# Road Tar and Leather Upholstery

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [July 27, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296 "2008-07-27T19:55:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Vannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea5d25/32.png) [@Doug\_Vannah](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Doug_Vannah)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296/1 "2008-07-27T19:55:32Z")

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We got road tar all over the brand new leather upholstery on the back seat of our brand new car. Does anyone know how to remove it without damaging the leather, or who we can take it to to have it removed? It’s a mess. We also have tar on the carpeted floormats.

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**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296/2 "2008-07-28T02:06:05Z")

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For the leather, I’d start with a regular leather cleaner and conditioner like Lexol just to see what happens. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

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**Author:** ![NYBo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nybo/32/17281_2.png) [@NYBo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/NYBo)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296/3 "2008-07-28T02:08:50Z")

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Try mineral spirits. Follow with leather conditioner.

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/road-tar-and-leather-upholstery/17296/4 "2008-07-28T02:19:50Z")

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Take four layers of paper towels and place it over the tar. Now take a clothes iron and place this on top of the paper towels. The iron will melt the tar causing it to melt into the paper towel.

Tester