leading edge tape
I Installed 4 inch wide clear 3M LE tape on my RV9A. My thoughts were the same as yours, protecting the LE from bug spatter and erosion. Never again!!
It is harder to remove the bugs from the tape than it is from the urethane paint, and a fuel spill (inevitable) stains the stuff permanently blue. There is also a summertime airborne big fat bug of some kind around here that stains it bright yellowish orange. It is expensive to buy, a pain to install, and looks terrible on my wing. My 9 flies just great, but stalls 4 knots faster than published. Not a problem if you know the numbers and the plane. All of the folks I have talked to say the airfoil on the 9 is not sensitive to the tape line. As soon as I figure out how to get this big mistake off of my plane without damaging more paint, I will let you know if that is the cause.
My advice is, if you absolutely can't live without the tape, use the black stuff.
I HATE it!!!!
Regards,
Chris