when is masking trim recommended?

S

SmithsonGA

New member
I will be polishing my 528i with Zaino ZPC and white pad...so pretty light duty.



When is it recommended to use blue painters tape to mask the trim/emblems/lights etc?



If I use an orange pad with Menzerna IP in the future should I mask?



I searched and looked and couldnt find this specific answer.



thx

Jim
 
Masking helps prevent getting polish on the trim and turning it white. I'm not sure if ZPC stains trim or not, but if it does I'd use tape to mask off.
 
I would think masking with a rotary is a necessity because of the higher speeds involved, both from a possibility of tearing the pad to actually tearing off emblems. You still might want to tape off emblems on the panels since I've put some gouges in pads a couple times from a sharp edge. Otherwise, like was mentioned, it's mainly to keep from having residue in crevices and such to reduce cleanup required afterwards.
 
You may want to take your antennae off though. A poster on here once mentioned they got too close to the antennae with their PC and it whipped around and smacked him in the face.:lol



I bet that hurt.:furious:
 
If Im doing a quick wax job I wont mask everything off, but if Im doing a full detail with cleaner, polish, and wax I will.



You will spend more time cleaning wax off of plastic if you dont.
 
On some vehicles I tape regardless of what machine I'm using. The clear-anodized trim on the Audis is so fragile that I don't want any abrasives touching it, so those cars get taped when I'm polishing them.
 
I started masking off trim early on. Lately I havent, but clean up is more, due to polish dust collecting in corners. I think Im gonna switch to masking again.
 
I don't mask the chrome plated emblems, but I do mask the plastic side window moldings. Been polishing the same car 3x's a year for 3 years with no problems.
 
Legacy99 said:
I don't mask the chrome plated emblems, but I do mask the plastic side window moldings. Been polishing the same car 3x's a year for 3 years with no problems.
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Welcome to Autopia!



FWIW (and I don't mean to sound all :nono ), 3 x 3 isn't that much polishing, so maybe you oughta quit subjecting your chrome emblems to it while you're ahead. I've worn the chrome off the edges of my Jag's emblems and I'd hate for that to happen to you.
 
Accumulator said:
Welcome to Autopia!



FWIW (and I don't mean to sound all :nono ), 3 x 3 isn't that much polishing, so maybe you oughta quit subjecting your chrome emblems to it while you're ahead. I've worn the chrome off the edges of my Jag's emblems and I'd hate for that to happen to you.
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jag chrome is extremely thin



what kind of jag do you have? because i might have extra trim for it
 
ggk said:
jag chrome is extremely thin



what kind of jag do you have? because i might have extra trim for it
Click to expand...





Yeah, tell me about the thin chrome! I've worn it off the top edges of the driver's door handle (and the car only has ~18K miles).



It's an '85 JXS coupe, Rhodium metallic/Oxblood. It's in Cleveland at present, at Growler Restorations. No, no, it's not getting restored, Paul's basically babysitting it for me while we see about having some underhood decals recreated.



Can't replace the emblems (the "XJS" and "HE" on the boot lid) that're so worn because a) it wouldn't be original (I'm a nut about that car :o ) and b) the (factory) paint would show that they'd been replaced. But thanks anyhow.



The rest of the chrome was hideously scratched by dealership twits before new-car delivery, but I'm holding off on doing the big refurbishing as I just don't want the car to have that "restored" look/feel....heh heh, I might even hold out for the rest of my life ;)
 
I thought I'd ask a question since this thread relates closely to what I am asking. On some of the videos demonstrations.... they have different sections of the car taped off. Simply one line to divide each section that is being polished. For example a 2x3 area would be tapped off.



What is the purpose of this? I would think that most people would have a "mental or visual" idea of where the sections are that has already been polished and where they need to start their next section.



Does my question make any sense?
 
Tape, tape, tape, (painters blue tape) is my preference. Clean, crisp lines of reflection along the edges of any trim, whether plastic, chrome or painted or emblems. You can get right on the edge of the line and not worry about contact with the trim pieces. It will certainly keep you from changing the ‘sheen’ of any painted and plastic trim over time.
 
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