Foam Jamb Masking Issues (need advice)

S

steve b

I had an opportunity to try out some Norton 70746 foam masking on a all-over paint job. I thoroughly cleaned all of the jamb areas with W&G remover. I applied the foam masking to the hood, doors and tail gate. I noticed when I went to wipe down the exterior with W&G, that the adhesisve had come undone and the foam tape was falling in places. I reapplied the tape and pressed really hard this time. Then I noticed the same thing starting to happen on the doors. I then fixed them. After my first coat of base, I noticed the tape was failing to stick all over the place. At this point Im already in to it so I keep going. After I let the clear dry and unmask the vehicle, I notice overspray has seeped in to the interior of the truck and is everywhere. I left the keys on the leather seats and no there is an outline of them and overspray on the leather! Its everywhere else too.

I need some help here on how to get it off. I tried leather cleaner to no avail. I was so pissed I just walked away until I could come up with a game plan. My next thought is to try a claybar and see what happens. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get the overspray off? I dont want to use harsh solvents unless nothing else works. It is Katskinz leather if it makes a difference and has been well cared for.

Back to the point, I spent a small fortune on this "time saving" "soft edge" leaving tape and now I am stuck with a mess on my hands. I did everything correct, the tape just failed from what I can tell. The only way i see this stuff working correctly is to back tape it with regular masking tape which defeats the purpose of using it in the first place.

If anyone has any advice on how to get this crap out of the interior I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Steve, I wish I had some advice here but I have no idea, hopefully someone else has been through this and we will both learn something.
 
i'm no stitcher but they cleaned my leather seats with thinner before dying them. i would try a little reducer on a small spot. or god forbid go to hr.com and ask dan in the upholstery forum what to do. dont ask in the paint forum or you'll likely be told to us paint stripper.
 
I use 3m foam tape all the time and haven't had a problem, might be the brand? You might could try some solvent wax and grease remover on a small spot, if it works then use a good leather conditioner? Lexol makes some pretty good stuff they might have something.
 
I have had a lot of problems cleaning leather seats in the past. The stronger the chemical you use the harsher it is on the leather. The one thing I will tell you is make sure you have a good quality leather conditioner in hand. As soon as you use a strong cleaner, thinner if necessary, condition the seats right away. If you don't you will have cracked leather inside a week. It took me a couple cars to learn this the hard way.
 
Ok I will wait to get some good conditioner before getting too carried away. Good news is that I scrubbed it really good with a MF cloth and some lexol cleaner and alot of it came off. Ill keep yall updated on what happens.
 
If you can stand the smell warm water mixed with about 50% white vinegar is a mild but good cleaner or vinegar and linseed oil. If I did use just vinegar a good leather conditioner afterward.
 
Man I feel for ya, I have no good idea how to help ya with this one I know one wrong move with leather could mean bad things. For what it's worth I'm not a fan at all of the foam jam tape.

Dave
 
could the cleaning solvent loosen the foam tape?

i always wipe all areas first then tape off and mask then clean again being careful not to soak any taped areas or foam tape areas
 
I have found if you stretch the foam tapes even a small amount while applying them they will shrink back and when they do that , the adhesive will come off the car. Hope that makes sense
 
I ended up using a clay bar lubricated with meguiars gold class spray leather cleaner/conditioner. It is almost completely gone. It was bad before. You could see the outline of my keys where I threw them on the seat prior to spraying. I'm happy now
 
Good to that worked for you! I would have never thought of a clay bar and conditioner!
 
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