Pin-Striping - how best to deal with it ?

[thedoc46]

So i have a 2008 Chrysler Mini-van, that i'm going to go to town on, with an MT300, Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish and Ultimate wax.... All after giving it a good wash and clay.

However this mini-van has a couple of pinstripes (seems to me that they are stuck on, rather than painted.

What's the best way to deal with these? Tape over them with automotive tape? But wouldn't that risk pulling them off ? When i wash the car, i just wash right over them... So i'm assuming that when i clay the car (first time it will have been clayed in its life !!!) its ok to clay over them?

But what about the compound and polish ? is it safe to just go over them, or should i tape them up.

What do the pro's do when they come across a car that has been pinstripped down the side.

Thanks in advance.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Pin-Striping - how best to deal with it ?

If these are tape stripes as you suspect (pretty easy to differentiate between tape stripes and painted stripes!) then they really don't pose much of an issue. While you don't want to aggressively go over them with a cutting pad and compound if you can avoid it, you shouldn't have any problems going over them during the polishing and waxing step. The only potential downside is if you're working on a dark colored vehicle and you're a bit heavy handed with the product, leaving behind a lot of excess along the tape edge which ends up drying white and has to be cleaned out later. For the most part, though, they're usually pretty easy to deal with. If you're more comfortable covering them with some thin masking tape then by all means, cover with that. A proper painters tape won't stick so aggressively that it will lift the tape stripes, unless of course the tape stripe itself has been compromised in some way.

[thedoc46]

Re: Pin-Striping - how best to deal with it ?

If these are tape stripes as you suspect (pretty easy to differentiate between tape stripes and painted stripes!) then they really don't pose much of an issue. While you don't want to aggressively go over them with a cutting pad and compound if you can avoid it, you shouldn't have any problems going over them during the polishing and waxing step. The only potential downside is if you're working on a dark colored vehicle and you're a bit heavy handed with the product, leaving behind a lot of excess along the tape edge which ends up drying white and has to be cleaned out later. For the most part, though, they're usually pretty easy to deal with. If you're more comfortable covering them with some thin masking tape then by all means, cover with that. A proper painters tape won't stick so aggressively that it will lift the tape stripes, unless of course the tape stripe itself has been compromised in some way.

Thanks Mike, I'll give it a try without the tape at first, if it seems like its taking them off, i'll tape. Appreciate the response.