Automotive wiring can get complex, with miles of wire runs feeding different electrical parts and controlled by connectors, fuses and relays. If you’re thinking of rewiring your car due to wear and tear, corrosion or detrimental factors such as heat and moisture, and protecting existing wiring, your best bet is to bundle wires in a wiring harness.
This collection of wires and cables simplifies wiring tasks and ensures connected vehicle systems and devices all work as they should. Bundled into a harness, wires are protected from the detrimental effect of heat, moisture and vibrations that can potentially cause electrical faults, including shorting or electrical fires. The process also simplifies new additions such as LED lights or a new pair of speakers.
Protecting wires, cables and bundled harnesses is key to a properly functioning car during any wiring task. This can be done in different ways. Zip ties are good at bundling wires together, so reduce instances of vibrations or noise, but are ineffective against heat, oil or water ingress.
Similarly, heat shrinks may be good at shielding new wire runs from external factors, but are cumbersome to install and take up too much time. To save time and ensure proper protection, choose a durable tape or wire loom. This is used in car rebuilds, regular repairs, and when adding new electrics and is also effective at numbing noises when wires and cabling are thrown against panels and car trim.
Benefits of Fleece Tape
To ease your wiring woes, use PET-based tape for bundling, general wrapping and connecting purposes. Lined with a woolly backer material, the tape is also known as fleece or wiring loom tape and is extensively used by original equipment manufacturers. Compared to alternatives such as regular electrical tape, fleece tape has a long list of benefits:
- High tensile strength – with a tensile strength of 60N/m, fleece tape is exceptionally strong and won’t tear or unravel along the length. It also has good elongation without breaking. Yet it’s hand-tearable along the width and easy to apply.
- Abrasion resistance – fleece tape also works well against scratches and abrasions that harnesses are subjected to in various vehicle areas. The high abrasion resistance spares insulative materials in cables and separate wires from damage, or causing electrical faults.
- Flexibility – the versatile nature of fleece tape makes it a flexible choice regardless of how many wires or cables are bundled together. The tape also adheres to odd shapes and contours.
- Low weight – being exceptionally light, fleece tape can help with weight savings, considering how much cabling goes into modern vehicles.
- Strong adhesion – the synthetic rubber adhesive works wonders, allowing the tape to stick to a variety of surfaces and materials and stay on once applied.
- Heat resistance – this is another reason why fleece tape trumps electrical and other general-purpose tapes in wire bundling. With working ranges of -40 to +160 degrees, the tape can be used in areas subjected to extreme heat or cold.
- Sound absorption – an often overlooked quality is how well fleece tape is against sound transmission. When applied correctly, this can reduce sound coming into the cabin by up to 6 decibels.
Why Choose Underbody Tape for Your Wiring Project
For wiring in areas with higher heat levels, such as the engine bay and the car underbody, so-called underbody wiring tapes work better. These additionally provide more protection against water, moisture, coolant and spurting engine oil, while still keeping cables and wiring assemblies intact.
Similar to fleece tape but with a glass cloth backing, underbody tape is tough, more resistant to abrasions and general wear, but also thinner, making this the ideal solution for cramped areas.
Where it excels is the high electrical insulation, better adhesion, and resistance to chemicals. Electrical insulation is necessary to prevent damaged wiring or missing insulation from causing electrical faults, with current easily picking onto nearby metal parts. The strong adhesive backing additionally sticks to different surfaces without wrinkling or tearing when faced with higher temperatures or liquids.
Lastly, choose underbody cloth tapes to prevent corrosive coolant; gassing batteries or hot engine oil from damaging vital engine electrics. The chemical resistance in underbody tapes is far higher than that in fleece tape, especially in variants with waterproof coatings.
Shopping For Automotive Tapes
To get wire harnesses into a protected and compact bundle, both fleece wire loom and underbody tape are easy to apply, can be torn by hand, and have strong adhesive. Common to both is that they are easy to clean without unbundling, present neatly in car rebuilds and engine repairs, and are relatively affordable compared to electrical or vinyl-based tapes previously used for the same purpose. They won’t wrinkle, fray or come undone, and are also anti-ageing meaning they’ll last for years to come.
Both are sold as rolls in varying lengths but in vehicle and wiring standard widths of 19mm. Shop for wiring tapes from specialist automotive and electrical stores to get your wiring tasks looking clean and organised, and most importantly to keep wires and wiring harnesses protected from damaging external factors.