UPDATE on black beltline tape from OutMotoring.

Did the whole car. There's enough tape in case you make a mistake and redo. However, I have to admit dip it would be better. Unless you put this tape exactly on the edge of the beltline and I'm really good at this and still I missed a few spots where I let the edge bleed up - it will show a sliver of chrome.

Since I had it I used it but really I've seen someone's Mini with dip it recently and it looks better than tape. And this tape is not electrical tape but real car striping vinyl.

I'll leave it on until it wears then use dip it next. You have to be really good at laying down the tape because it's easy to overlap the edge then the width comes up short and reveals some chrome.

 

Thanks for the update man!

I've actually dipped my beltline and was looking to peel it off and go tape.

Reason is...its a pain to cover up your whole car along the windows to protect against overspray. Actually, it took more time to cover up than it did to spray 4 layers. And even when spraying you have to be careful to watch the same lines where the chrome and rubber trim lines up. If you spray it on too thick, you'll peel some of the chrome away during cleaning.

Thats what happened to me, and I have a little chrome showing. Dreading having to redip the whole thing again.

Thought the tape would be better!

 

hahaha Well maybe tape is better dude. This cute Asian chick came into our Dallas Mini Club on Saturday. New member. In the Navy. She did the dip beltline herself. Looked awesome.

But sounds like there's same issues with masking as there are with laying down the tape. So yeah. Tape worked great when you read your headaches. I'll shoot it in daylight tomorrow and post.


Def want to use dip it for the head tail trim. I heard the masking is easy with 3m blue tape and the dip it peels easy. There is a dip it product to help the peeling. A masking coat.

Go with tape dude. OutMotoring is only 10 bucks but they're out of matte for a few weeks.

 

I made the mistake of ordering the shiny tape - imho it doesn't look "right" with the car. Will order the matte tape.

When I tried to apply the tape to the hatch belt line chrome, I discovered that the chrome is slightly curved, and darned if I could get the tape to follow that curve without the tape "buckling". I haven't tried to do the side pieces - but stopped because - as above - didn't think it matched.

I was thinking of buying touch-up paint of the body color and trying to brush it on, or maybe masking the car and spraying, but am worried about the paint not adhering to the chrome. Has anyone tried that?

 

The flat black looks perfect. The tape does a great job, even around the curves. Just take your time and only do about 3" at a time, anything more than that, and you will stretch the tape and have aligment issues.

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Yeah. It's not perfect. I'm an artist so it was easy for me but still tricky. There's no perfect for this tape. Some sliver cracks and if you stretch it too much it'll warp out on you so don't stretch it. Put finger pressure as your apply it to smooth out bubbles.

Mask and paint? hahaha No don't do that! If you're unsure I would find a detailer or pinstripe artist to do this for you.