Masking wheel wells..
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Evening.
Just wondering how you all mask off wheel wells for painting?
I sometimes struggle and Ive noticed on here some people seem to be able to mask off the inner plastic liner and then mask off the wheel which looks like a real good way to do it, but how?
Most of the time I make the wheel well liner as clean as possible before prep and paint but even then the tape wont stick.
Lets hear your methods guys.
cleanliness is key. after its washed and blown i wipe with lacquer thinner to remove the armor all residue then use duct tape.
Most of the time i remove the splash shield/plastic liner than i get up under the inner fender with some gun wash and clean it so the tape will stick on the edge. Than i will mask off the Arch of the wheel well with plastic or paper.
Here is an example…just back mask the wheel well with 1.5 inch then use 18inch paper around the wheel and well and tape it solid.Pretty simple and keeps dirt in.
[IMG]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/jaysonm1969/015.jpg[/IMG]Same way I do it. When you bring the car in and pre wash it, make sure to hose out the wheel wells good (running your hand in there helps). Before masking I make sure it is dry (blow it well) and then wipe it with a rag (often using gun wash and/or water based cleaners depending on the contamination).
If I can back mask (like in Jaysons’s picture), that is my preference.Otherwise I will just tape up to the plastic liner making sure the tape extends around the lip of the liner so there is no paint edge.
Depending on the size of the openining and wheel you may need to get a little creative with the masking. On trucks, I may run some 36″ paper over the wheel first, then 18″ around the wheel opening on the fender. On some smaller vehicles a single piece of 36″ can work by masking around the lip and taping up the excess or trimming the paper to the opening…
Great advice guys. I usually do back mask around the edge then paper up to them. My trouble comes with modern cars as the flanges on wings/ fenders are rolled right round alot of the time. I have also used the duck tape method which works well although is expensive compared to masking tape.
I too use 1 1/2 tape and 36″ paper.
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