I just painted the lower bumper section on the nose of my motorhome. The front nose has three colors. I used the Norton thin-line edge tape and 3M yellow tape over that to separate the new paint section where the colors changed. Then I used regular Blue tape and the Norton plastic sheeting to cover the entire front.

The new paint came out nice, but when I went to pull off the Blue/Yellow tape it pulled off the "old" paint off too. I don't know who/when the the front nose of this RV was painted (i have owned it for about a year) but I guess they did something wrong.

Tape should not pull paint off.

So now I need to repaint the section above where I just painted. How should I prep this area?

I suppose I could cover it all with Blue tape and then pull that off - whatever paint stays on the body must be adhered well. Is that a legitimate test?

Or I could sand all the old paint down to the primer base - but that's a lot of work. I would rather just scuff the old paint and spray over it if I can be sure the old paint is well adhered.

What do you think?

your going to have to remove all the lose old paint. someone before you has probably did a poor prep job and you got the results.
Jay D.

I think if you don't strip it all off it will start coming off later.
Painting over it usually just makes it peel quicker.

I painted the brown under the bumper. I did not want to paint the gold - but I guess I have to now.
Can I just cover the old gold paint with the tape then rip the tape off - and what ever remains attached to the body, assume that is adhered okay? Then lightly sand and feather any paint edges with 800 grit and respray?

I don't want to paint anymore than I need to at this time (it may need more work but I'm only wanting to get it looking nice for my next trip). Hopefully I only need to paint up to the next color line.

Beaver lower bumper painting - tape peeled off paint by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/152383962@N02/]

Tape peeled off paint by https://www.flickr.com/photos/152383962@N02/

The right way is to strip it but you never know how well it may hold up
for a long time by just sanding it and repainting what you need to.
You just never know, it's a judgement call.

You could try blending in just that lower edge. If it doesn't look right,
you haven't lost much. Gravel and insect intestines are going to do a
number on that front end anyway...

I was not wanting to repaint the entire nose - but it may end up doing that if I paint the gold section and then the tape pulls off the paint on the next color above the gold.

So I'm going to use the tape over the gold and pull off whatever paint sticks to the tape, then I'll sand with 320 or 400 grit and spray the gold and clear. That's a couple of hundred $ more to do the gold section.

If the new gold paint doesn't hold up well or starts to peel off later, then I'll strip everything and start over. I think this nose section was repainted cheaply just to make it look good for selling.

What do you think happened that prevented the base coat from sticking to primer?
Wrong type of primer or base?
Or did painter not scuff up the primer before shooting base coat?
The primer seems well adhered to the fiberglass body.

here's a little trick you can try with your tape. before you stick it on the project stick it to your pants or shirt then stick it to the project. by sticking it to your pants it picks up some fabric this will lesson the sticking power of the tape by about 50%. this is not a cure for your problem but may help creating more of a problem. you should be using good quality 3m tape on the complete project the cheep Walmart blue for house painting is not suitable for auto motive use. you'll have problems like what you have. I would strip it up to that top bumper line. a pressure washer would probably work good, just be careful you don't blow paint off were you don't want to.

Jay D.

badsix wrote:...you should be using good quality 3m tape on the complete project the cheep Walmart blue for house painting is not suitable for auto motive use. you'll have problems like what you have. I would strip it up to that top bumper line. a pressure washer would probably work good, just be careful you don't blow paint off were you don't want to...

When reading your original post, I was wondering about your "blue tape" comment.

Did you use the big box store blue household tape? If so, like JD said, don't.

Or did you mean the Blue Norton fine line tape? Which shouldn't pull a cured clear.

Seems to me if tape is pulling off your existing BC/CC, then you need to strip it back to competent material.

I used the Norton "fine line" tape at the color change line, then I used 3M Blue tape over the Norton tape and above that. With more Blue tape holding down the edges of the Norton plastic over-spray sheet.

This time I will use the Norton tape and the 3M Yellow tape (I see they also have a Green tape, which 3M says is their "best").