Tape it off and avoid a lifetime of ugly...

[Mike Phillips]

Tape it off and avoid a lifetime of ugly...


So many times in my life when I've buffed out a classic car, when I first get to the car and inspect it I find compound and polish residue splattered into impossible to reach areas.

A good example of this is the fresh air intake grill usually right before the front of the windshield.

Here's an example, the 1969 El Camino I used for this article on Dampsanding,

Damp-Sanding Tools, Tips and Techniques by Mike Phillips


Upon inspecting the paint I found the typical ugly compound and polish residue splattered inside the fresh air grill left by the guy that buffed the paint out before me.

Here's the 1969 El Camino...



Here's the ugly part...



Because the bottom side of the sheet metal where the slots are stamped out are rough and jagged, all the compound and polish residue that was splattered by the rotary buffer has embedded like cement and will be very difficult to fully remove, especially now that it's a few years old...


Close-up...




So while this is a very beautiful 1969 El Camino, every time someone looks at the hood area from the side of the car their eyes will be drawn to the very apparent white compound and polish residue that is encrusted where it's hard to reach and remove.


The first thing I did upon finding the compound splatter inside the grill was to point it out to the owner so he would know that I didn't create the problem and then while he was standing there, I took photos of the crusty splatter so that it was established that the splatter was there before I ever worked on the car.

This is a good best practice for your own detailing business because you don't want to get blamed for The Other Guy's Wax or TOGW

TOGW = The Other Guy's Wax



So here's a tip...
Before machine polishing any vehicle with areas that will be hard and even impossible to detail later should any compound or polish residue be splattered into these areas is to take a few moments to tape, cover and protect these areas from splatter before starting.

For example, here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage we are regularly asked to test out upcoming products for many of the manufactures we represent and then file a report with our results and observations. Yesterday I had 4 different products from 3 different manufactures to test that involved machine sanding and using a rotary buffer.

My test vehicle was our in-house 1964 Ford Falcon which has extreme orange peel, so it offers plenty of real-estate for testing a variety of different products.

As far as I can tell this car has never been machine polished, either before it was repainted nor after it was repainted because there are no signs whatsoever of splatter underneath the fresh air intake grill.

I'm not going to be the first person to get splatter into this area so before starting the testing I simply taped the grill off using a brand new masking tape made especially for use on automotive paints.


Meguiars Professional Masking Tape


Taping off areas like this takes just a little time in the beginning of a detailing project as compared to the massive amount of time it will take to try to remove any splatter after the project is finished. And in some cases, it's all but impossible to remove splatter residue in hard to reach areas, so taping off and covering up ensures no splatter and protects your customer's car's appearance and your reputation.

Zero splatter under the grill of this 1964 Ford Falcon







Meguiar's Professional Masking Tape



After the sanding and buffing, remove the tape and no spatter... no ugly... no worries...




On the Autogeek.net Store...Meguiars Professional Masking Tape

[BobbyG]

Great reminder!

I can not emphasize this enough!

[GTPpilot]

Learned this the hardway !! Much easier to mask than to deal with removing wax from plastic and rubber trim as well.

[richy]

I'm sorry, granted I have a twisted little mind, but when I read the title about avoiding a lifetime of ugly....I thought there was going to be a condom reference here (would equally apply to me too Mike, no personal attack here bud)

[Kurt_s]

Great point. Cleaning up mistakes is PITA and better to do it right the first time.

Since I'm sure others are thinking the same thing, how did you polish the paint below the tape?

[Mike Phillips]

Great point. Cleaning up mistakes is PITA and better to do it right the first time.

Since I'm sure others are thinking the same thing, how did you polish the paint below the tape?

Usually either by carefully machine waxing during the last steps or by hand.

I actually wrote a detailed answer to this question in one of the first write-ups I posted to this forum after moving to Autogeek from Meguiar's.

Step-by-Step How-To Article using Pinnacle Products with the new PC 7424XP

Here we've taped-off the rubber gasket between the glass and the window frame and I'm pointing to show that there's about an 1/8th of an inch of paint that's not going to get buffed with either of the two polishing steps. After the correction steps we'll remove the tape and carefully wax these areas for a uniform look that will match the polished areas next to the tape line.

While not perfectionist detailing in some eyes, remember this is a daily driver, not a show car.

You can invest more time and just run the tape down the rubber and get it close to the edge of the panel if you want or just overhang a little like I did here. It's your choice based upon what you're trying to accomplish and how much time you want to invest.

Another factor that will affect how much time you want to invest into the "little picture" is how much you're charing for your work. Doing fine detailing to small areas is very time consuming and most detailers already struggling charging as much as they want to get...


But that's what I do... I major on the majors... and minor on the minors unless someone is willing to pay for the time it takes to minor on the minors...

[AndrewBall]

such good advice. like an idiot this past weekend i missed a spot while taping stuff off (i was in a rush working by myself with 6 hours to do a full correciton on a boxster ) afterwards i noticed and i spent close to an hour cleaning it out.

[Kurt_s]

such good advice. like an idiot this past weekend i missed a spot while taping stuff off (i was in a rush working by myself with 6 hours to do a full correciton on a boxster ) afterwards i noticed and i spent close to an hour cleaning it out.

I've been down that road more than once too. You'd think that I would learn my lesson?

[Kurt_s]

Usually either by carefully machine waxing during the last steps or by hand.

I actually wrote a detailed answer to this question in one of the first write-ups I posted to this forum after moving to Autogeek from Meguiar's.

Step-by-Step How-To Article using Pinnacle Products with the new PC 7424XP

Thanks Mike!

[AeroCleanse]

Or use water based compounds / polishes, makes cleanup much faster.