My Crystal White '05 LS430 is just gorgeous -- except for the noticeable small specs of black tar or oil spots along the side of the car below the doors. They don't come off with routine hand car washing (soapy water and brush). What is the best way to get rid of these spot? Clay bar? Some sort of solvent?

 

bug and tar remover - turtle wax

 

the aforementioned bug and tar remover works, citrol and also citrious cleaners work as well.

 

Thank you for the suggestions. The Turtle Wax product did OK, but still required quite a bit of elbow grease even after letting it soak. I'll give the citrus cleaner a try for the remaining trouble spots. A lot of the specks turned out to be tiny chipped paint, no cleaner's going to fix that....

 

Worth mentioning, the citrus cleaners work very well, but if you're ceramic coated it does seem to weaken the coating a bit. Not to the point that it's gone, but you'll notice the water sheeting to be a bit less.

 

I tried "Citrus Magic" Natural All Purpose Cleaner in a spray bottle, $ 4 from the local hardware store. Did an EXCELLENT job, got a lot more off and with much less effort. Also did a great job on the stainless wheels I have. Thank you for the suggestion ultimase.

I don't have ceramic coating, need to learn more about that and what is involved. I think before I take the paint on this car to the next level I need to do something about the rock chips. My car was originally an AZ car and there are quite a few tiny chips in the very front down low and immediately aft of the front wheels. I'll see if I can find some threads on how to fix those with good results.

Aside from the tiny rock chips, the paint on this car is just fantastic and really unbelievable for a 15 year old car. It is much harder and durable compared to the paint on my VWs.

 

Glad to hear it worked out for you.