Taping advice for first time polish with a DA?

I tape off anything that I don't want compound, polish, or wax on. Rubber, plastic, etc. I also tape off where the windows meet the "sweeps", so dust doesn't get in there. Also the wipers and cowl get covered with painters paper taped to the windshield above the wipers, and run under the rubber hood seal. I have switched to products that don't tend to dust as much, but still do it out of habit.

Here is an example of how I tape our Outbacks before polishing. The tape on the hood and fenders it to tape off the paint protection film. I don't worry about the areas under the tape that are not polished.

kesmit said:

I hear a lot about taping off trim and body lines in passing, but I haven't found much information about the best ways to do it? Taping off trim is pretty obvious, but what other areas should be covered? All gaps between body panels, fender flares, etc.?

What do you do about the areas under the tape? They just don't get polished? Do you just hand wax / seal them at the end?

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If your using a DA you really don't need to tape body lines. Just use good judgement.

If the car has clear bra, you should tape off the seams. It's PIA getting the polish out of the seams.

paul_g said:

if the car has clear bra, you should tape off the seams. It's pia getting the polish out of the seams.

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+100

DaveT435 said:

If your using a DA you really don't need to tape body lines. Just use good judgement.

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I don't know where all this taping comes from

I lay down a plastic cover that covers the windshield and goes underneath the hood. I don't worry so much about compound but more areas where does can get in. One area I a easy tape is where the window meets the felt at the bottom of the window. I notice a lot of dust gets stuck in the felt and hard to get it out

Masking can stop dust-product intrusion, and as well prevent damage to trim parts, badges.

I see that some do even tape body seams, at the hood, and at the doors, and can understand this. Often, getting built up dusts and product out of the front door seam can be difficult. Not so much the door jamb, but the inner lip of the front fenders.

And I've found it can be a difficult process with the masking of seams. That, does one use a very narrow tape in these areas, then it doesn't stay put when you come along with the machine-pads, or use a wider tape, then miss polishing the very ends of such panels effectively?

I usually now do not tape door-hood-etc seams, but I also don't start out on a panel at the very ends, with a pad just being loaded with product.

That I'll wait some, so that tons of product doesn't get deposited into areas which will then be quite difficult to remove, or take some good time and some inventiveness to get out.

As Mike Phillips has often pointed out about edges, that paint is always thinner in such areas due to gravity when paint is applied, some mask, or some at least don't spend much considerable time over such areas, especially with a rotary, or forced rotation DA. Can be a recipe for disaster with burning through clear coats-paint.

Perfectly stated Mark and almost exactly my approach. I don't worry about my DA damaging anything as much as having to clean out product and dust from hard to reach areas. I also tape the front of the door seams and lift the hood and trunk lid for both easy edging and cleanup. When i am cutting pretty hard with my rotary i take more of a damage "avoidance" approach with taping.

It doesn't take me long to tape up what i want to cover and it is so nice to just pull that off when i'm done and see clean seams etc.

good thread

I also re use tape. I will pull it off and then hang it on my clean garage wall and get more use out of it on the next customer. I have found tape to be overpriced and scrap when i can.