Polishing and stripes
Discussion
As a relative novice to using a DA polisher and having just bought a new (to me) Mini with skating rink paintwork, I'm after a bit of advice.
It's going to have a thorough clean later and then a polish (DA and scholl 20 as that's what I have) but I'm a bit concerned about the stripes up the bonnet. These appear to be stuck on top and only have a small gap between them, so how do I protect the edges of the vinyl while the polisher does its thing? Do I actually need to protect them or can I just carefully run over them with the DA?
They appear to be well stuck down with no loose edges and relatively thick so I'm not too worried about going through them, just a bit concerned that the edges might get chewed.
It's going to have a thorough clean later and then a polish (DA and scholl 20 as that's what I have) but I'm a bit concerned about the stripes up the bonnet. These appear to be stuck on top and only have a small gap between them, so how do I protect the edges of the vinyl while the polisher does its thing? Do I actually need to protect them or can I just carefully run over them with the DA?
They appear to be well stuck down with no loose edges and relatively thick so I'm not too worried about going through them, just a bit concerned that the edges might get chewed.
Masking tape 
Painter's tape of some kind - I have some Frogtape that I've used for other painting jobs, but anything that's low tack should do the trick. Something like this: https://www.diy.com/departments/frogtape-green-mas...
Edited to add: I'm sure this is obvious, but you don't need to cover the stripes completely on the car, just mask the join with the paint that you're using the DA on, so that you can safely run up to the edge. If it were me, I'd err on the side of masking a tiny strip of paint than risk rubbing the colour off the stripes. Oh, and check a small part of the stripe first with whatever masking tape you buy, to make sure that after all the effort, the tape you've bought doesn't pull the colour off on removal!
Painter's tape of some kind - I have some Frogtape that I've used for other painting jobs, but anything that's low tack should do the trick. Something like this: https://www.diy.com/departments/frogtape-green-mas...Edited to add: I'm sure this is obvious, but you don't need to cover the stripes completely on the car, just mask the join with the paint that you're using the DA on, so that you can safely run up to the edge. If it were me, I'd err on the side of masking a tiny strip of paint than risk rubbing the colour off the stripes. Oh, and check a small part of the stripe first with whatever masking tape you buy, to make sure that after all the effort, the tape you've bought doesn't pull the colour off on removal!
Edited by Grenadier_45 on Sunday 8th May 21:26
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