removing tar from trunk...Fire or Ice ?

[george graves]

Just called the ice place - it only $1 a pound for DRY ICE....

I was thinking it might make quick work of the sound deading in the trunk of my '89 'is.

Who has experence in removing the tar slabs with fire or ice?

Thanks!

George Graves

[rwh11385]

The e30m50.com guy, Mark I believe, told me how he did it. Heat gun and putty knife. Then mineral spirits on the residue.

[george graves]

What exactly are "mineral spirits" - is that like mineral oil?

[Avus_325is]

It's like paint thinner.

[e9nine]

Re: removing tar from trunk...Fire or Ice ?

Just called the ice place - it only $1 a pound for DRY ICE....

I was thinking it might make quick work of the sound deading in the trunk of my '89 'is.

Who has experence in removing the tar slabs with fire or ice?

Thanks!

George Graves

If the weather is hot, wait till around 1pm or so take a putty knife to it and see how easily it comes out. Mine came out without the use of any fire, ice or whatever. You can use the degreaser to clean the sticky residue if any remains.

[bimmerphile]

yeah i spent a day using dry ice on my neighbor's track car


he got home, left the car in the sun, and did easily 3x the work i did in 4 hours.

[clavinZERO]

what kind of dampening difference are you going to notice without it? beacause i hear that it weighs quite a bit and wud be a nice weight reduction.

[george graves]

I'm sure I'll replace the weight with some tools, emergency parts, dead bodies...(oh forget that last one) - Baby a sub-woffer, ect...You can always add the weigh back in for better stuff...

George Graves

[e30Matt]

You do know that the tar isn't just for sound deadening... it's for weight balance. The cars are biased to the front in weight and the tar is there to even things out. Removing it will increase the "tail happiness" of your car.

[rwh11385]

Removing it will increase the "tail happiness" of your car.

Tail Happiness? :P Sweet.

[clavinZERO]

is that wieght THAT big of a difference to effect weight balance SO much?

[bimmerphile]

is that wieght THAT big of a difference to effect weight balance SO much?

Its a big enough difference to warrant removal isn't it? :idea:


We're talking a good 100lbs worth of stuff back their (at least that would of my neighbor's 325iS). In our cars, that's a hefty chunk of weight. Then when you consider rear seat, spare tire, rear deck, etc removal, you've substantially decreased the car's overall weight.

[nando]

You do know that the tar isn't just for sound deadening... it's for weight balance. The cars are biased to the front in weight and the tar is there to even things out. Removing it will increase the "tail happiness" of your car.

actually, it would make your car understeer more, because the end that is lighter sticks better. :)

[e30Matt]

It's all about weight transfer. When you brake entering a corner, where does the weight go? The FRONT of the car. If your car doesn't have anything holding the rear end down, it's going to try to lift. If you don't believe me, come drive my 325i. I did this, and it's easy as hell to spin on a rainy day now. I (sorta) regret it, but I'm not driving it anymore, so I don't really care all that much.

[nando]

It's all about weight transfer. When you brake entering a corner, where does the weight go? The FRONT of the car. If your car doesn't have anything holding the rear end down, it's going to try to lift. If you don't believe me, come drive my 325i. I did this, and it's easy as hell to spin on a rainy day now. I (sorta) regret it, but I'm not driving it anymore, so I don't really care all that much.

uhh, you're not supposed to break when you enter a corner anyway, unless you're trail braking your left foot should be on the floor!

if you're just turning into a corner (as you should be in an E30, not braking, which would send many cars tail first), a car with a heavier front than rear will understeer more than one with even weight distribution.

This is bad on a 6cyl E30 because you are already front heavy. Unless you're doing this for drag racing or extreme weight reduction (ie track only car), it's probably best to concentrate on reducing the front end of the car (ditch the AC, cf hood, etc), where the weight loss will actually help handling. :)