[Mediaman]

After years of getting in and out of my other car I noticed scuff marks on the inside plastic door panels where my feet had bumped/scuffed. They could be detailed but some marks were permanent. Sometimes we can be a bit overprotective after bringing home a brand new car. We don't like people parking next to it. We think that everyone else is out trying to cause an accident so they can be the one to put the first mark on it. And the list goes on.

So I searched for a product that could go on the inside panels of the door (and could go on the sill plates of the door if you don't have sill plate guards already) On Ali Express I found a "clear" tape that is best described as adhesive clear vinyl. It comes in a variety of widths and feels a bit spongy. I picked up a 3 meter roll x 150mm width for $12.70 Canadian, a 3 meter roll x 70mm width for $6.58 Canadian and a 3 meter x 50mm roll for $5.28 Canadian. All in it was $36.66 Canadian and delivered in approximately 2 weeks. There are scads of suppliers of this on AliExpress so take your pick.

I tried a test swatch on another vehicle and left it on for a week. It peeled off cleanly with no residue. I wasn't about to put something on a brand new vehicle and ruin it. I do not have a long term (months) report as to the durability.

The Santa Fe door has two areas I wanted to protect. The plastic strip across the bottom of the door and the side pocket panel.

The plastic strip was the easiest. Make sure you clean it off and that it is dry. Use a hair dryer if it is a colder day to make sure no moisture is present. I used the 50mm tape width because the 70mm tape width would also have to be cut down to a lesser width and that's a tricky thing with this tape.

Okay - a few tricks. First this tape does not cut well with scissors. Use a new blade on an X-Acto (utility) knife. Second the tape is a fingerprint magnet on the adhesive side. When you apply the tape leave excess where you hold the end making sure the excess is what you cut off. That way you cut off the tape you just left your fingerprints on.

Use a cloth or rag or plastic spatula to smooth out the tape. This is a one shot deal. If you try to lift the tape and reapply it will pick up the texture of the surface and ruin the adhesion plus make the tape look "cloudy" due to the adhesion becoming texturized.

The excess tape has the fingerprints where you handled it and now use the utility knife with a sharp blade to carefully cut off the excess.

And excess is gone.

So now the lower plastic strip has been covered.

The side pocket panel will be covered in the next post.

 

[Mediaman]

Side pocket panel protection

The side pocket panel is where I noticed most of the scuff marks on my other car.

a few tips. This tape doesn't stretch. it hates corners and complex curves. Basically it's a straight line, true surface tape. Heating it with a hair dryer or (be careful) heat gun may encourage some give but I doubt it.

The door panel narrows along the width of the door.

Now I don't have images of the application because I don't have 3 hands. BUT follow the same principal. I used the 150mm width roll of tape and started with 1 inch of excess at the widest part of the door. This is because I would leave fingerprints on the adhesive side of the tape and that excess would be trimmed off. I then unrolled the tape smoothing out the adhesion as I went along about 2 mm below the top edge of the pocket as a guide. At the narrow end I again left 1 inch of excess.

Now it was a matter of smoothing out the tape and I got about 97% of the surface smooth. There was some wrinkles on the bottom the the wider area of the door pocket due to the curve (bulge) of the panel.

Then I used the utility knife to carefully trim off the excess tape. Be careful because you don't want to cut the knife into the door panel plastic. Hold the excess and cut carefully by sliding the knife but, of course, not trying to slide the knife across the plastic and marking the very thing you wanted to protect.

It's easy to see which 3% wrinkled.

Yes the vinyl is more reflective and that is accentuated because I had a bright LED floodlight for the pictures. In the grand scheme of things the door is closed so you don't see it as much.

This is the other door. You can see why this tape doesn't like curves. The bottom edge "wrinkles" because of the bulge of the door pocket...not the actual curve.

Was it worth it?

I will tell you in 5 years when (or if) your door panel is scuffed and mine isn't. Theoretically if it stays on I will be able to peel it off when I sell the vehicle sometime in the future and, theoretically, it will look as good as new. The rest of the vehicle may be dinged and dirty but hey...the door panel will look great. If it falls off after a month I will come back and tell you it's crap.

Yes the tape can be applied to the door sills if you don't have a scuff plate already. THAT is a good idea because after years of getting in and out of my other vehicle that area had no paint due to repeated shoe scuff traffic.

As my fellow forum member Thormaxx1234 said "so you put packing tape on your car?"

Yes. Yes I did.

Now about complex curves and corners. Don't do it. And here is exhibit A. It looks like crap.