Once my car's been through its MOT (next Saturday, weather permitting) I'm going to start working on its new windscreen. This will involve repeatedly bolting and unbolting bits of metal to my scuttle, marking out and drilling holes and so on, so I want to minimise the amount the paint gets scratched - I know that it will need to be repainted 'cos there's a lot of holes that will need filling in, but I would like to reduce the amount of work involved in refinishing.

So... I'm looking for some sort of slightly tacky plastic film or sheet that I can put over the paintwork, and peel off when I've finished.

Any suggestions?

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
So... I'm looking for some sort of slightly tacky plastic film or sheet

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I was hoping for something a bit more substantial!

Something like the stuff that comes attached to new sheets of aluminium when you buy them.

just use the blue low tack masking tape sold at B&Q etc, works fine and any possible residue is easily removed with white sprit

[Edited on 13/10/09 by Mr Whippy]

electrical insulation tape? got some on my car holding the indicator in. been there for a year, not left any nasty marks on the paint

We are talking about a curved surface here, about 350mm wide and 1500mm long - that's a lot of tape!

I was just curious to know if there's something that paint sprayers or body repairers use...
...mind you, that would probably come in 100 metre rolls and cost £250...

I'm more interested in a Blue Peter sticky-back-plastic approach - but not too sticky.

[Edited on 13/10/09 by David Jenkins]

Standard masking tape is made for exactly this purpose no?

Get a roll of 1" wide tape and cover the scuttle with it. Easy to mark out for the new fittings and good protection when drilling the new holes too. Should easily prevent any damage to the existing paintwork, particularly if you go double thickness.

As above - wide masking tape is your friend. I recently bought some of the more expensive blue stuff (low tack) and I'm glad I did.

I've always made do with bog basic £1 shop stuff - never had any problems with it.

Looks like I'll be buying some wide masking take this weekend then!

We use crash wrap, it is a blue tinted self adhesive film used for sealing crashed cars against the elements, and is very robust.

If you do use masking tape, don't leave it on for too long, the adhesive continues to cure with exposure!

You'd need to test it on a painted surface but Screwfix sell a "Carpet Protector" made by Harris which is basically a roll of polythene with a low-tac adhesive on one side.

It's intended to apply to flooring / carpets prior to decorating and for that works very well. I think it's around £6.50 / roll.

Polish the area with Vaseline and then use some fablon type stuff or vinyl.

If you're repainting it what's the bother? You'll just be sanding it down anyways..

If I keep the paint in reasonable order with no deep scratches then all I'll have to do is rub the gloss off the existing surface, followed by a little bit of filling.

If I leave scratches everywhere then the workload goes up...

That's my theory anyway!

Ah, in that case wouldn't anything you do to cause a deep scratch make no difference with masking tape?

"Deep scratch in the existing paint" rather than... er... "a deep scratch".

I think...