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Hey everbody, I have really nice white 1998 Outback, and a dilemma. A couple weeks ago, I was helping a guy redo the exterior of his house. When we re-stained the house, we got overspray on his two cars and my Subaru. He was gonna help me wash it with Trisodium Phosphate, but I had a busy schedule and wasn't able to get over there to do mine when he did his. He washed his truck with it and I guess it came out really clean. I borrowed the TSP from him and was just going to crack down on washing it myself but I can't get a hold of him at the moment to ask how he washed it so I tried googling washing a car with TSP. I couldn't find anything about using it on a car. I did read about people cleaning off overspray with some kind of clay bar, various polishing or car cleaning chemicals, but I don't have easy access to those kinds a things cause I live in a small town. Can anybody suggest how I should go about using this stuff? The guy told me that you have to mix it up with warm water and he also mentioned that I should only use half the recommended dosage for mixing it up so I will make sure that I don't use too much. From researching about TSP itself, it sounds like it's a pretty powerful chemical and I don't want to use it the wrong way and ruin my car. Any ideas?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

 

David

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Wash the car with regular dish soap first and see how much comes off. Palmolive takes all kinda of crud off.

Next, use a clay bar kit. Its easy, takes some time but it's chemical free, safe for you and your paint. I think Meguiars has a whole kit that you can get at most parts stores with the bar, some spray stuff, and easy directions for use. It's very important to keep the clay and paint lubricated to keep the bar from sticking. You'll see the crud collecting on the surface of the clay. Fold the clay every so often to keep the surface clean. Clean clay cleans the paint better.

 

You can clay pretty much the whole car. The glass, the headlights and tail lights, and any trim that has a smooth surface.

 

Try searching youtube for videos showing how to use a clay bar.

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  • 2 months later...

Thank you for the suggestions, and sorry I haven't closed this question, but I did eventually get a hold of the guy and got the information on how to use the TSP. It is like a 1/4 cup of TSP to, idk, like 2 gallons of warm water... something like that. Anyway, it worked like a charm and with a little bit of elbow grease, my Subaru became clean as a whistle!

 

Thanks again for the suggestions,

David

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Nice Ill have to try this on mine. I got lazy when painting my fenders and got some over spray on my windshield and door. Is it okay to use on glass? I will probably just try it out on a small peice where its not visable when driving and see

 

FYI, the type of paint I was removing was a linseed oil based stain, I don't know if TSP works with other paints so be cautious! Just saying.

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