Hi all, hope everyone had a nice and safe thanksgiving.

the other day on my way in to work, there was heavy traffic (bumber to bumper) and in the process of merging over a few lanes, i ended up behind a cement truck for a few moments. i noticed the dang thing was dripping wet cement and made a mental note to check my car later. well, it's been hectic at work and my mind has been on other things, so forgot to check it until yesterday. to my horror, i found a spot of dried cement on my front drivers side fender

it's about the size of someone's pinky fingernail, so if anything, at least the damage will be pretty limited. but that baby's dried on pretty good. what should i use to get it off? i tried lightly picking at it with my fingernail but was afraid to do more damage so decided just to leave it alone. i have a few good coats of zaino on the car, so i'm hoping that with soap & water and a little effort the the cement will just slide off but thought i'd check around before i tried anything. would tar remover work? any helpful advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

Tar remover may work, but I would try softening up the cement with some straight white vinegar. The vinegar is acidic and will reacting with the lime in the cement, but it won't hurt the paint. Soak a folded paper towel in the vinegar then leave it on the spot for fifteen or twenty minutes. I've also used it to remove water spots by just wiping the affected area with a vinegar wet rag which works every bit as good as the off the shelf solutions, and it's a lot cheaper. Be sure to rinse and wash the car when you're done, or your car will smell like a pickle. Listening to people asking, "Is that a pickle you're driving, or are you just happy to see me", gets old fast.

Dean

 

good reply dean...

and be sure to rezaino the area you work on. (and of course, let us know how this goes!)

 

warm water, clay bar and solution worked for me

 

thanks for the tips, i'll let you know how it goes

 

howd it go? did you get it off. best bet, try the carwash with the most pressure. if not, call someone who has a pressure washer, set the pressure to 500 psi. and just slide along the paint with the fan till you get to the spot, it will knock the lil booger right off. if you dont already have the car waxed, zaino it after that. especially in that spot. if 500 doesnt do it, (cant gaurantee your washer is like mine) go higher. ours goes to 2500 psi. and will cut your hand clean off. about 1000 psi, will prob peel the paint off. so go lil at a time. takes gum ,and road tar right off. wonderful. but i also zaino Z2 my car every 2 weeks. laters dave

 

good news -- got the cement off successfully! i decided to try what sounded like the easiest solution first, which which was the white vinegar method. and it worked! i swapped out my summer wheels/tires for my winter set today, and while i worked, i just let the vinegar soak via a saturated cotton ball that i applied to the spot. when i finished working on the wheels, i checked the spot and looked like it was nice and soaked and actually looked as if it had reduced in surface area somewhat. took a teensy bit of effort, but the spot slid right off (surface underneath was already zaino'ed, so i think that may have helped). i left some faint scratches, but it's hardly visible unless you know where to look (i'm thinking a little swirl remover should do the trick). next steps, which i didn't get to today, will be to wash, clay, and zaino.

many thanks again for all the advice!