From time to time we receive inquiries about how to remove various road maintenance materials from vehicles.  This can be caused by driving on a closed road which was just treated with Earthbind dust abatement material, by driving through wet paint, or by driving through an area recently treated with an asphalt patch.

Following are some helpful hints to get your vehicle clean again for the most common things we hear about.  As you can see from all of the examples which follow, ALWAYS use a pressure washer to do the work – do not scrub using solvents or scouring cleansers.

Asphalt-related products such as crack filler, chip seal oil and fresh asphalt

To remove these products use a combination of an aerosol applied citrus-based cleaner along with a hot pressure washer.  Do not scrub or use abrasive cleaners.  There are many citrus-based cleaners available at area hardware and auto part stores.

Earthbind dust abatement

Since this product is asphalt-based the removal procedure is the same as above which is aerosol application of a citrus-based cleaner followed by pressure washing.

Traffic paint

The paint manufacturer publishes a fact sheet on how to remove traffic paint; it is available below in PDF format and lists all of the details.  In summary, the sooner the paint is removed using a pressure washer the better.  The more it dries the longer it takes to rehydrate the water-based paint using other products so it can be removed.