My first Plasti-Dip...

I got a can of red rattle can Plasti-Dip from work to see if was as cool as the internet says it is...

It sprays on very translucent and needs 3-4 coats before it covers. It chips really easily. It's also very flat. Not sure I'm a fan. I have no idea how people do whole cars with this stuff.

I sprayed a bumper to test it. It does spray flat but its rubber so its to be expected. They have pearls and glossifiers now. I thought it was quite durable once cured. We tried to chip it and scrape it with screw drivers and stuff like that, me and my buddy both thought it was very durable.

In reply to Javelin:

Check out the dipyourcar.com channel on YouTube if you want insight into dipping a whole car. They've produced some great videos.

My ex E21 I plasti dipped More Here

My Elasti Wrapped Motor pickle

I'm a fan of it.

If it's chipping you didn't put it on thick enough.

I really like the look of white plasti dip on a car. I think its one of the few colors most cars dont look half done in when matte.

In reply to Opti:

It's a bitch to keep clean over a long period of time. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than short term color change.

I plastidipped my wheels on my miata last summer and they still look about the same. No chipping even after buzzing lug nuts on and off a few times. I'm becoming concerned for the day I want to take it off though. I've watched videos on how easy it is to peel, but I've yet tried to remove it.

Since we are on the subject. I had some light overspary on my bumper where I was blacking out some badges. I tried to remove it via finger nail without any luck. Any ideas?

Dipyourcar.com makes something that dissolves it and allows it to be washed off I'd probably use that.

In reply to chief8one:

The YouTube videos I've seen suggest cleaning the area to remove any grit that could scratch, then scrubbing with microfiber.

I had a friend with real spray equipment do my hood and front end, to cover up faded paint and peeling clear coat on the Subarust. (I rattle canned the wheels). I learned real spray guns make it work much easier and go on more even. After only 2 coats on the hood it looked perfect, he sprayed 4-5 on the hood and even tapered the front edge for better wear resistance. 3-4 on the front end was enough. We light sanded the peeling clear so it wouldn't stick out.

The key (for even rattle cans) is to use enough to make a decent layer, looks better, wears better, and makes it very easy to remove down the road if you want. I rattled the MR2's wheels for rallycross and they held up well in the dirt/mud.

It's holding up well on my truck's formerly chrome bumper. I will say that it sprays better in long passes than in short bursts.

I'm still thinking about getting it professionally sprayed on my Corolla. I sprayed the mouse on my gaming PC which is a good test for abrasion, it seems to be holding up well so far.

It only takes 15 minutes to "dry" but a full 24-48 to cure. The more layers you put on, the more durable it will be and the easier it will be to peel off later. It is very difficult to peel with only a couple of coats, and overspray is a pain. Spraying gallons with a gun is the way to go for bigger projects, it goes on much more evenly. I hear that with wheels that see a lot of brake heat, it can kind of bake on there making it harder to peel later. Supposedly spraying a light coat of thinner before peeling makes it soft again. There's also the Dip Remover that Opti mentioned above (there's a good youtube video of that).

They now have gloss coatings, but also metal flake, chameleon pearls, etc. so hundreds of different color combinations are possible. I'm a little out of touch but last time I was on the plastidip forum there was talk of a high gloss product in the works as well as a hardener that would make the coating more damage-resistant.

I've had my car dipped for 2 years now in two different colors. Have documented my experience in this thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/plasti-dipped-my-rx-7/54350/page1/

Edit: It looks like the dip protecting spray is a reality now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-T24NJ_j5Q&list=UUsqsjtd902RLo8peD11olPw

Also, some really good examples of the new color choices: https://www.youtube.com/user/DipYourCarcom/videos

There's a guy with a blob-eye STi near work that plastidips it about once a month. He nails the peeled skins to the wall of his shop like trophies.

don't the wheel painting "kits" come with something like 4 cans of paint?

a guy local to me had his car dipped. custom color mix with some of those pearl additives. he had a shop do the job, I hear the cost was around $700. He was going for an Aston Martin type green. I see the car often near my office, it looks killer in the sunlight.

Never been a huge Crossfire fan, but that guy nailed it

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Never been a huge Crossfire fan, but that guy nailed it

I agree with everything you said.

Those wheels on that crossfire are GREAT.
I like the styling of the crossfire, I guess I'm the odd man out.

bonus is it IS an SRT6 with i believe somewhere around 400hp at the crank

there are a lot more photos of the car here http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65468

Srt6 Crossfires are way faster than most people think they are. That doesnt fix all that ails the basic platform but between that, the slam job and those wheels, its uhh.. certainly close enough!

My TwinStar was painted with Blaze blue, but instead of using a white base like Plasti-Dip said, I used a black base. I got a nice Navy blue out of it. "

Now that they've cured for 48 hours, they seem a lot more chip resistant. Judging by the thickness I'm seeing a lot of you post up, 3-4 coats of rattle-can = 1 coat of the real stuff through a spray gun.

Nope if you're spraying with a spray gun, you should apply the same number of coats. But 3-4 coats is the minimum plasti-dip you should apply, unless you're spraying on top of an existing layer of plasti-dip.

Agreed, I did 6 light coats with the spray gun and got decent coverage. Then I used that as a base and did 4 more coats of the new color. Also worth noting is that some of the products (like the Blaze Orange), are transparent no matter how many coats you apply, so you need to put down a solid base first.

First coat on top of original paint and primered repairs:

Three coats:

Six coats:

I did 4 or 5 coats (can't remember) on that computer mouse and it fully covered the silver paint and beige exposed plastic underneath. I remember I could still see a hint of it after the 3rd coat.