Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Buffer tape replacement

With snow and cold outside this weekend, I thought I'd stay in the warm garage and replace the clear tape which protects the front body deck from rubbing by the bonnet. The old tape had yellowed somewhat and was loose and discolored at the front due to rubbing the black rubber pads under the bonnet front. I had earlier purchased some 3M Scotchguard body protection film in a 1" wide by 96" long roll online for about $15. Removing the old tape was very easy. Initially I just grabbed one of the loose ends and slowly pulled it back, but that was leaving significant amounts of adhesive residue. I then switched to a heat gun on low setting and gently warmed the taped as I pulled it very slowly. This method left virtually no adhesive residue. I cleaned any residue with Goo Gone, then soapy water, then hand polished the horizontal deck to remove some minor scratches. Applying the new tape is pretty straightforward. I elected to "roll" the tape up the body side at the rear rather than trim it lengthwise the way the factory did it as I wan't confident in my trimming skills. Ends were trimmed with a straight razor blade.

Check out the before and after photos.

Nice job!!...I am going to try that. Thanks for the tips.

Very neat. When I did mine, I made the bit at the front (where the rubbing is worst) extra wide and also replaced the rubber on the bonnet.

My 2016 MTW has no tape in this location. It has a thick clothtape on the underside of the front cover that is thick enough to stop the cover and body making contact at the sides where your tape is. And the front cowl has rubber pads on its underside.

My 2012 also has the thick cloth tape as well as the rubber pads.

Once installed, the bonnet only touches the body with the rubber pads. I believe the clear tape is only to protect the body paint during the fiddly bonnet fitting process.

Looks nice and clean!