I've seen a few pix of late that show a lot of tape around the trim... is this just to keep wax off those areas or does it serve another purpose?
(forgive the noobish question... still learning)

 

yep, polish and wax.

 

Tape is used for a few of reasons. One to keep polishes/wax off of surfaces that will get stained by them, on a MINI mostly the black trim. The other reason is to keep products from getting into seams and building up in them. Another is to protect the edges of stripes, and clear bra edges.

I don't tape the whole car anymore, just a few seams that are hard to clean out after. For the black trim I apply Black Wow first. For stripes and clear bras I just clean any build up after, and work away, not towards those edges.

Mark

 

i use to use quite a bit of tape while a newb but lately i rarely use tape
other than for masking while sanding or painting some damaged areas.

taping imho is a waste of time, but if you dont have a steady hand or
need to do work quickly and have some helping hands, definitely worth
the trouble.

 

Lotsie already said this, but I'll say it again in my own way....

I use tape for protection and prevention

Tape is used to keep wax and polishes off the plastic trim that often turns white from the process and we tape to keep wax and polishes out of the panel edges and cracks that you would have to use a tooth brush or flossing tool to remove. I also use tape to protect areas that I believe are thin from potential or accidental damage while working.

 

OG already said this but i think i want to make sure we have this tape
thing correct.

see above posts.

 

Using tape saves me money on peanut butter.

 

Now I'm confused, I thought we were talking Detailing, not birth control

Mark

 

Haha prophylactics and detailing have a LOT in common!

 

Just be careful when you pull the tape off

Mark

 

lotsie- you use duct tape or painter's tape?

 

this thread is starting to turn into an adults only conversation... lets keep it going! :P

(yeah, Kenchan... now I wanna figger out what type of tape for next time I Epic)

 

If you have a tin-top with a sun roof I highly recommend taping the seal. For the convertible I really don't tape anything any more. I can spend the same amount of time cleaning the residue out of the seams as I would have spent taping. Plus tape is expensive. 1/2" blue painter tape is what I buy.
If you have stripes with black pins be sure to protect the black pins.
Dress the plastic trim with anything and you can prevent stains.

 

On the convertible, I tape the rubber edging along the front (windshield top) and back of the tiny hard top where the convertible top meets. It's really hard to polish that part out and not get polish all over it and I hate trying to clean Swirl out of the rubber.

Another must have for me are emblems. Not so much the MINI wings, but COOPER logos--I hate seeing white polish residue between the letters. It takes only 2 strips of 1" tape to protect the emblems.

There are a few other places, I have to do--I guess for me, protecting rubber is more of a must do than protecting plastic. The rubber belt line between the glass and paint is a must for me as well---course all of this is for machine polishing.

If I'm just using Banana Gloss, I don't tape anything. =)

Richard

 

Even though Black WOW is not specifically for rubber, I use it on the glass seals and the canvas seal before polishing and it works very good.
As for my logos - I just stay away from them And lord knows I have the logos:

 

yah, i agree. plus some areas you have to use the regular masking
tape or it just doesn't stick.

for pro's like OG who's up against time im sure the tape artistry comes
in handy given the situation... but for us normal weekend detailing folks,
it's like saying 'hi suck at keeping a steady hand, so i have to tape my
entire car to dress my tires.' lol

 

I don't tape either, I just dress the trim before I start.

I hate taping.

 

For some of us, taping is a requirement. I guess I'm slightly spastic. I seem to be perfectly capable of carefully cutting in the line between the paint and trim, but then I'll accidently hit another piece of trim with the pad. Doh!

It took a while to tape the car for my wax job, but it felt so good to be able to wax without worry, and then just pull the tape off.

Rich

 

A simple yet effective way to avoid polish on the trim below the doors - open the doors when you polish. I also pop out the cowls & washer jets pre-polish and I open the top but put the windows back up. Nothing worse then getting wax on the canvas

 

wat im mostly worried about when polishing the MCS is not so much
the taping but making absolutely sure there are no grit that slides
down the gate jams while im polishing the rear bumper.

this car is SOOOO dusty on the butt. people should try that lip spoiler
autoxcooper is selling.

 

Or perhaps even wash the car before polishing.

 

some people forget how most cars out there do not have this
problem... even my boxy FitS does not get this dusty and dirty
in the back.

thus why you guys keeping your cars longer should invest in
that little wing lip autoxcooper's selling.