Conspicuity Tape Stick To Undercoating?

[KY Gun Geek]

Repainting a 20' flatbed trailer and thinking about using some rubberized undercoating on the bottom the I beams.

I will need put the reflective red & white conspcuity tape on the beam to meet DOT regs, but it occurs to me that the tape may not stick well to the rough surface created by the undercoating.

Anybody have any experience with this?

 

[dusty3030]

Repainting a 20' flatbed trailer and thinking about using some rubberized undercoating on the bottom the I beams.

I will need put the reflective red & white conspcuity tape on the beam to meet DOT regs, but it occurs to me that the tape may not stick well to the rough surface created by the undercoating.

Anybody have any experience with this?

I doubt it would stick. You could put down masking and pull it off while undercoating is still wet and have a place left to put down the c tape on metal, that would work good.

 

[radioman]

I doubt it would stick. You could put down masking and pull it off while undercoating is still wet and have a place left to put down the c tape on metal, that would work good.

:thumbsup: I'd do the same. Or just lay down the reflective tape now and cover with masking tape and still pull off when wet. It would give it a nice clean built in look.

 

[KY Gun Geek]

I doubt it would stick. You could put down masking and pull it off while undercoating is still wet and have a place left to put down the c tape on metal, that would work good.

Thought about that - seems like I'd be asking for trouble with rust.

This trailer is a bit of rust bucket anyway, and my plan is to use a scaler and wire wheel to get the loose crud off, then paint with something like Rustoleum's Rusty Metal Primer (been kicking around POR and other primers). Then top coat with the rubberized stuff.

Maybe put the tape on the primer? Then put tape on, mask it, and spray the undercoating?

 

[dusty3030]

Thought about that - seems like I'd be asking for trouble with rust.

This trailer is a bit of rust bucket anyway, and my plan is to use a scaler and wire wheel to get the loose crud off, then paint with something like Rustoleum's Rusty Metal Primer (been kicking around POR and other primers). Then top coat with the rubberized stuff.

Maybe put the tape on the primer? Then put tape on, mask it, and spray the undercoating?

Sounds good to me.

 

[newbury]

I will need put the reflective red & white conspcuity tape on the beam to meet DOT regs,

Do you have an easy link to those regs?
I'm repainting my trailer also.

 

[crazyal]

I've never had a need to use it yet but have hear great things about POR-15 for rusty metal.

www.por15.com/

 

[KY Gun Geek]

Do you have an easy link to those regs?
I'm repainting my trailer also.

www.fmcsa.dot.gov/pdfs/consp.pdf

And for lighting
Trailer Poster Table for Website

 

[KY Gun Geek]

I've never had a need to use it yet but have hear great things about POR-15 for rusty metal.

www.por15.com/

Yep, been looking at POR. I have a thread that kinda veered that way and the general advice was don't go over old paint with POR (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/239586-trailer-repaint-cheap.html). There is still some paint on parts of this trailer (the gooseneck is actually in decent shape), and occasionally even the rusty beams have some paint on them. I am still contemplating using the POR on the real rusty parts and something else on the not so rusty parts.

The rustoleum primer and top coat seemed to be a reasonable way to go instead.

I would even go over the POR with a topcoat of the rubberized undercoat.

 

[thatguy]

What about cutting strip of aluminum and mounting that to the frame to stick the tape to

Brian

 

[newbury]

www.fmcsa.dot.gov/pdfs/consp.pdf

And for lighting
Trailer Poster Table for Website

Thanks, even more confusing, my 12,000 GVWR trailer is not commercial.

Luckily I just happened to pick up a bunch of strips at HF last Tuesday.

 

[rsewill]

Luckily I just happened to pick up a bunch of strips at HF last Tuesday.

You must be rich! Spendy stuff.

 

[RedDog]

We repaint trailers all the time and the best thing to do is sandblast the trailer first. After that, a nice layer of primer, followed by paint.

I'm not a fan of undercoating.

Good luck in your undertaking.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Thanks, even more confusing, my 12,000 GVWR trailer is not commercial.

Luckily I just happened to pick up a bunch of strips at HF last Tuesday.

Not sure why you think commercial/non commercial makes a difference? Think safety, follow the guidelines the best you can.

To bad you have already purchased tape. You can get reflective strips on a solid backing that secure with a couple of screws.

As you can see if you peel back your tape from the protective backing, it is quite thick. Anything other than a flat surface will cause air pockets underneath allowing debris to build and evenually tape failure. That will not happen overnight. You can still get plenty of service out of it. As it ages and hardens, it will break off in little pieces. You will still have some reflective benefit, it just won't look as good as new.

The rough surface will also make the tape look not as "nice" but I don't guess that is a big issue?

 

[KY Gun Geek]

Thanks, even more confusing, my 12,000 GVWR trailer is not commercial.

Luckily I just happened to pick up a bunch of strips at HF last Tuesday.

Commercial/non commercial doesn't make any difference. Regs for lights and tape are the same. The 2nd link has a section that talks about tape, and the the diagrams are pretty clear.

 

[KY Gun Geek]

We repaint trailers all the time and the best thing to do is sandblast the trailer first. After that, a nice layer of primer, followed by paint.

I'm not a fan of undercoating.

Good luck in your undertaking.

Have you had bad experiences with undercoating?

 

[newbury]

Not sure why you think commercial/non commercial makes a difference? Think safety, follow the guidelines the best you can.

To bad you have already purchased tape. You can get reflective strips on a solid backing that secure with a couple of screws.

The title of the document is not :"FMCSA Conspicuity Guidelines", it's "FMCSA Conspicuity Requirements"

My bad, I missed paragraph 2 where it states it only applies to commercial vehicles.

Just as in "CDL vs non-CDL" if I DON'T have to meet a REQUIREMENT I won't get ticketed for not meeting it. My trailer is for my rec vehicle (a Kubota B7610) and nothing commercial.

Following a guideline is great, getting a $1,000 fine and having the trailer shut down because a patch of tape was off and a LEO had a bad day is not.

What's the magic difference in safety requirements between a trailer with a GVWR of 9,999 lbs and one with a GVWR of 10,002 lbs?

I purchased tapes because I've only a few patches of worn areas from the original. When I started painting (I'm about 70% done) I taped off the reflectors, wirebrushed the rust spots to metal and rattle canned.

Commercial/non commercial doesn't make any difference. Regs for lights and tape are the same. The 2nd link has a section that talks about tape, and the the diagrams are pretty clear.

Yes the diagrams are clear, but different. For example for the small bumper pull trailers you don't need tape across the entire back.

The first document just states

Each strip of retroreflective sheeting (or reflex reflector) must be positioned as horizontally as practicable, extending across the full width of the trailer, beginning and ending as close to the extreme edges as practicable.

 

[RedDog]

Have you had bad experiences with undercoating?

When new it is good, but like everything when it gets some age on it, it will trap moisture and other particles between it and the frame.

Paint is not perfect either, but when it starts to fade or crack, you can see it immediately and it does not trap moisture of other particles behind it.

We've blasted car frames that were undercoated and you can tell where the coating started to fail by the condition of the frame behind it compared to the other areas.

Good luck,