all you painters out there, I've got a question for ya, and for all those who say "search" I did so and did not find what i was looking for. So anyway, my car looks to get painted this week and should be done by Friday, I was wondering how long I should wait to "blue tape" the front. The reason I'm asking is because there is a HUGE cruise in SoCal coming up on Sept 9th, which leaves about a week for the paint to cure, and i don't know if i should risk driving from LA to SB without blue tape, or if i should tape it up, but risk having the paint rip off with the tape. So you guys see my dilemna, any advice would be great! Thanks!

 

the awnser to your question really depends on a few things. the most important factor is how good of a prep job the shop did on your car. if a crappy prep job was done, good quality blue tape will eventually pull some paint off no matter how long you wait. assuming that your car was repair correctly, the second factor would be weather the paint was force baked or air dried. if it was forced baked, then a couple of days should be sufficiant. if it was air dried, then at least a month will be necessary. another thing that you have to take into consideration now that your car has been repainted is that the non-oem paint that was put on your vehicle is "harder" than the factory paint. what that results to is it chips easier. if you absolutly have to tape up the car and you are worried about it, then buy the cheap blue tape. it dont stick as well as the good stuff. also, you may want to spray some quick detailer on the parts you are going to tape up. that will create a thin film between the tape and your paint. obviously youll want to tape it up at the last minute and remove it as soon as you can. hope this helps