Which color tape for...

M

mitch_04

Learnin'
What are the various tape colors for? I use 3m since I can get it through our warehouse and I see yellow, blue, white (or no color), and green. Are certain ones better for certain things?
 
I use the yellow because it seems to hold better (to me anyway) but I also have rolls of green that work almost as well. Blue I think is more for house painting. Not sure of the other colors.
 
you need to study your use. crepe is basic, acrylic adhesive. You go up in price you get to the rubber adhesive. Different colors have longer times you can allow the tape to be on the car without worrying about the adhesive transferring to the finish. Of course, once you spray solvents onto the tape, it changes the properties of how long the acrylic or rubber, up to silicone adhesive reacts. Leave crepe on a car, put it outside, and you will be taking it off in bits. Flexibility is also better on the more rubber like tape. Blue is mainly for house, so I see alot of bleed thru when we try to spray it. Its a cheap alternative if you like to put tape down when you are doing filler.

I had gone to a 3m green that had a 90 day release life but they discontinued it. I just got my first roll of yellow, have not tried it yet.
 
yellow is really the way to go. it has the exact same adhesive as the green 233+ but the paper is different. its also 1/2 the price of green. blue is waterbased coatings and not meant for automotive use even though many do. never use the standard tan.
 
Thanks Jim! I've seen the yellow used a ton and haven't heard much about it other than it smells? I'll have to start stocking a couple rolls.
 
I've used 3M blue painters tape (not the Fine Line which sticks not so well) many times as my primary masking tape and it holds up excellent to solvent overspray and releases good too.

Mike
 
I've never noticed that the yellow smells??? Maybe I've blown out my sense of smell...:) I personally am not not crazy about 6652 (3/4 size) I much prefer the green. (26334 in 3/4) I like that it's a little thicker and feels more like the old tan 232 (I think part # escapes me now) that I used back in the '90s. Yellow is by far the cheapest but I still prefer the green for the "feel".
 
See if you can get your hands on carworx tape I use the orange seems to be an excellent tape
 
I picked up some yellow and some of the light blue "precision", or whatever they call it, tape. I'm going to use green, yellow, and the "precision" on my other sub box to have a back to back of how they work.
 
the precision tape is great stuff but its not a general masking tape like the others. you don't use it for masking paper, etc. it would be used anywhere you need a straight fineline tape. hood stripes, etc. its specifically for masking paint edges and doesnt not take turns well. I love how its transparent and how ultra thin it is. leaves a super low paint edge. its great for what its for.
 
I like the way the green precision tape turns more transparent when it's stuck down, which is great to minimize leakage. I'm going to try the 1/4" variant to see how that takes curves. It definitely doesn't stretch much at all without tearing.
 
I used the 3/4 Precision tape on fairly fresh (3 days old, inside shop) black epoxy doing an engine compartment. Did not want any traces of tape prints in the epoxy as it was a final finish.
Researched a little and came across this description of Precision on the 3M website: "allows taping over freshly painted surfaces sooner with less chance of imprinting". Had to order it from
my supplier (he had not heard of it). Laid it down first and then masked on top of it. Removed the next day with no tape traces or imprinting. Sure, epoxy may not imprint after 3 days anyway
but using the Precision improved the odds in my favor..... and I need all the help I can get!!
 
just an fyi, there is a tape out there that is a copy of the precision tape or the precision tape is a copy of it. anyway, I believe its made by surtape. I found a company on ebay that sells cases of it in factory seconds. I got a case of 2", a case of 1.5" and a case of 1". its exactly the same thing but more of a schoolbus yellow color. what makes it seconds is really nothing more than its the end cuts of the big log when they make the stuff or it may have a seam 1/2 way through the roll or something. I haven't found a single thing wrong with the tape. anyway I think a case was like 70 bucks or something. ebay seller usatape.
 
Man, we could start threads of just recommended products.... Half the reason I start these is just to be able to look back in the future. The sandpaper thread, the polisher thread, etc etc...
 
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