Ok, I removed all removable moldings, so this question is about the front and rear bumper moldings:
What kinda tape do you recommend, and how long should I wait to remove the tape. I spot painted some rust on my door, and when I removed the masking tape, I removed some paint too! I bought some blue painters tape and heard that this is better for masking.
And the lip: where there any problems with painting it off the vehicle, and then trying to reinstall?
3m products are the best, use that for all your painting needs…or so i’ve heard.
Definately use the 3M Blue Masking tape. Its good on almost any surface, plus its what i used to paint my moldings and they came out looking good. =)
I painted my front lip about a week and a half ago…I took it off the car…painted…then reinstalled it when it dried.
No problems at all.
You waited until it was dry to touch and then reinstalled? Did you let it flex? Also, what kind of paint did you use?
I learned the hard way NOT to skimp on masking tape. I used CanTech (canadian company, mainstream), but the residue from the tape was still on the car (and still is in a few places, usually in hard-to-get-at places). Go with 3M and NOTHING else. Don’t skimp on a few dollars and end up having to scrape the residue from the shiitty tape for the next year. LOL (see: me)
~Eric
I just painted my mouldings a few weeks ago. Some tips I can give are to let the paint dry a day before removing the tape, or else the paint will stick to the tape and come off and won’t look too good, I learned the hard way hehe. It may feel dry to the touch after a few hours, but that is the top layer of the paint, the bottom layer of the paint may still be wet and not dry/cured yet, so let it dry overnight then peel off the tape the next day, that is what I did.
If you do get tape residue stuck on the car after you take it off, I found bug/tar remover to get it off easily, gotta be careful though as it will thin out and remove some of your newly painted areas.
Taking the lip off to paint would be best. Again let it dry for a day then put that sucker back on. No problems taking it off then putting it back on, easy as pie.
HTH.
WEll I got the back bumper completed, looks tight, actually I need to do a little sanding to get rid of some sagging on the bottom, but it isnt’ even noticable. I am then going to shoot it with some clear. The thing that sucked the most was masking the moldings. That was time consuming!. But I peeled the tape after only an hour & 1/2 and it came of very nicely. I only laid like 4 coats that were meduim. When peeling it was a little tacky, but I left a very small gap so it didn’t matter. I misplaced the blue 3M tape, but I used the regular 3M automotive that is a 1/2". It worked great. I used cheapo tape to hold the newspapers together. So far it’s all good! The only bad part is that it took alot longer to do than expected. My father in law got pretty impatient, but luckily it had enough time to dry. While I was letting that dry, I was renewing the one piece headlights that I just bought! This project is coming along. 
i used shitty tape and just went around the moldings with a razor b4 pulling it off.
Okay, front and rear bumper done. All moldings painted and mirrors. Broke one clip, so I will either have Acura ship me one or two since I have a part on back order, or will pick up from a yard unless one of you gots one 4 sale… I didn’t shoot the clear, for the reason that the finish that I have right now looks tight and matches very well. I used clear on one of the door handles, and it has been about 3 weeks and it has a yellow tint to it. Ok, here is the deal, I was pissed about buying a can of “import” paint for 3.99, so when I was buying the clear coat, I noticed “truck” duplicolor clear for 4.99, big can, or I could get “import” clear in a small can for 3.99, I was like:
hhhhmmmmmmmm… I asked the clerk at Kragens (ever noticed that those guys don’t have a freaking clue) if there was any difference, he mockingly said: “yes, this duplicolor clear is specifically designed for trucks.” I felt like it was a stupid question, and went ahead and purchased the “truck” duplicolor clear. Well, now I am thinking that maybe there is a difference, because import and domestic paints have different colors and have different finishes. Maybe the import clear is different??? I mean, I don’t want to screw up this awsome paint job with some clear that is going to turn yellow! Also, did you guys notice that on the can it says to use clear coat on paint names that end with CC? Okay, Frost White does not have CC at the end on the label, so are we not supposed to use it? What about protecting our finish? Sorry about the long post…