How Do You Remove Road Tar From a Windshield?

How tar reaches the glass

• Fresh asphalt kicks up soft tar specks that stick to the glass while it is still warm.
• Road sealer sprayed in summer splatters onto the windshield at speed.
• Tar softens in the sun and smears rather than lifting if you wipe it dry.
• The wiper blades pick up tar and spread it across the pane on the next sweep.
• Tar left on the glass bakes hard and clings more the longer it sits.

The safe way to lift tar off the glass

Tar is sticky and oily, so the goal is to dissolve it rather than scrape it. A tar remover or mineral spirits on a cloth softens the tar so it lifts off the glass and into the cloth. Dab the solvent on, give it a minute to work, and wipe gently — scrubbing smears the tar and spreads it wider across the pane.

Keep the solvent off the rubber trim and the paint around the glass. The same solvents that dissolve tar can soften the weatherstripping and the clear coat, so work carefully and keep the cloth on the glass itself. A final wash with glass cleaner removes the solvent residue and any leftover film so the wipers do not pick it up.

The one thing not to do is switch on the wipers over a tar-specked windshield. A hot wiper blade picks up the soft tar and spreads it into a greasy film across the whole pane in a single sweep, turning a few specks into a smeared mess that is far harder to remove. Clean the tar off by hand before the wipers ever touch it.

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