There seem to be some questions about doing this, so I figured I'd save the threads and teach you all how to apply/reapply griptape:

Materials needed:
-1 Sheet of Griptape (preferably Mob, because they have little holes to prevent air bubbles)
-A Screwdriver (Preferably phillips head)
-A Wrench (to fit over the bolts)
-A SHARP Razor Knife (Go to a Dollar Store and you can buy a pack of like 6 for $1, and when out of the box they work great)
*OPTIONAL* - Blowdryer

***If you have a new deck with no grip on it already, skip to step 3***

Procedure:
1. Take your wrench and screwdriver and take the trucks off your board

2. Now that you just have your deck, you have to peel off the grip. If your grip is not peeling already, or there is no way to peel it off, take either your razor knife, and stick it under the grip and peel up, or take your blowdryer, heat up the grip so it is sticky, then you should be able to peel it off

3. Now that you just have a deck without any grip on it, take your sheet of griptape and peel off the back. As even as possible, place the griptape on the board. First have it so the grip is only laying on the nose and the tail, then starting from the middle, push down as hard as you can. Stick the grip on there and try to preven all air bubbles as possible.

4. Now the grip should be on the board, but there is excess grip hanging off the sides. Here comes the fun part. Take your screwdriver and file the edges by sliding it on the grip. You will notice a white substance on the along the edges, this is your guiding line for cutting.

5. Now take your razor knife, and make 4 little relief cuts where the wheels would be.

6. Now that you have your relief cuts, this is where you cut off all the excess grip. At one of the relief cuts, cutting along the rail (not the nose or tail yet), on an angle, cut from one relief cut to the other along the rail. Do this on both sides.

7. Now the excess grip is cut off the rails, only grip excess grip is left on the nose and tail. This is where cutting on an angle is most important. Cut along the nose as cleanly as possible, and do the same with the tail.

8. Now your board should look cleanly cut with no air bubbles. Now take a piece of the excess grip and fold it in have and sand the edges of the grip so it doesn't peel up after skating for a while.

9. Now you have an amazingly gripped board and the confidence to do it yourself next time. If you go to your skateshop and watch the person grip a board that will help as well.

*Note* Your first time may not turn out as well as the times that follow, don't get frustrated and decide to never grip again if you mess up the first time. Pictures should be up within a few weeks.

Excellent guide Uncleleo..
very well explained and im betting this will help alot of first timers at putting griptape on!
but what i do once i've cut around the grip with a stanley knife, i file down the edges to make it abit neater and to prevent the griptape from peeling off later when you use your board.
Once again great guide :)

^^^ Yeah that works fine too, I find using the grip works pretty well and prevents the grip from peeling too.

yea good guide, except for i found out that heat makes it come off whne i sat at the bus stop for 40mins in the summertime and the grip was like pulling off umm hmm lol pulling off...somethng easy to pull off it took no effort at all.

^^^If that is pointed toward the blowdryer, the heat from the blowdryer melts the glue on the griptape and you can peel it off easier.

And there is a special tool u use in sttead of a hair dryer but use a hair dryer 2

There seem to be some questions about doing this, so I figured I'd save the threads and teach you all how to apply/reapply griptape:

Materials needed:
-1 Sheet of Griptape (preferably Mob, because they have little holes to prevent air bubbles)
-A Screwdriver (Preferably phillips head)
-A Wrench (to fit over the bolts)
-A SHARP Razor Knife (Go to a Dollar Store and you can buy a pack of like 6 for $1, and when out of the box they work great)
*OPTIONAL* - Blowdryer

***If you have a new deck with no grip on it already, skip to step 3***

Procedure:
1. Take your wrench and screwdriver and take the trucks off your board

2. Now that you just have your deck, you have to peel off the grip. If your grip is not peeling already, or there is no way to peel it off, take either your razor knife, and stick it under the grip and peel up, or take your blowdryer, heat up the grip so it is sticky, then you should be able to peel it off

3. Now that you just have a deck without any grip on it, take your sheet of griptape and peel off the back. As even as possible, place the griptape on the board. First have it so the grip is only laying on the nose and the tail, then starting from the middle, push down as hard as you can. Stick the grip on there and try to preven all air bubbles as possible.

4. Now the grip should be on the board, but there is excess grip hanging off the sides. Here comes the fun part. Take your screwdriver and file the edges by sliding it on the grip. You will notice a white substance on the along the edges, this is your guiding line for cutting.

5. Now take your razor knife, and make 4 little relief cuts where the wheels would be.

6. Now that you have your relief cuts, this is where you cut off all the excess grip. At one of the relief cuts, cutting along the rail (not the nose or tail yet), on an angle, cut from one relief cut to the other along the rail. Do this on both sides.

7. Now the excess grip is cut off the rails, only grip excess grip is left on the nose and tail. This is where cutting on an angle is most important. Cut along the nose as cleanly as possible, and do the same with the tail.

8. Now your board should look cleanly cut with no air bubbles. Now take a piece of the excess grip and fold it in have and sand the edges of the grip so it doesn't peel up after skating for a while.

9. Now you have an amazingly gripped board and the confidence to do it yourself next time. If you go to your skateshop and watch the person grip a board that will help as well.

*Note* Your first time may not turn out as well as the times that follow, don't get frustrated and decide to never grip again if you mess up the first time. Pictures should be up within a few weeks.
Unclelo u live in NY right so if u live by syrcuse i am wondering if u want 2 help buil an under ground skate park skaters only no rules.

Yeah, It peels off alot easier....

You don't necessarily need mob because of the holes. you can perforate your own grip with a razer. Poking your own holes will do the same thing. You should expand this Guide by telling people how to add stripes to their board.

Any tips on makeing the skre hole?

You should expand this Guide by telling people how to add stripes to their board.

HOW HOW HOW!!!!

Im only guessing, but I think you have to cup your gripatape into rectangles before you apply it to the board. Like, I guess you go that and then stick it onto the board with some space in between each piece.

that works ....or u can just apply it then cut out ur design

Good tutorial!

Thanks everyone, I hope this has helped a lot of people. I have told people to read this so I think that it helps. I gripped my board last night following this and it came out great. Maybe if there is interest, I can make a little video tutorial. for stripes you just cut the grip into two pieces and place the smaller one on the back, larger on the front and spaced out a little bit, then you have a stripe.

I have used another method for putting the grip on. This is best for when you use non-clear grip tape because there is a slight chance the top paint on your new deck could be scuffed with this method.

1) Get a large sheet of paper, big enough to match the size of your sheet of grip tape or tape a few sheets of regular paper together to make one big sheet, it is fine to overlap the paper.

2) Get some double-sided clear tape and put some small strips of this "scotch" tape on your deck. Put the strips so that the paper sticks to the deck and follows the kicks and curves of the deck.

3) Crease the paper around the entire edge of the deck. You can also take the edge of a pencil and rub the crease edge to see it better, but keep the pencil angled to the outside of the creased deck area.

4) Carefully peel the paper off the deck, hopefully bringing the double-sided sticky tape with the paper.

5) Stick the paper with double-stick tape on to the back of the griptape (that is, on to the paper you finally peel off the grip tape).

6) Use some heavy scissors and cut the deck shape out of the tape by following the creased shape of the paper.

7) Lay your cut shape on the deck before peeling the backing to double check placement, size, shape, etc.

8) Line it up, begin peeling from one end and slowly press and peel until the whole deck is covered. This is the hardest part. It is just like putting an uncut sheet on, except now your sheet is pre-cut. As you lay it down, peel it back carefully and realign it if it is going crooked.

9) Press on it everywhere to make a good seal.

This may be hard if you 1) Have trouble cutting grip tape shapes with scissors. 2) Have trouble lining up your pre-cut sheet and peeling the sheet.

I like it because I don't have to cut it with a razor, or box knife, or whatever.

Good luck.

good guide it helped me my first time then the next time i needed it i went to the shop and had them do it

Good guide:cool: Rep+!!

nice guide. any help if you do have a bubble? the guy that did my grip tape left a bubble. :icon_mad:

thanks, nice write up!

thanks for the help

nice guide. any help if you do have a bubble? the guy that did my grip tape left a bubble. :icon_mad:
if you have a bubble or two I like to use a razor and make a tiny slice, or hole in the grip, just barely, like your popping a balloon, and then just press down all the grip that was part of the bubble.

i did my first grip tape yesterday! i bought a new board from zumies and they only had black magic so i just told them to grip me up with black magic. boy did i hate it so i went to the skateshop and got me some jessup.

Did yours turn out better than the Zumies job?

i got my board like 2 weeks ago, and i applied the griptape by myself, it wasn't really bad thought! thanks again!

5. Now take your razor knife, and make 4 little relief cuts where the wheels would be.

I dont understand this part. Can some one help me out?
andd Is there a big diff. between grip brands?

That step is not really necesary, but you just make little cuts at the four spots where the wheels would be so that you aren't cutting out the griptape as one big cut, but 4 shorter cuts instead.

the oddly shaped dips where the concave of the deck changes to the flat, but curved up areas of the nose and tail.

this is great help...and i was wondering that question also...is there a big difference between the grip tapes..

Great tut.Always wondered how to do it.

this is great help...and i was wondering that question also...is there a big difference between the grip tapes..
marginal, with one griptape you're not going to be doing 360 flips just because it isn't brand "b"

You need to sand the surface of the boad a bit when you are re-gripping. The glue of the tape leaves behind a film that will make the next sheet adhere weaker, which will make it peel easier.

peel off the old grip, then use it to sand the top of the boad lightly, and then go ahead with putting the new grip

This is very helpful, but would be even more helpful with pictures...A good razorblade to use is an xacto-knife...you can get one at Wal-Mart for like 3 bucks, because they have a rugged part at the handle by the blade that works well for removing unwanted griptape (Instead of using the already removed griptape) it is also a lot easier on your fingertips and hands, hope that helped...

I you want a line in your grip tape (an easy way to tell your nose from your tail) then you can just cut the grip tape approximately where you want the line (it doesn't have to be a straight cut) and then turn the two parts of grip tape around. since griptape usually comes in a perfect rectangle you can use the ends of it to make your line perfectly straight. just a tip for those of you who want a line.

I saw a super easy, beginner way of putting on grip the other day.

Peel the backing off the grip and lay the grip down on a flat surface like the floor, sunny side up of course so that the glue is sitting up in the air. Take your board, hold it in the middle, and slowly lower in down onto the grip so that the nose and tail are touching and the grip is visible around all edges. Then flip it over and push down in the middle, and cut around the outsides.

Thanks for this guide I needed this