Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

[jmitch8011]

I have tapped off my car about 3 to 4 times over this past week. I noticed that when I look at the video of Mike buffing out the corvett that he has the emblem tapped off perfectly. I know people use different size tape but I need to know the techinque to apply.

1. do you use razor, sissors, or hands to cut the tap
2. make very small peices and follow the odd angles(example curve of window, lights that are not round and also lights that are round.)
3. how do you get the tap into the groove of when the emblem sits down in a area of the paint
4. do you tap off so that the tape partly covers any opening (example small gap between trunk and surounding panted surfaces)
5. how do you tape off gas door since the space goes completly around the door

still practicing but wanted advice.

[jmitch8011]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

sorry I didn't search with the correct word ...I used masking and found the How to tape of a car link. Sorry for not using all my resources before posting.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

I have tapped off my car about 3 to 4 times over this past week. I noticed that when I look at the video of Mike buffing out the corvette that he has the emblem tapped off perfectly. I know people use different size tape but I need to know the technique to apply.

1. do you use razor, scissors, or hands to cut the tap
2. make very small pieces and follow the odd angles(example curve of window, lights that are not round and also lights that are round.)
3. how do you get the tap into the groove of when the emblem sits down in a area of the paint
4. do you tap off so that the tape partly covers any opening (example small gap between trunk and surrounding panted surfaces)
5. how do you tape off gas door since the space goes completely around the door

still practicing but wanted advice.

Sorry for the late reply, typing in a lot of other projects today...

Keep in mind I'm probably on the extreme side of AR when it comes to taping off a car. I love polishing paint, but I hate detailing cars. To me polishing paint is the thing you do to the paint itself, detailing is taking a toothbrush to plastic trim.

No time this week to take pictures of taping off techniques but maybe next week, have to finish another how-to article first... that said, here's the nutshell answers to your questions...



1. do you use razor, scissors, or hands to cut the tap?
Scissors and sometimes razor blades when I'm cutting wide tape to make it thin tape and I have something to place the tape on that's not important while I cut it with a razor blade.

2. make very small pieces and follow the odd angles(example curve of window, lights that are not round and also lights that are round?
Yes. Often times I'll tear or cut a pile of small pieces of tape and stick them to the car in the area or component I'm taping off and then grab them one after another to tape off the component. This is faster than cutting or tearing one small piece at a time.

3. how do you get the tap into the groove of when the emblem sits down in a area of the paint?
Push with finger or whatever's handy...

4. do you tap off so that the tape partly covers any opening?
(example small gap between trunk and surrounding panted surfaces)
Yes and no, depends upon the job and the body style. I like to do a good job but also a down and dirty job, the idea being to cover anything you don't want to detail after the job and tape off anything you want to protect from the cleaning action of the buffer.

Most people focus on the "Big Picture", that is how does the whole car look? Most people don't look at the whole car and say,

"Wow! what a great looking buff-out except this small area here where it looks like you skimped on the taping"

5. how do you tape off gas door since the space goes completely around the door?

I don't, at least not usually. Instead open the door and buff the panel, and to buff the gas tank door close the door and buff carefully.

You can make it more complicated than this so how complicated you want to make it depends upon what the goal of the buff-out is and how much it's worth it to you. For example in some cases you can remove the door and have a person hold it while you buff it out. For daily drivers... just do the best you can and move on...

Hope this helps...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

This was posted in January of 2005... my how time flies when you're having fun!

How to tape-off a car

[jmitch8011]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

hey thanks and yes I did notice the time stamp so that's why i said i didn't use my resources. I was stuck on the word tape and then masking jumped in and I found it.

[RDVT4ME]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

I guess another thing to consider is....how much effort is it to clean the area if you get product on it (and the product will not harm the area) vs. how much effort it is to tape the area.

If it's going to take 5 minutes to tape an area off, but only 1 minute to clean it...why tape it.

With products like M39, many area's clean up real easy.

[Jossy92]

Re: Methods (pics are nice) of tapping off around odd angles

The distinction between polishing and detailing sure helps me do a better job.

Masking tape versus a tooth brush. [Sometimes I've felt I wanted to skip the masking, that I was just too lazy to focus. The opposite was probably true.

Great post, glad Mike didn't have time. A properly "masked" off reply