Automotive Masking Advice from JTAPE

Masking is a vital part of the automotive repairs and painting industry. Whether you’re a collision repair specialist, automotive painter, or body shop manager, automotive masking will undoubtedly be a big part of your everyday life. But with automotive paint trends changing constantly and such a variety of masking products and techniques to use for different purposes, it can sometimes be challenging to keep up with it all.

With over two decades of experience in specialist automotive masking at JTAPE, we’re excited to pass on our knowledge and expertise to help professionals gain a better understanding of masking. We believe that if body shops are equipped with the best automotive masking solutions and the knowledge to use them correctly and efficiently, we can revolutionise the masking process and help you achieve incredible results to be proud of. From the application techniques to recommended products, we’re here to provide tips, tricks and step-by-step guides to elevate your work and take it to the next level.

 

Masking Off a Car Body for Painting: JTAPE Top Tips

2 cars covered in masking film

Working in the auto repair or body shop industry, it’s highly likely that you’ll be asked many times to mask off a car body in preparation for painting. While this can be a long and arduous process, it’s also very important to get it right and ensure you’re fully protecting any car surfaces not being painted.

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Masking Techniques

No matter how many automotive masking techniques you already know by heart, there is always more to get your head around. With so many different tips and tricks to learn, it’s handy to have a few good resources to rely on for accurate advice to make sure you’re always using the best, most up-to-date methods. If you need a refresher on a few techniques or are in the process of learning them all for the first time, our guides below include everything you need to know. Discover the best step-by-step techniques for painting curved or straight lines, find out our top tips for creating perfect pinstripes or lettering, and learn all the terminology that goes along with masking. You’ll be an automotive masking pro before you know it.

Using Fine Line Masking Tape for Lettering: How-to Guide

Achieving clean lines for fine details like lettering on vehicles can be tricky, even for the most experienced professionals. While some might opt for pre-made lettering to help them get the job done, it’s possible to paint lettering to a high standard using fine line masking tape. In many cases,…

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How to Mask & Paint a Two Tone Car

Car owners often want their vehicles to stand out from the crowd. Whether they’re looking to breathe some life into an old car or want a unique finish on a modern vehicle, a two tone paint style can be an ideal solution for many. Offering two tone automotive painting…

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Using Tape for Mounting

Mounting tape can be used for mounting and fixing a wide range of substrates for as long as necessary. But if you tend to struggle to keep your fixing in place long-term or don’t understand the best techniques for mounting different items onto various parts of a vehicle, it might be time to brush up on your knowledge. Here we’ll explain everything from how the tapes work to the best ways to use the various types of mounting tapes available. With our tips and advice, you can learn how to attach car emblems, badges, mirrors and more to the highest standards that will have your customers spreading the word about the top-quality work your body shop is churning out.

Using Mounting Tape for Automotive Mirror Fixing

It goes without saying that car mirror glass should always be fitted and secured properly. While the mirrors can often be a forgotten and ignored part of the vehicle, they’re obviously there for a reason. Drivers need their wing mirrors for safety and manoeuvrability, which is why the mirror glass…

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How to Use Double Sided Mounting Tape for Number Plate Mounting

Contrary to popular belief, screws aren’t always necessary for a safe and secure number plate mounting. In fact, as long as you’re using a high-quality, high-tack adhesive designed specifically for mounting external fixtures, you should be able to trust that your number plate won’t fall off under any circumstances. Whether…

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Masking Specific Car Parts

Masking off the different parts of a car can be tricky business, especially when you’re required to work in intricate areas or accurately mask off entire car panels. Our how-to guides will take you through each step of the different processes for how to mask off specific car parts in detail and help your shop achieve an excellent finish on every job.

Sanding, painting, spot repairs – you name the job, and we’ll show you exactly how to mask off each area in preparation. Whether a vehicle’s fuel filler cap requires spot repairs, or your team is tackling a re-finishing job on a car door, each of our guides will tell you the best masking products to use and how to apply each one for the best results.

How to Mask a Car Door for Painting

Car doors are often one of the first things your clients will look at when inspecting a professional paint job on their car, simply because this is where they’ll get in and out of their car. Therefore, it’s vital that as a bodywork or auto repair professional, you understand how…

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How to Mask Off Car Windows

Masking off specific areas of the car when painting or detailing is a super important step to remember, and this also applies to any windows. While it might be difficult to prevent marks and paint spots on the windows without masking them off, following the process should ensure you achieve…

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Choosing Your Masking Products

Your chosen masking products must be fit for purpose and high quality, while also being simple and easy to use. But with so many masking solutions available, how can you know which to choose for different body shop jobs? Masking solutions come in all shapes and sizes, including foam, fine line and blending tapes among many others.

Avoiding common issues like overspray and harsh lines is much easier when you understand which of these masking solutions are best to use for certain purposes and the reasons why. Not only can this help you save valuable time within your body shop, but it’ll also boost your customer satisfaction rate. Our advice guides below detail the biggest considerations when choosing a variety of masking products, from the use case to the placement.

9 Considerations When Choosing & Using Foam Masking Tape

No two foam tapes are the same. While they might have a similar construction, they’re often used for different purposes, suitable for use under different conditions and can be single or double sided depending on what’s required. Foam masking tapes are highly versatile and can be used for various…

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8 Things to Consider When Choosing Automotive Tape

Whether you’re painting or refinishing a vehicle – having access to all the right tools and equipment for the task at hand is essential. In particular, the automotive tape you choose must be right for the job. So, how can you ensure your automotive tape is serving its purpose…

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Why High Temperature Tape is Important for Automotive Body Shops

Auto body shops use various tapes and masks in their everyday work, but it’s not often that one tape will be sufficient for multiple repair or paint jobs. Picking the automotive tape with the appropriate properties to withstand the job can sometimes be a challenge because of how many…

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The JTAPE team can offer a huge range of support for body shop professionals. With our wealth of knowledge, combined expertise and experience in the industry, we’ve packed this hub full of expert tips, how-to guides and more to help with all things automotive masking related.

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