Me and the family were driving on a highway outside of Alexandria, LA. There was road construction going on in this area. I am in single lane traffic and see a big rig w/ flatbed trail full of hay/grass bales at the construction area. As I approach I see a crew loading said bales into a spreader machine that will take a square bale and shread and distibute it onto the ground (the ground was bare dirt). Well it is windy and a lot of the scattered hay is getting blown across our lane. We pretty much drive right through a cloud of hay.

Anyway, when the hay hit the windshield it left all of these dark spots which I thought was dirt. So I proceded to use my windshield washer/wipers. This "dirt" simply smeared across the windshield and dried and no further washing did anything about it. So I have a heavily smeared windshield that even a scrubber/squeegee wouldn't remove. The entire front of the truck (all vertical surfaces, mirrors, grill, lights, bumper, cab lights, etc.) have all of these dark spots on them. Window cleaner doesn't work, hot water and dish soap doesn't work.

I don't know what to do to get rid of this crap and get the truck clean again. I think it might be plant resin or maybe even road tar, but I don't know. Anyone have any ideas for removing this stuff?

 

I would think calling whoever is in charge is highway maintenance and explaining the situation might be a really good start , they will likely pay to have your truck cleaned if your demanding enough.

If you just want to fix it yourself, clay bar the truck , that will get most everything off of that , and you may have to try brake cleaner and then some sort of soap to get the windows clean.

 

try some wax and grease remover or naptha...

 

It could be anything from fertilizer to hydraulic oil. I'd go with a solvent on the glass until you see what works. Just small spots at a time.

 

Think it might be the tar that they spray over top of the hay to keep it from blowing away on construction areas to help the grass grow?

 

Still don't know what it is. It may be tar. Anyway, I got it to come off. I bought a spray can of GUNK brand tar and bug remover and it worked like a charm. The strange thing is that it smells just like diesel fuel.

The entire front end got treated and rubbed down with that, followed by a washing. Truck looks great now.

 

did you ship the truck to the states? are you on leave or driving someone else's rig JR?

 

Now all she needs is a good coat of wax. the Gunk probably took all the old wax off.

 

Yeah, and if so, how much did it cost? Gonna have to take my truck to Japan, maybe Guam in a few years...

How's it feel to be back in the states?

 

sounds like non asphaultic tackifier, they add it to the straw to keep it from blowin away, stuff is real slimy, about like KY, and needs tons of water to get rid of.

 

Gee I have a fleet of trucks here that hual the stuff and spread it on the roadways for resurfacing and such. To clean our trucks we use a Zep Big-Orange and diesel mixture. Use about a 90/10 mixture. No water, yet. Spray on effected area, let it soak for a bit, rub a little, then spray with water. Spray from the bottom up. Repeat the process if necessary after the surface is dry. Of course DON'T do it in the sun. The Big-Orange drys too quick. Oh don't let it dry on your paint. It wont hurt it, just harder to get off. When the vehicle is clean, make sure to wax it down. The cleaner will also take off coatings of wax.

 

Oh, the problem to taking it to a detailer is that a lot of guys answer to this stuff is to buff the heck out of it. Well it will get it off that way, but layers of paint also. Use the method i described above. It has be tryed and tested and it does work. We run a large fleet here and accidents do happen. We've cleaned every type of car froma old VW bug to a Porche 911; ALL with good results.

 

Yes, my truck was shipped back to the states and that is what we are driving. It didn't cost me anything to ship as that is included in my travel orders. Every military overseas PCS transfer is authorized to ship one vehicle.

Madhat, that was a big development when I was leaving the island of Guam. About 8,000+ Marines are being re-located from Japan to Guam. Theres going to be a lot of buildup and development out there in the next 10 years because of it.

And yes, it feels great to be back. I really like paying less for fuel again too. Diesel was $3.45 when I left Guam .

That sounds like a mixture there JPR. I am going to remember that seeing as we have a 1300 mile road trip ahead of us and I probably haven;t seen the last of road tar and crud.

 

First of all you're driving in Lousyana. And if you think that DOTD is going to pay for anything on your vehicle from road grime, yeah... good luck with that.
Here in Louisiana we have the longest running road project and the worst traffic problems you can imagine. (yep, sometimes worst than California) We also have the greediest politicans money can buy.(Our taxes) But we do have one good thing it's an abundance of do-it yourself carwashes. Hope you enjoyed your trip though our lovely () state. Ya'll come back now ya here!

 

He comes to mind.