Stick residue under tar

[kellzey]

Started scraping my floorboards (remove the tar). Most if it's come up in chunks.

I plan on POR-15'ing the floorpan to remove some of the rust under the tar and to protect it in the future damage

There is some stick residue (which I assume is the remains of the self-adhesive backing from the tar panels installed in the car).

What's the best way to remove this sticky residue before applying the POR-15. Is there some sort of solvent that will dissolve it and I can wipe off with a towel, but will also evaporate and not screw up the POR-15 application.

Thanks,

[Zeke]

I found paint thinner to be useless, lacquer thinnner a little better and MEK to be rather good. You need the best gloves, lots of ventilation (no mask you commonly find will work) and safety glasses. Lots of rags and don't foget to spread them out on concrete to dry or bury them in water in a bucket with a lid after use. You don't want to burn your car/garage/house down because you'd have to get another car and start over. Once is enough.

[CoryB]

I was just about to start this project tomorrow and was going to post the same question tonight I sprayed down my firewall with some marine-clean early today to let it soak in. Ill find out if that cuts through the adhesive. I also found out that if you por-15 over this residue...it doesn't look pretty, I made that mistake in the front trunk.

[74914]

I'd love to try something new. I've used mineral spirits (my latest discovery) after scraping/chipping. It appears to loosen/dissolve the residual spots. Need lots of paper towels.
Ed

[Zeke]

MEK= methyl ethyl ketone or epoxy thinner. Home Defect has it, so does Lowe's and your paint store.

[norustscott]

I did the same thing. Here is a hint. If the floor is not rusty, do not use POR-15. The adhesion is just not as good as regular alkalide paint...Mine has peeled up in places where there was zero rust.
lsg

[Will98D]

Scott is right about POR-15 on smooth surfaces (btw: I think they're alkyd paints), and I think the info POR-15 provides says not to use on a smooth surface. I blasted most of mine to treat rust and give it a texture, but that's a mess. I treated the rust, did POR-15 treatements on rough surfaces, and then went with black rustoleum over the top of everything. If you want even better you could probably use a two-part epoxy enamel, but be sure to use proper respirators with catalyzed paints.

[CoryB]

Hmm. Now I'm confused. I don't have any rust in the cockpit...are you saying the tar on the floor will continue to keep the rust out? There isn't any rust on the firewall either, but it will be smooth after I clean the adhesive off. Do you suggest I don't use por-15 in this area?

Thanks.

[Jeroen]

IIRC Por-15 needs a metal-pre before you can use it on smooth (unrusted) surfaces.
It's some kind of etshing (sp?) agent to roughen up the surface

Cheers,

Jeroen

[CoryB]

I bought 'metal-ready' from por15, the name implies it's for metal...do you think it would work for painted applications?

[Jeroen]

No sense in using Por-15 over areas that are painted

Por-15 needs to bond to bare metal in order to do it's rustprevention

The metal-ready is the etshing agent that I mentioned in the post above

(re)read the info on the Por-15 website, it's pretty thorrough

Cheers,

Jeroen

[josh22]

I have found that a rag dipped in some high octane gasoline can remove most kinds of sticky substances. It has even worked better than some of the specialty bug and tar removers that I have tried.

[roadtrp204]

Metal Prep from por15 is a rust converter, after the loose flaky rust is removed it coverts it to a stable iron oxide (the same black stuff on impact sockets). If you want any kind of paint to stick to the floor you will have to prep it, a clean and sanded surface. Mineral spirits-->MEK-->acetone, this is the order in solvent strenght and evaporation rate, with mineral spirits being the lowest strength and slowest to evaporate. Be careful, I believe all three are collective poisins (can collect in the body to a saturation point) and proper care should be exercised to avoid skin contact or inhalation (read the precautions on the can).

On a side note, if you have any welding to do, do it before any rust converter is applied. Welders seem to have trouble with converted rust.

I don't want to put anyone down for using gasoline, but one static discharge or stray spark and your in a world of hurt. This is not related to cleaning but can give you an idea... page 3 reply by bdj http://shoptalkforums.com/bbs/NonCGI/Forum11/HTML/000988.html

[ein 6er]

karl, i did my driver side floor a couple of months ago. a heat gun softened the tar and a paint scraper and chisel got most of the tar off easy. i stripped mine to bare metal. i used aircraft stripper, that helped with the paint and tar, but it wouldn't take the factory primer off. maybe if i had let it sit longer, (20-30 min.) the por-15 instructions say it should be applied over bare metal. i ended up using a side grinder with a sanding disk, (80 grit i think) and some hand sanding. that took the primer off and roughed the metal up. "metal ready" is suppose to etch any smooth metal so the por-15 bonds. you have to rinse with water any stripper you use, also the "marine clean" and the "metal ready". i had taken out the large body plug in the floor pan and the plug under the pedal cluster, (crazy place for a hole!!). i had the rear up on ramps so as i rinsed, the water ran out of these holes. i just used a spray bottle for the rinse. i also used the heat gun to make sure the water was dried in all the nooks and krannies. there is another small plug just in front of the seat, i didn't take this one out, i just shaved the seam sealer off the top of it and just painted over it. so far so good.

i used wurth brushable seam sealer when i put the plugs back in.

remember to apply por-15 in thin coats, (2 minimum). especially in the seam around the floor pan or anywhere the paint can puddle. if it's too thick, the surface will cure and the inside won't cure. i used silver because my car is silver. it was easier to see if it was too thick, because of the particals in the paint.

good luck!!

doug

[Jeroen]

ok, here's the deal with Por-15's metal-ready:

METAL-READY™ provides the best adhesion for POR-15® on any surface, including aluminum and shiny polished metal surfaces. Our simple process gently etches metal, creating an ideal anchor pattern for coatings such as POR-15®, while simultaneously leaving a zinc phosphate coating to insure chemical bonding of paint and steel

Cheers,

Jeroen