Masking before polishing

[Brunkel]

How important is it to mask the rubber trim before polishing? I've always done it but was intrigued to find in one of Dylan's videos him mentioning to just dress/protect the rubber before hand and therefore the polish residue will not stick to it. I personally hate masking and it's always a tedius, annoying thing for me during the detail!

[goheels]

Sort of depends how anal you are. While supervrt will help with polish splatter on the rubber, it is possible that dried polish can stick under the trim making it difficult to remove. I usually don't bother with masking, but I can see how others might want to.

[Baron_Von_Awesome]

I will usually mask off softer trim - like I did here since it's a pain to clean and will get marked up whether it's dressed or not.  Harder plastic trim I will either dress first or spritz it with a waterless wash or detail spray while I'm working close to it.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Baron_Von_Awesome

[Chewy]

I always tape everything off...  It's not THAT tedious and you get out of it, what you put into it IMO. 

[Team Adam's]

Yep... its a matter of choice:

 

You either invest time on the front end to mask the trim and prevent polish residues... 

 

 

OR

 

 

You spend time at the end removing polish residues from trim. 

 

Either way you'll have some work to do. I always mask and even then do my best to avoid hitting the trim just in case. If you have a fairly steady hand while you work its not a big deal. 

[Norton]

Having TRIED to mask before polishing, but after applying SVRT to my trim, I have to ask WHAT'S THE SECRET TO MAKING THE TAPE STICK?  I finally gave up, and just relied on the SVRT and a bit of care with my PC...  

[Baron_Von_Awesome]

Having TRIED to mask before polishing, but after applying SVRT to my trim, I have to ask WHAT'S THE SECRET TO MAKING THE TAPE STICK?  I finally gave up, and just relied on the SVRT and a bit of care with my PC...  

Dress but don't tape or dress after removing tape - otherwise, yeah...gonna have a hard time making it stick.

[Chewy]

Yes, you do one or the other.  NOT BOTH!  

[Feets31]

Dress the rubber/plastic and tape the body panel gaps.  I taped some gaps my first time and got polish residue dusting some areas the first time the car saw rain.  

[Brunkel]

Dress the rubber/plastic and tape the body panel gaps.  I taped some gaps my first time and got polish residue dusting some areas the first time the car saw rain.  

 

What is the best way to apply the tape to the body panel gaps? Any pictures? And are you referring to the gaps between door/hood and fender for example?

[Baron_Von_Awesome]

What is the best way to apply the tape to the body panel gaps? Any pictures? And are you referring to the gaps between door/hood and fender for example?

Yes - he's referring to those gaps.  I use 3/4" automotive masking tape (green stuff) to close them up if it's a car that I'm not doing a final rinse on.  If I'm doing a final rinse, I don't sweat taping off the gaps.

[Brunkel]

Yes - he's referring to those gaps.  I use 3/4" automotive masking tape (green stuff) to close them up if it's a car that I'm not doing a final rinse on.  If I'm doing a final rinse, I don't sweat taping off the gaps.

OK, thanks. Anyone mask around the perimeters of their headlights and tailights as well?

[pharmassive]

Make sure you wash off the detail spray residue after claying before you tape too… if you want it to stick that is