I've noticed while washing my car there are lots of small black spots. A little scrubbing and they come off. These are normal and expected since the roads we drive on are made with tar.
It takes just a few minutes to wash the driver side of the car, but the passenger side takes easily 2x 3x as long due to the amount of tar spots.

Why does the passenger side have so many compared to the driver side?

Anyone else notice this?

 

Maybe because there's more loose tar on the shoulder of the road?

 

Don't scrub, you'll marr the paint. Use Stoner's Tarminator, let it sit for ~45 seconds and then they'll come off in one swipe.

 

I'm thinking that could be a reason, but there's no guarantee that he's driving next to the shoulder most of the time.

 

Thanks for the answers. I'll check out the tar remover product.

Did any of you notice this on your car?

My wife's Accord is black, so I don't notice them unless I use my hand to feel for it.
My G is Lakeshore Slate, so they are visible on the hood, a pillar, and all down the right side.

 

I probably see tar on 80% of the cars I detail to varying degrees of severity. It's pretty common. Pretty much invisible on black paint but I just spray tar remover on the areas where it typically sprays right behind the wheels on the lower panels. As far as being on the hood and pillars, that's not common at all, and should really only be from a freshly paved road if she was driving too close behind another vehicle.

Although it's probably tar, one other thing it could be is artillery spores. It's a fungus that shoots out a black tar like substance. It grows in mulch and shoots at bright surfaces, such as cars. They are black and form neatly into half a sphere. You can pick the head off of these with your fingernail or a plastic razor blade, then use tar remover and microfiber towel to lightly remove the small remaining amount.

 

I get them every now and then on my car. How new are the roads in your area?

Because the only times I've noticed it is when I'm driving on a freshly paved road.

 

Here's a few pics of the tar spots. I could easily count 100 on the right half of the car. I washed it about a month ago and got them all off. It also sat at the dealership for 2 weeks while the valve cover was replaced. So this is about 2 or 3 weeks of driving, maybe 400-500 miles total.