I did not paint over the tape. It has begun to delaminate on the driver side (more exposure to rock salt from center lane, and catches more flak from on-coming traffic). The passenger side seems to have held up much better. I have some pictures that I might post up. Overall, I say if this was done in the spring, you could make it to the end of winter or up to 20,000 miles on this method. It took me less than a roll to do two tires, and the cost was ~$7 for the roll. I would have need a 2nd roll to get to the back ones done. Its definitely a worth wild method for someone with alloys and you can't mount up pizza pans or official moon caps.
Look at this way:
Moon Caps $120-160
Tape @ $20 a year = 6-8 years of sealed wheels versus moon caps
4 Pizza pans + mounting hardware + ~$60 + balance
Tape @ $20 a year = 3-4 years versus pizza pans, plus if tape dislodges it will not cause death at impact like a flying pizza pan could.
Summary, tape method still a good ecomod in my book.
with the skirts off and the tape gone, I will see if I can get an approximate % drop as well. Consider this a long term ABA test over the next few weeks. I have several months of data and should be able to give a good approximate of the fuel economy difference.
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