To get tar off shoes, scrape off as much as you can with something blunt, loosen what's left with a little oil, wipe it away, then wash the oil off with warm soapy water. On a rubber sole, that is the whole method. Canvas and mesh need the stain blotted out onto paper towels, and on leather and suede there's no reliable home method, so check the care label or ask a cobbler.
Why tar is hard to shift
Tar is two problems in one. Texas A&M's stain guide files tar and asphalt as "combination" and "dye" stains. The sticky, oily part comes first: "Treat as a dry type stain first", which means you "Lubricate the stain with dry spotter, coconut oil or mineral oil" to "penetrate and loosen the stain", then flush it with a grease solvent. The dark colour is the other part, and on fabric the same guide says dye stains "are very difficult to remove". Heat sets whatever is left.
People search for road tar, beach tar, pine tar and coal tar separately. None of our sources gives each one its own method, so the steps below are the general approach for tar and asphalt.
How to get tar off the bottom of shoes
- Scrape. A blunt knife, a lolly stick or an old card. Pick the lumps out of the tread rather than smearing them across it.
- Loosen with oil. A few drops of coconut or mineral oil, the two Texas A&M names, on the tar only. Other cooking oils are common advice. Let it soak into the tar before you wipe.
- Wipe. Paper towel, turning to a clean part each time so you aren't spreading the tar back on.
- Repeat until the towel comes away clean.
- Wash the oil off. Warm water, a little dish soap and a brush. An oily sole is a slippery sole, so get all of it.
- Dry at room temperature before you wear them.
Running shoes, trainers and boots all get the same treatment underneath. The rest of the sole and midsole is covered in how to clean shoe soles.
What WD-40 actually says
WD-40's own list of uses includes "Removes tar and asphalt from soles of shoes". The same document says those uses came from end-users, "do not constitute recommendations" and "have not been tested by WD-40 Company." Its guide to gum on shoe soles says to remove all the product afterwards "to avoid any slipping hazards" and to "Avoid using on any fabric material". Its car-tar guide waits "a few minutes", wipes, washes with soapy water, and says to "always test on a hidden spot first".
So people do use it on soles, but WD-40 presents that as a user tip it hasn't tested, not as its recommendation, and its sole guide says to keep it off fabric.
Tar on canvas and mesh
This adapts clothing guidance, since none of it was written for shoes.
- Scrape off anything raised with a blunt edge.
- Loosen it with a little oil, worked into the tar only, after a test somewhere hidden. The oil is a stain in its own right, so use as little as works.
- Pack paper towel behind the spot from inside the shoe. Kansas State's version is to lay the stain face down on paper towels and sponge it with cleaning fluid, replacing the towels often "to absorb more tar and to avoid transferring stains".
- Work in a well-ventilated room, away from any flame, as Texas A&M says for solvents.
- Wash out the oil and solvent with detergent. The clothing guides then launder in the hottest water the fabric allows, but shoes are glued, and ASICS warns that too much heat damages the glue, so use warm water and a soft brush instead.
- Air-dry, and keep the dryer away until the mark is gone.
Given that dye warning, some colour may stay on white canvas. Once the tar is out, the everyday clean is in our canvas shoes guide.
Leather and suede
We found no authoritative method for either, so check the care label or ask a cobbler before you try anything. If you do try something on smooth leather, test it on a hidden spot first, which is the common advice for any leather cleaner. On suede, the oil step is out: Wolverine says to keep oils off suede. That one is best left to a cobbler.
What not to use
- Petrol, lighter fluid or carbon tetrachloride. Texas A&M rules all three out as solvents because of "the extreme danger involved".
- Heat. Softening tar with a hair dryer has no backing in our sources, and heat sets stains.
- Baking soda. We found no source that removes tar with it.
- Hard scrubbing. On fabric, Texas A&M warns rubbing can roughen and damage the fibres.
Gum is the other sticky thing shoes pick up from the road, and it comes off a different way; see how to get gum off shoes.
Where our foam fits
It doesn't, for the tar itself. Tar needs an oil or a solvent to loosen it, and SneakerSalt Shoe Cleaning Foam has no solvents. Once the tar and the oil are both gone, it can lift the leftover surface grime from the rubber outsole, the midsole, and canvas or mesh uppers.
Questions people actually ask
Are tar stains permanent?
It depends on the material. Texas A&M treats the colour in tar as a dye stain, which it calls very difficult to remove from fabric, so canvas may keep a shadow. For rubber soles, our sources describe scraping and washing it off, with no mention of a lasting stain.
Will Dawn dish soap remove tar?
Not by itself, as far as our sources go. Dish soap is the step after the oil, for washing the oil and loosened tar away.
Does vinegar remove tar?
We found no source that uses it on tar. Oil to loosen, then soap, is the method with backing.
What dissolves asphalt tar?
Texas A&M treats asphalt like tar: lubricate it with coconut or mineral oil or a dry spotter, then flush with a grease solvent.
For the clean-up once the tar is off: SneakerSalt Shoe Cleaning Foam, $24, free shipping, brush and cloth in the box, and a refund if it doesn't clean your shoes.
