6 Things to Consider When Choosing a Masking Film

Choosing a masking film can depend on many factors, including the temperature resistance required and the intended application. Whether you’re covering surfaces in the body shop or masking off the surfaces of vehicles, masking films will typically be designed with a range of features and properties that improve efficiency, helping you save time and money.

Because there are a few things to consider, it’s important to understand why some masking films have certain properties. To help, we’ve created this guide to the top six considerations to pay attention to when choosing which masking film to purchase for your body shop.

JTAPE Masking Films

At JTAPE, we’ve designed an excellent range of masking films suitable for a wide variety of jobs. Whether corona-treated films are your priority or you’re typically working at high temperatures, we offer the perfect masking film options for body shop professionals. Check out our top masking film products below.

Breathable Masking Film

Our Breathable Masking Film features excellent moisture absorbance, which allows the user to mask damp surfaces and reduce ghost marking after the baking process. The 17-micron thick masking film is also corona-treated and can hold paint or mist overspray. As a result, our solution is perfect for preventing paint contamination and keeping each paint job as neat as possible.

Premium Clear Masking Film

JTAPE Premium Clear Masking Film is the ideal solution best suited to covering parts of the vehicle not involved in the painting process. The film features corona-treated plastic, which means that it can easily hold mist and overspray. Our high quality film for masking off the car’s surfaces is available in three different width options: 4m, 5m and 6m. Whether you’re applying it to the bonnet or the roof, you can find the correct width to suit the job at hand.

Pre-Folded Clear Masking Film

Our Pre-Folded Clear Masking Film is a high-density polyethylene masking film offering excellent tear and puncture resistance. The corona-treated surface is a high quality product that can easily and efficiently hold paint and mist overspray, offering the best protection for any materials it covers.

Wheel Repair Mask

Simplify the process of spraying alloy wheels with our excellent Wheel Repair Mask solution. This dedicated masking product comes with an elasticated centre, allowing the user to quickly apply it around the back of the rim and cover the whole tyre.

Click here to see our full range of JTAPE Masking Films.

Choosing a Masking Film: Key Things to Consider

When choosing a masking film, there are six major considerations to think about. Below, we’ll go through each of these in more detail.

Use Case/Application

As with most masking tools, the use case will affect which properties are required. For example, it’s typically best to use a breathable film in spray booths since you could be masking over damp paint, and this would prevent ghost markings.

For body shops that use masking film for a range of purposes, including everything from masking off walls to equipment surfaces, we recommend investing in different types of films to suit the different applications. Whether you require high durability from your masking film, or moisture resistance is your top priority, you should always check the packaging and instructions to understand when and where each film should be used.

Temperature Resistance Required

When working in high bake cycles or other heated environments, a higher level of temperature resistance is needed. Therefore, choosing a temperature resistant masking film is necessary to ensure that it can remain durable throughout the task at hand.

Of course, high temperature resistance isn’t always a property that’s needed. For example, when masking off areas for low bake cycles, a much lower temperature resistance would be acceptable. For reference heat resistance up to around 120°C is sufficient for low bake ovens and many artificial drying or heating systems.

Amount of Film Needed: Width & Length

Vehicles come in a range of different shapes and sizes. Whether you’re masking off wheels on a car or you need to cover a small van, you’re likely to need very different amounts of film for each job you encounter.

Therefore, it’s always worth checking the size of the film. At JTAPE, we understand that every job will vary, which is why our masking films come in a range of widths and lengths. We also have a specific masking product best suited to covering vehicle tyres up to 26 inches.

If you’re most likely to need a large quantity of masking film, we recommend opting for the longest width and length possible since this will usually offer you the best value for money. However, if masking film isn’t something you use often, it’s best to choose the smallest size to reduce costs and cut down on waste.

Corona Treatment Requirements

If you require a high level of adhesion and a film that can easily hold paint or mist overspray, then choosing a masking film pre-treated with corona [link to corona treatment blog when live] is typically the best option.

Moisture Absorbance

Many films offer moisture resistance since the main purpose is to ensure that paint or overspray can’t penetrate the surface underneath. Therefore, it’s usually worth checking that the masking film you’re using has a good level of moisture resistance or absorbance. Typically, a corona-treated surface will offer the best moisture protection. However, many non-corona-treated films can also provide good protection from moisture.

If the film is being used to protect adjacent surfaces during the sanding, polishing or finishing processes, this factor will be a much lower consideration when choosing which film to use. This is because moisture isn’t usually involved with these types of tasks. However, for multi-use films, this should still be considered during the purchasing stages.

Pre-folded or Not

For an easier and quicker application process, pre-folded masking films are the perfect solution. With a centre folded material and easy dispensing box, these types of films can be applied with less time and effort needed. Pre-folded films are best suited to masking off larger areas because of the increased efficiency they offer. So this is the best option if you want to cut down application time when covering large areas of vehicles or the body shop to protect them from overspray. 

At JTAPE, our goal is to help body shop professionals achieve the best finish possible on a variety of jobs. Whatever your reasoning is for using masking film, our range is perfect for use when spray painting, sanding and for many more automotive jobs. For more useful tape and film solutions, discover our full JTAPE product range.