Best tar removers 2026
We reveal the best product to take off the tar hot weather can cause
You’ve cleaned your car, yet while it looks spotless from a distance, there are likely to be small black specks visible. These are caused by tar thrown up from the road after repairs to the Tarmac, or hot weather softening the surface.
Getting rid of them can be hard work, because simply scrubbing them will just cause smears. Dedicated tar removers will dissolve the sticky gloop quickly and are also effective at removing glue residues left by decals and adhesive pads.
You need to be careful though, because the chemicals can harm parts of your car made of plastic and rubber. Most will also strip the protective wax coatings off paintwork, so be prepared to reapply treatments. Which of our 10 products was best at banishing the bitumen?
How we tested
To get a uniform amount of tar for each product, we spread bitumen on a scrap car’s wing and left it to harden. We then followed the instructions and tested how the fluids dissolved a thin smear and a thicker blob of tar.
We awarded points for the usability, noting the strength of smell and if the fluid ran off surfaces quickly or hung around to help dissolve the gloop. Finally we rated each product’s value.
Angelwax Nemesis
- Price: around £10.95
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 5.0 stars
- Contact: angelwax.co.uk
Used - available now
2020 Volkswagen
Polo
64,900 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £8,999
2013 Nissan
Juke
110,175 milesAutomaticPetrol1.6L
Cash £3,750
2023 Porsche
Cayenne
48,000 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L
Cash £31,989
2020 BMW
X7
56,000 milesAutomaticDiesel3.0L
Cash £47,989If you want to get rid of your tar spots with the minimum of effort, then reach for the Angelwax. Whether it was applied by spray or directly to a cloth, it was the fastest to melt our test blobs and left very little residue. As an added bonus, it is excellent value at £10.95 for 500ml.
The downside is that it has a stronger smell than some of its rivals, so is best applied outside, and you’ll need to be careful using it around plastic trim and matte paint finishes.
Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
- Price: around £17.99
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: autoglym.com
Autoglym’s Tar Remover is proof that these fluids don’t need to be harsh and strong smelling to be effective. It was almost as quick to dissolve the tar as the Angelwax, yet it has a neutral smell and you don’t need to worry too much about getting it on your plastics. In fact, it can even be used on oil-stained upholstery and trim. This ease of use and versatility would be enough to make it a winner, but it’s hard to justify the substantially higher cost.
Gtechniq W7 Tar & Glue Remover
- Price: around £9.95
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: gtechniq.co.uk
The W7 was almost as fast as the winning Angelwax at shifting the tar and is a great price too, costing less than a tenner. The downside is that the solvent smell is the strongest of any of the cleaners in this test, meaning you’ll want to use it sparingly and preferably apply it when there is a strong breeze.
The instructions also include warnings about steering clear of plastic trim, so you need to be careful and use a cloth. But it’s certainly a speedy way to clear tar and glue residue from your paint.
Halfords Advanced Tar & Glue Remover
- Price: around £8.40
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
The Halfords Advanced is applied directly to a cloth rather than squirted, and even a small amount soaked into a microfibre started to melt our test tar quickly.
It took a couple more wipes than our winners to totally clear the surface, but it was effective and economical to use.
It scores extra points for the low price too; the 500ml bottle currently costs £8.40. But if it reverted back to the previous £12, it would fall down the rankings.
Carbon Collective Shift
- Price: around £13.99
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: carboncollective.com
While the Shift needed an extra wipe to get rid of the tar spots compared with top-rated rivals, we can forgive it because it is so useful on other parts of the car.
Once you have used it to decontaminate the paint, it is also remarkably effective at getting rid of engine oil and any build-up of gunk from under the bonnet.
That means it deserves a place on your shelf, but can’t score higher in this test, which is focused on its tar-removing ability.
Muc-Off Bug & Tar Remover
- Price: around £10
- Size: 250ml
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: muc-off.com
You might not be able to tell from the picture, but the Muc-Off bottle is tiny. This means it doesn’t seem great value, but it might be useful if you’re tight on space or want a bottle in the car. It works well too, clearing the tar with two wipes after being left to dwell for 30 seconds.
Car Gods Perseus Tar Remover
- Price: around £15.65
- Size: 1,000ml
- Rating: 3.0 stars
- Contact: cargods.com
The label says the Perseus is for “professional use only”, and the big one-litre bottle certainly suits people who might need to clear a lot of tar spots. The strict instructions say it needs to be left for two minutes. Even so, it needed more work than our winners to clear the tar.
Infinity Wax Liquefy Tar & Glue Remover
- Price: around £10.99
- Size: 500ml
- Rating: 3.0 stars
- Contact: infinitywax.com
We had high hopes for the Liquefy, but came away disappointed. It looks decent value and is described as a ‘full strength’ remover, but it seemed to struggle. It did ultimately clear our blobs but it took several more wipes than the winners and an extra spray to clear the panel.
Poorboy’s World Bug Squash
- Price: around £12.49
- Size: 473ml
- Rating: 2.5 stars
- Contact: poorboysworld.co.uk
The Poorboy’s claims to be able to remove tar and inspect splats alongside a list of other contaminants, but it was too weak to make any dent on our test patches – and that’s used neat rather than at the suggested 3:1 dilution. It wasn’t a very effective bug cleaner in our last test either, so is difficult to recommend.
Mothers Speed Bug & Tar Remover
- Price: around £10.49
- Size: 550ml
- Rating: 2.0 stars
- Contact: motherscarcare.co.uk
Uniquely here, the Mothers Speed uses an aerosol spray, producing a foam that clings to vertical panels. But even after twice the suggested 30 seconds of dwell time, it made almost no difference to our blobs, with only the merest smear around the edges as we tried to wipe it away.
Verdict
If you need to remove tar spots with the minimum amount of effort, Angelwax’s Nemesis dissolves them almost instantly. It’s good value too, so takes the Best Buy prize.
Autoglym’s Intensive Tar Remover looks expensive but is versatile and doesn’t rely on harsh or strong-smelling solvents. It’s our runner-up, while the final podium place goes to Gtechniq’s W7 Tar & Glue Remover. It is almost as effective as the Angelwax and is even cheaper, but needs to be handled with care.
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