burger (Feb 10, 2009)

Yeh white spirit will be fine. If its fully cured paint there will be no issues. be careful with smart repairs etc etc.

Im sure tardis is a xylene solvent mix but then again i wouldnt try xylene on my paint neat ive seen what it does to some plastics. Shame as we have a few hundered tonne at work.


----------



## priceworth (Jul 16, 2010)

burger, send me few liters and i will use it :]


----------



## Mr Yellow (Apr 30, 2009)

burger said:


> Yeh white spirit will be fine. If its fully cured paint there will be no issues. be careful with smart repairs etc etc.
> 
> Im sure tardis is a xylene solvent mix but then again i wouldnt try xylene on my paint neat ive seen what it does to some plastics. Shame as we have a few hundered tonne at work.


I would agree... we use xylene as the primary component in our powder coated paint stripper. So it is something you should be very careful with!

I will have to make a blend matching tardis and see how it works... we cleaned the sea empress some years ago with a similar product, albeit one that was intended to work best on the stinking black crude oil!


----------



## mika_98 (May 15, 2009)

*bump* Does white spirit affect the glass, rubber, vinyl, etc in any way? And do you just simply work into the grime with a cloth?


----------



## phillipnoke (Apr 1, 2011)

I use it too with no problem at all


----------



## Sirmally2 (Feb 28, 2011)

mika_98 said:


> *bump* Does white spirit affect the glass, rubber, vinyl, etc in any way? And do you just simply work into the grime with a cloth?


Can't say ive ever had any problems with it on plastic (bear in mind white spirit comes in a plastic bottle) but as for glass, rubber etc ive never had the need to use it on that.

I generally use a clean "worked" MF to rub in and clean off. Then wash the contaminated area again before going round with the clay.


----------



## mika_98 (May 15, 2009)

Thanks for the info guys. Sorry, I mustve confused you with the way I phrased that... wont be using it on vinyl/rubber or glass. Just worried incase it ran. Should be ok though I guess. I'll see how I get on with that before I try Tardis


----------



## jamieblackford (Jan 17, 2012)

I also use white spirit for removing tar etc, only thing I would say is make sure you wash it off properly after and don't let it dwell on paintwork for too long, I found it left a film on a van I did, I came to waxing it and the wax wouldn't buff off and it left the circular marks I used to apply the wax, so had to go round and polish it off, lesson learnt


----------



## cmillsjoe (Jun 20, 2012)

heating oil is the best thing to remove tar


----------



## Westy77 (Jul 14, 2012)

*Same here!!*



Mirror Finish Details said:


> Been using it for years and never had a problem.


Totally agree been using it years


----------



## WD Pro (Feb 7, 2006)

Mirror Finish Details said:


> Been using it for years and never had a problem.


Same here :thumb:

People think its safe to bathe your paintwork in IPA but for some reason white spirit is dodgy ?

WD


----------



## LFrosty (Apr 12, 2012)

Ben Gum said:


> White spirits is much more dangerous than IPA!
> 
> White spirits:
> Flammable. Toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment. Harmful: may cause lung damage if swallowed. Repeated exposure may cause skin dryness or cracking. Vapours may cause drowsiness and dizziness.
> ...


Interestingly enough, none of those cautionary words of advise have anything to do with paint. If you swallow white spirit, it will have fairly limited tar removing capabilities you know :thumb:

Joking asside, I think the point WD Pro was making is some poeple are under the impression that if you even put white spirit near your paint it will fall off, yet people will throw IPA all over it without any care for the outcome, when in fact the two are not all that different.


----------



## WD Pro (Feb 7, 2006)

Exactly - things have to be used correctly, a DA isn't paint safe it you thow it at the car :lol:

I see white spirit slated.
I see IPA recomended.

Both are good / safe if used correctly.

IPA will damage paint if used incorrectly, not sure about white spirit but I guess so ?

I wouldnt drink either or leave them on my skin, dosnt meen cured paint will think or react the same though 

I have both for the car.

I haven't had problems with either :thumb:

WD


----------



## *TQ* (Jun 1, 2012)

So is white spirit a suitable alternative to Tardis etc... because I'd imagine it's cheaper and is definitely much easier to get hold of.


----------



## WD Pro (Feb 7, 2006)

I find it works very well as a tar remover 

It's been mentioned numerous times on here that it is the main ingredient of tardis - I can't comment on that but I wouldn't be surprised 

WD


----------



## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Ben Gum said:


> Seriously though... IPA is not a paint stripper - who has said it is?


No one in this thread?

Interestingly IPA is used as a paint stripper, on latex based paints. One of the main factors of a paint stripper is to penetrate and swell the paint. That's what IPA can do to car paint. IPA is quite aggressive with a fast evaporation rate, just like Acetone which is very commonly used as a paint stripper.



Ben Gum said:


> Maybe they should suggest that all the manufacturers of paint stripper quit using hydrocarbon solvents (like white spirits/xylene/toluene/etc.) and hit the IPA instead... :tumbleweed:


Manufacturers usually use Methyl Chloride for car paint strippers, highly caustic. Xylene is usually used in Acid based paint strippers IIRC. White spirits used by itself is useless as a paint stripper. :thumb:


----------



## Porkypig (Jun 20, 2012)

-damon- said:


> funny enough so do i :lol:


I also use Autosmart Tar and Glue remover to rinse brushes after painting. Works a treat...


----------



## WD Pro (Feb 7, 2006)

Ben Gum said:


> Paint swelling with IPA is extremely minimal and it has practically zero ability to penetrate any remotely modern finish.
> 
> As for contents, meth chloride is cheap, cheerful and nasty and is the same as your nitromors - highly caustic would not be correct for a half decent product. Caustic will strip on its own but by dissolving paint as opposed to penetrating and expunging. Xylene strippers well look at powder coat strippers.... it is much more typical for these to be methoxide (caustic), not acid. Moreover these products do not necessarily use the xylene as an active, rather it is a carrier. White spirits is adequately similar to be at least reasonable effective. You try immersing a gloss painted bit of wood in some white spirits - it WILL do serious damage to the paint. Repeat the process with IPA... Seriously - White spirits is much more dangerous to almost any paint than IPA! Why is this a surprise to anyone given what white spirit is predominantly used for?!


I am not really interested in the chemical composition of the stuff we are talking about, just the results.

Ref my post (posts) above.

IPA will damage paint if used incorrectly - Mike Phillips managed it and had to wet sand / re-polish to repair the finish 

I am not aware of anyone that has damaged OE paint with white spirit, but have no doubt that someone, somewhere has managed it.

I think the key is using the products correctly and with a bit of caution / common sense :thumb:

WD


----------



## WD Pro (Feb 7, 2006)

It's the results that matter ... :thumb:


----------

