Who out there tapes before they go at it? Tonight I washed, clayed, and taped of my MINI in 3 hours, then it got dark so I had to stop until morning. But it got me thinking, how many of you don't even worry about taping and just use a trim cleaner after?

 

I did it with my first polish. But I don't know if I will ever do it again.

I hate tape.

 

Tape it.... If you get wax on the black....Not just a matter of wiping a little cleaner on it and it's like new. It keeps coming back.

 

I tape whenever I'm applying polish or wax/sealant. I don't tape off the paint when I'm applying vinyl dressing to trim, though, since I can use my thumbnail in the gap between the trim and the body to keep the applicator off of the paint.

 

Well Black Wow eliminates the wax-on-the-trim issue. So I'm thinking next time, no more tape?

 

If I'm waxing by hand I'm careful & don't use tape. If I'm going to use the randon orbital, yep I tape. It saves a lot of cleanup work.

 

Even with black wow it takes a lot of effort to get the polish or wax out. I would tape.

I believe there are some waxes that do not turn trim white? Is NXT one of them? Polish will for sure.

 

I've never taped and frankly think it's way too much work. If you have to tape you're using the wrong products, imo. I use Klasse...no residue is left on trim. I'm sure there are other favored products that must do the same.

 

Turtlewax ICE can be used on any surface as well with no residue. I use it on everything (incl sidewalls) except for the front windshield.

 

+1

ICE is amazing in that respect. Now that I use Prima products for the paint, I've been ICEing my black trim. It works nicely- doesn't dry it out or anything like that.

I never tape when I wax...it is a lot of work as mentioned before. I just try to be careful and whenever I do get some wax on the black trim I wipe it off immediately. A year ago I used spray-on turtle wax and got some on my black trim....that was the last time that product saw the light of day.

 

Taping

Professional results = expected
Personal car = OCD

 

i tape when i do the MCS. just faster that way for me.
it's only a once a year thing so doesn't bother me. rest of the time is
SpeedShine and SprayOn wax everyother QD.

 

I think with taping its just a matter of personal preference and results.

 

Hmm, are you talking about a Klasse as a polish or a wax?? And are you applying it with a machine or by hand? Because taping is helpful when polishing with a PC, but I remove the tape before final polishing and waxing or sometimes just before waxing.

If you put BW on the trim first, then get wax/polish on it, removing it is much easier. If you're using BW as a cleaner--yes it takes effort--but using a towel with some bite like a shop rag will help greatly. You don't want a dressing/protectant with solvents that will melt old wax or residue.

Taping isn't always necessary. I don't always tape my own MINI but that's because I'm more lazy with my own car. But next time you do a MINI meet up, look at a persons trim or around the headlights, or around the various crevices and you will see whether they tape or not.

 

I go as close to the trim as possible, even if I get a tad of wax on the trim. I'd rather work out the wax on the trim than not have all of my paint waxed.

 

I tape around the sunroof , the black gutter around the roof the fender skirts, takes about 15 minutes. I don't bother with around the headlights etc. Just get fairly close with the polisher and do the rest by hand.

 

The problem with this post is that it shows you aren't using tape correctly. The purpose of tape is to prevent getting polish residue off the cracks, crevices, and areas like trim and rubber and felt that are very hard to remove the polish.

The tape should be removed BEFORE waxing. Sometimes I will remove the tape before final polishing if the car is heavily swirled out and the tape lines are showing swirls. But in that case, if it was heavily swirled to begin with, I'm using a high speed rotary buffer which splatters like mad where tape can benefit. For final polishing I'm on the PC, and very lightly going over the car where I have greater control over where the polish goes.

It's a preventative measure that can save you time and headaches but you need to use it correctly.

Richard

 

The lesson:

If you're polishing (i.e., removing paint defects), tape off trim and crevices so you can polish all the way to the edges and not build up polish residue.

If you're waxing there is less to worry about because...I'm not sure why.

When I wax I "cut in" by hand around the trim, and use the PC for all the large areas.

 

OG: I think you may have misunderstood- I never tape when I detail. Thats probably just as bad as not taping correctly...maybe I should start.

 

Now I'm really confused. I thought we taped in order not to get wax on plastic, rubber or anything else that is was hard to remove from.

Do you tape differently for wax than for polish? I just got a G100 and can't imagine using it without taping.

 

I have found that polish, though water-based is more difficult to get off trim than wax. I've never had any staining on the trim when using Epic (though Heather says that on some cars it will) even if I find I missed a spot when wiping off. Swirl on the other hand is a real PITA to get off the trim.
I usually don't tape - hate doing it and hate spending the money on the tape - but this last full detail I did tape. Don't know why, just did.

 

Waxing vs. Pre-waxing.

 

I'm going to make some pre-formed plastic surrounds that go over the wheel arch plastic. I've found those to be the biggest pain because of the pebbly texture.

 

Tip for removing wax on black trim that keeps reappearing use a white eraser rub lightly and no more problems.

 

The Force, young Skywalker.