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or email at: info@trakkrats.com
The Original!
For Other International Orders
Please Contact TrakkTape USA
Hi David,
I ordered my first roll from your first batch when you launched it on LotusTalk years ago. I finally used the last of it to protect the front end of my new Alfa 4C when I picked it up to trailer home.
It has become a staple in my garage. Great for protecting cars on the move, but I use it even more for taping off the fenders or parts of the bodywork that I'll be working over to access the engine bay. Also good for protecting the chassis for the seat rails when removing the seats, etc.
The Alfa has terribly soft paint and limited access, so it's going to be even more important there. I've mentioned it on 4C-Forums.com already as the soft paint is a big concern for many. It doesn't look like they have a sponsorship policy there yet, so it might be worth it for you to post there.
Thanks,
--Josh A.
TrakkTape and Road Warrior Plus Review (Temporary Paint Protection)
100% of Crew Chiefs at 2016 24Hrs of Le Mans AGREE!!!
Corvette High Speed Test
Well, the staff at TrakkTape™ was really excited when Karl Samuel, one of our Texas customers, announced that he was running his beautiful Corvette ZR1 in the upcoming Big Bend Open Road Race, www.bborr.com
When he first contacted TrakkTape™ to see if our hardy product was up to the strains of the high speeds expected in the race, we promptly huddled the entire R&D staff and soon came to the conclusion that we were optimistic, but in engineering terms, clueless.
What People Say About TrakkTapetm!
Hah! I never thought I would be putting "The Original" in our title block. But, now there are lots of imitators out there. TrakkTapetm has been around since 2007. When our founder's Lotus Elise started getting both rock chips in his paint and, worse, cuts in his clear bra, he saw the need for an affordable solution for a great track tape. TrakkTapetm is formulated especially for use as a temporary protective film for HPDE (High Performance Driving Experience) days. The adhesive is intended to be sticky enough to stay in place, but not so sticky that it is hard to remove. We now have feedback from thousands of customers, so we have a pretty darned good idea how our product will perform on your car. Why take a chance on an unknown?
The poly based tape itself is 5 mil thick, as opposed to 8 mil for a typical clear bra.
TrakkTapetm is a Southern California based company, but ships worldwide. We are proud to say we have customers all over the world and now have direct distribution in the United Kingdom and the European Union. For other international orders contact us here in the US.
Our founder continues to use TrakkTapetm personally on a regular basis and the installation instructions reflect his personal experience with the BEST track tape.
About TrakkTapetm
Thanks, Karl, for carrying the TrakkTape™ and documenting it so well!
Quote from Kurt:
"TrakkTape™ did a great job of protecting my Corvette, even at over 170 mph! At those speeds, I could have had some bad dings, but TrakkTape™ worked great. Later, all the bugs and collected debris just peeled off easily with the tape."
Yep, in our opinion, the use of TrakkTape™, made that sucker so fast, he blew right out of the 160 MPH class and got clocked at 171. BINGO! Disqualified, but not dishonored. That's our version and we are sticking to it.
As a nice ending, Karl took some great "before and after"photos showing the wide varied of local bugs he killed and his killer Corvette underneath.
See here for more BMW 1Addicts reviews.
"On my European Delivery, I used Trakk tape.
I had initially bought the Griots road wrap and after seeing the bad review here I sent it back and opted to try Trakk tape. I was in a rush and the customer service was amazing. The package shipped the day I ordered it and I knew I would have it in time for my trip. I just hoped the product was half as good as the service.
I took the car from the Welt directly to the hotel and in the underground garage started to wrap it. It took me a few hours and I was happy with the results at that point. The bumper had a good amount of bubbles and that was partly due to all the curves and partly due to me getting tired and just wanting it done. I had started mid hood and done the fenders and those were done really well. I wrapped the hood and each fender separately tucking the tape into the gaps and around the headlights.
The car sat two nights before being driven. I drove over 1400 kms with the tape on the car and during that drive I went through some of the heaviest rain I have ever experienced in my entire life. I also spent most of the time on the Autobahn cruising 100-110 mph, hitting tops of 140. the hood had also gotten immensely hot. I was somewhat surprised how hot it would get and after hours of sitting would still be hot (never noticed that with 3.5 years of 135 ownership). The tape actually seemed very soft at those times, it would have peeled off easily had I tried.
When I reached the port I peeled the tape off almost in one big intact piece (one for the hood, one on each fender, and one for the bumper). The car was pristine!! There was ZERO residue, it literally looked as it had the moment I picked it up at the Welt. The car was so clean that I didnt even need to wash it to drop it off. I literally just drove to the drop off point and signed the paperwork.
There were portions underneath that water had seeped in and the tape was wet, but the car itself was dry. This was not a flaw of the material but more my imperfect application technique, again it was on the front bumper. There were some edges that the tape slightly had started to lift, but it was slight and not a single piece appeared to be separating from the wrap. I did press down wherever I noticed lifting as I stopped at gas stations or eateries, in the end it made no difference.
All in all I am happy, more than I expected to be. Definitely a product I would recommend and use again. If I decide to drive home from PCD I will be re-wrapping the car with Trakk tape. Words cant express how I felt looking at a perfectly clean car after peeling the tape.
The effort to wrap it might not be worth it if you are driving short distances. In Germany the roads are not like here you can get away without using it (depends how picky you want to be). I wouldnt drive cross country in the US without it though."
Papethova on 1addicts.com
More About TrakkTapetm!
Hello TrakkTape,
I just wanted to let you know that I finally took my McLaren 650S to the track this weekend and I wrapped it with your product – frankly I do not know if I was hit by any rocks because I outran the other cars most of the time – if any rock hit me, it did not leave any scratch.
What I can tell, for sure, (and of course you know it already) is that it was very easy to install the film and remove it. It came out really easily and left the car clean.
I will not go to the track ever again without wrapping the car with your film.
All the Best,
Cris
BEWARE OF IMITATIONS AND COUNTERFITS
If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then I'm flattered. There are several new brands on the market that are inferior to the original TrakkTape. They are lighter weight and have other characteristics that limit their performance. Plus, TrakkTape has almost ten years of feedback from thousands of users. That feedback allows us to offer informed advice on how TrakkTape will perform in virtually any situation.
Also, if you see TrakkTape offered for sale on any site other than this one, Amazon or Hooked on Driving, it is a counterfit product! I'm stunned that this is happening but it is true. Most seem to be shipping from China, so beware!!
We at TrakkTapetm would like to sincerely thank all of those who have supported us over the years. We are a small company and pride ourselves on our customer service and the quality of our track tape, TRAKKTAPE.
We have been so pleased to talk to the many customers and potential customers who have called in over the years. One of the best parts of this business to be able to hear from such a wonderful group of enthusiasts.
That, coupled with the assistance that we feel we are giving to protect our wonderful "toys" makes this all so very worthwhile
( even if we still can't afford a 458 Italia for our R&D car....).
Thanks so much!!
"I was always irritated by cone smudges and scrapes on my bumper not to mention wherever else. While they may be battle scars and not out of place on my older Honda Civic Si, they were entirely bothersome on my newly acquired Honda S2000. TrakkTape™ is easy to apply, stays adhered at more than highway speeds, and in fact, stay applied for several weeks with no adverse issues. It never caused any problems on my recently repainted front bumper, either. The larger roll is good value, especially when shared amongst a group of friends. I've even gotten to applying the product prior to road trips just to protect from stone chips. Keep your painters tape at home and add TrakkTape™ to your race supplies."
Darcy W. Honda S2000
You can't even tell that I have the tape in the front and rear bumpers also along the wheel wells! I did not apply neatly at all also haha! Great product!
Ben L., Mazda Miata with custom bodywork
The Original!
In a survey conducted by our Founder at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, every Crew Chief interviewed agreed that TrakkTape was totally useless to them.
Their cars get so beat up by the race, they have to totally repaint ( or re-wrap ) them.
Almost all of them did say they thought it would be a great idea for someone doing a track day in their street car.
Please note that the TrakkTape roll at right made it through the entire 24 hours looking much better than our fearless leader. Time for sleep, for sure.
"Easily applied, TrakkTape™ protects and cleans up like no other. Rain or shine it hangs on keeping pesky cone marks, loose rubber, and other debris from messing up your pristine finish! I went from polishing out track scratches and scars after each event to simply peeling them away. A worthy addition to anyone's track day arsenal! It's so functional that I also use it as a base for my bike rack when mounting it on the trunk!
Matt K. Scion tC
Thanks, David. It's good stuff! I was most impressed by how invisible it is for track photos, and it sure beats trying to make 2-3 layers of painter's tape look presentable. I imagine that it'll be even harder to spot now that my new car is silver.
Kelvin D. Lotus Exige
Karl, having no fear of TrakkTape™ ripping off the hood at speed and adhering to the windshield with the tenacity of an abalone, not only entered the race, but…
Now, at this point, we admit this is only OUR opinion and your results may vary.
HE GOT DISQUALIFIED FOR GOING TOO FAST!
I think everyone here resonates with the fact that they want their vehicle to look like a garage queen, while being able to enjoy driving it. Unfortunately, as we all know, the ideas conflict a bit.
Given that I prefer to prevent problems rather than re-actively deal with them, and I like to be efficient and cost effective, I knew I wanted some form of paint protection. That said, $6k for a full truck PPF wrap just isn't in the budget right now, nor could I justify the cost to myself when other guys have had trail brush and the like tear right through it anyway. I had resigned myself to eventual repainting until I found out per this sub that there were temporary paint protection options - a perfect compromise, in my mind. I had to try them out.
There are three options I've tried - Road Warrior Plus (per a great review on this sub), Trakktape (great reviews on the Raptor forum) and ShieldTape, a more economical version of Trakktape (Trakktape is cheaper if you buy the 600' roll, however).
Trakktape is the original brand, with there being quite a few knock-offs - ShieldTape being one of them. I had a trip coming up and wanted to try something while I was saving up for the big roll of Trakktape, so I opted for a $30 roll of ShieldTape to try out. It worked, but took a long time to apply, and despite a week-old application of AMMO Reflex and Meg's M21 (the truck was slick) the tape was pretty sticky - too sticky - and left residue. In fact, I had tested it our Trailblazer and it pulled up a little bit of touch-up paint. The tape is no longer available on Amazon if you wanted to buy it, but I reckon this review is pretty typical of knockoff brands, so keep that in mind.
Road Warrior Plus is a unique take on temporary paint protection. It comes in liquid form that you paint on the vehicle, which hardens to a matte finish that protects your vehicle. I'll let you read this review if you want more info on it, but I'll share my experiences here. First, it was as difficult to apply as tape, at least on my well-waxed truck. Even using a lot of product (and you'll burn through it quickly) it beaded off my sealant and even with the second pass it wasn't quick thick enough to provide adequate protection for what I wanted. Furthermore, it too left residue everywhere - like plastidip, any area that isn't well layered with product is difficult to remove, and the edges never layered well for me no matter what I tried. The worst thing about RWP is intended - it is removed via water. It doesn't take nearly any rain at all to remove it, but it will leave residue and it will make a real mess, getting up in spaces, like the gap between the door handle and door. I really wanted to like this product, but I just can't. It does look better than tape properly applied, but it isn't cost effective, and any time you might save on the front end you'll lose on the back end cleaning up. Also, I can't risk it degrading whenever it rains, and both times I applied it it rained within an hour of getting out of the garage.
Thankfully, the classic solution proved to be the best one. When I first was researching the options, I gave David (the owner of Trakktape) a call to get a read on how the tape would perform for offroading situations. He didn't have really any feedback from offroad customers at the time, but was friendly and gave lots of good info, tips and tricks, and the like. I could tell he was enthusiastic about cars and the product. I bought the 600' roll, and finally got around to using it last month. I was very happy with the purchase. The tape shielded my fenders from several rocks and would-be pinstriping. The only new damage was a tiny scratch (closer to a swirl) on the passenger side, because I only layered the tape twice instead of three times. It would have been much worse without the tape; I know this because I had to polish the rest of the scratch out of my doors, and since the flare sticks out further it would have been gouged deeper. Here are a few pictures. (Note I had dipped my fender flares for protection - I was concerned about the tape pulling the dip off, hence why I didn't cover them.)
Versus the other two options, Trakktape was about as easy as RWP to apply; David provides a felt-tip applicator with the tape, which helps tremendously. It took me about an hour total to do both fenders with 2-3 layers of tape. On non-black vehicles, if you take your time, the tape would probably be hard to notice on a cursory inspection. The more contoured the vehicle the harder it will be to apply the tape, as well as take more time. My truck is big and has a lot of contours, and is considered a difficult vehicle to wrap/PPF. One hour included clean up time, and learning how to best apply the tape. For comparison, it probably took 30-40 minutes to do the same area with Road Warrior Plus. That said, the RWP had less protection, and took probably an hour of cleanup (not including the few spots I still need to get around to). The Trakktape came off very clean and easy, with no drama. Within two minutes I was back to what I started with, and that's including taking pictures. The sticky-ness of Trakktape is perfect; just sticky enough to stay attached at speed, but not sticky enough to cause worry about pulling paint or the like. There was no residue on the Trakktape at all, even with all the dust. No swirls that I found from tape edge vibration, tho I will note my paint is relatively hard to begin with.
After the disappointing performance of the other two options, I was very pleased with how Trakktape did. I will definitely be using it for offroad excursions where I'm concerned about paint damage. I would definitely use it for long trips as well, but in my case it is very hard to apply to the front end, so it isn't probably worth the time commitment in most cases. For most of you, however, I think it would be easily applied and well worth the effort.
You can purchase Trakktape on Amazon. It is best to buy the 6" x 600' roll, as it is the most cost effective. (posted on reddit by u/T4nkcommander 2018)
Hey David,
I thought you'd like to see my best trakk tapeing so far. :)
Thanks for continuing to make a great product.
Egan
Please read the FAQ page for some known issues like non-glass headlights.
PLEASE DO NOT USE TRAKKTAPE ON ANY MATTE FINISH!!!
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.