Safe tape to tape cardboard to my car?

[KJSatz]

Alright. I'm thinking I'm going to try some epic aeromods on my Civic just for experiment's sake. They will look ridiculous, but when gas costs $4-5/gal in a couple of years I might be able to stomach some pride to save some bank on my 260 mile drives to/from school. Anyway, I'm just in planning stages right now, and I want to know what the best tape to use is to tape cardboard onto my car body that can withstand maybe 65mph...and any mounting techniques or whatever. Some things I'm going to try out and do some tests on (maybe not until Spring, but I think I'll do it!) are:

- full lower grille block
- rear wheel skirts
- deck lid extension or some kind of extension from the trunk
- kammback type extension from the top of my car as far as I can while maintaining rearview vision.

Anyway, thanks for suggestions on materials and techniques!

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by KJSatz

They will look ridiculous, but when gas costs $4-5/gal in a couple of years I might be able to stomach some pride to save some bank on my 260 mile drives to/from school.

You mean months, not years, right?

- deck lid extension or some kind of extension from the trunk
- kammback type extension from the top of my car as far as I can while maintaining rearview vision.

If you make an extension of the top of the roof, then the trunk lid extension won't do much, as the airflow will probably go over it. If I had to pick between the two, I would prefer the Kammy over deck extension for the following reasons:

1. It will reduce the size of the wake behind the car,
2. It will reduce the vortices caused by the rear pillars,
3. It sets the correct angle of airflow with better precision,
4. It won't increase the overall length of the car.

As for the tape - I have the same problem. When testing I used whatever I could find in the house, which turned out to be a yellowish-clear packing tape that gets brittle after 2-3 days on the car and leaves a residue that's hard to remove. I'm also looking for something that's strong, but won't leave a goo.

[Christ]

Anyone tried gorilla tape?

[k.civic.f4i]

ive used black DUCK tape. easy to handle, strong and doesnt get brittle. im not too worried about the residue because residue removing solutions are cheap and are usually sold right next to the tape anyway.

[KJSatz]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

You mean months, not years, right?

If you make an extension of the top of the roof, then the trunk lid extension won't do much, as the airflow will probably go over it. If I had to pick between the two, I would prefer the Kammy over deck extension for the following reasons:

1. It will reduce the size of the wake behind the car,
2. It will reduce the vortices caused by the rear pillars,
3. It sets the correct angle of airflow with better precision,
4. It won't increase the overall length of the car.

As for the tape - I have the same problem. When testing I used whatever I could find in the house, which turned out to be a yellowish-clear packing tape that gets brittle after 2-3 days on the car and leaves a residue that's hard to remove. I'm also looking for something that's strong, but won't leave a goo.

Well I guess we'll see what happens next summer! And as for the various mods, I mean to test them separately to see how each works.

Originally Posted by Christ

Anyone tried gorilla tape?

I thought that was pretty much heavy duty duct tape...seems a little dangerous (prone to damaging) to me?

[k.civic.f4i]

o yeah....its also what i used to make my grill block

[Christ]

Duct tape leaves residue, and the stuff that cleans the residue isn't exactly environmentally friendly, TBH.

Gorilla Tape is heavy duty duct tape, but it's supposed to be stronger and more resistant to UV damage, which means that if anything, less residue should be left on your vehicle. Someone send me some, I'll put it on Cara and test it against some regular industrial duct tape for how much damage/residue is left.

There is also foil-backed tape, which is now used in lieu of "Duct" tape, as none other than... Duct tape! That stuff has a very thin layer of adhesive that doesn't like to peel off the foil backing.

[MetroMPG]

I've used black duct tape for most of my "temporary" mods.

Not all tapes are created equal - I had to try several brands before I found one that was sticky enough to hold up all the crap I've been taping on the car through the years.

One note of caution: duct tape adhesive will leave permanent marks in the paint if left on for a really long time (months).

[COcyclist]

Modern cars have clear coat finishes which I have found to be easy to scratch and hard to buff scratches out of. If you get too aggressive with the Fast Orange or Goof Off it is easy to do a lot of damage, even with a soft cloth when removing duct tape residue.

I did a winter grill block like the one in post #213 Scion xA aero mods

I put a layer of wide blue painter's tape on the car anywhere tape would touch or rub. I used black Gorilla Tape to tape the coroplast nose in place. It worked fine for the 6 months I used it. I taped right over the blue tape so it wasn't exposed to the elements. It seemed to come off much easier and cleaner than the duct tape goo.

[TomO]

Gaffer's Tape: HERE
It's what I used to hold on my experiments, including my KlearKamm for a few months. Any residue left behind was able to be rubbed off with my thumb. It held up very well to rain, sleet and cold too.