Plasti Dip Question
 

OK so I have had some success doing my side mirrors and my front grill with plastidip. Since this stuff is fun and a bit addictive, I decided last weekend I was going to do the front of the hood. The track is really tearing up the front of my car. Damn you desert pebbles!

Obviously though this is a high visibility area and it has to be perfect. So this weekend I taped it off at a near professional level(pats self on back), used a tape measure to make sure all my lines were even, and started spraying. Few hours later it is looking great.

Then time to take the tape off, and a small minor disaster happened because the blue painters tape clung to the plasti dip and tore a nice big hole.

So I almost had success and if that one little section wouldn't have torn it would have looked awesome.

Question is for anyone that knows more about this type of thing than I do. What can I do before removing the painters tape that will keep it from tearing the plasti dip? Should I just let it dry longer? Any tips or tricks?

TY

When I did my front grill, I used a razor with very very light pressure to score the tape before I take it off. When I say light pressure, I mean LIGHT, you dont wanna scratch your paint.

^ what he said, maybe a credit card could work.

Don't do either of those things ^^ I mean, unless you have experience using an exacto knife or a sharp tool to cut the edges.

Theres an easier way to solve your problem.

Spray your multiple coats.. 3 or 4. Let it dry like you did..

But right when you are wanting to pull the tape off, you need to heavily coat the edges that you are about to rip the tape off from. This will get the dip wet again and the tape will come off in a nice thin straight line (if you have a good tape job, which you said you did).

I have done this many times & works. The only issue that I have had is when pulling the tape off, some of the dip smears if the surrounding tape brushes up against the wet dip.

Good luck!

So spraying it "reinitializes" it , that is true with compounds like shellac(I have done some wood finishing before). I'm not afraid of using an exacto knife either though, but I will definitely try what you recommended first.

I did my rear license plate area awhile ago. I used a small dull pocket knife that I had to help with the edges before I found out about the "RE-Wetting" technique.

Turns out when I peeled the dip off, I had made really small cuts into the paint. Not really visible unless you get up really close, but still..they are there.

This just in:
Cheap Mods don't get Desired Results.
More at 11!

j/k - get a vinyl squeegee by 3m, or a plastic card with a sharper edge than a credit card, and press against the dip while pulling off undesirable spray.

If/When you get it right, throw up some pics! I've been thinking about doing this to my dinged-up hood too.

Good luck.

Lol, I tell you though dude I am really impressed with what it is already doing for my side view mirrors, it looks great and survived last track day no problem. The stuff is quite tough once it cures. I would love the clear coat, but right now, the money is going into Enkei's and RS3's. I figure the 6 dollar fix is good for a while though. Thanks for the idea, it almost worked great last time, and despite the stupid tear was looking really good actually. I will definitely post some pics after a I get a successful attempt.

Well! I have good news for you!!!

Performix makes a clear plastidip. And 3M makes a glossy spray-on clearbra.

how about you guys get a generic roll of clearbra and just wrap it yourself?

I'm thinking plasti dip it before the track day or long road trip and then peel it off afterwards is a good solution for a dual use car.

I think your actually supposed to peel the tape before it completly dries to avoid that. Check this site out dipyourcar.com

^this

What I did on my cousin's truck was spray middle portions first and edges last... that way the edges are all wet... then remove painters tape. You will get a nice clean line if you peel the tape off while the paint is wet.

OK so it turned out pretty good I think:

Plastidip Hood-Bra - Imgur

The job overall came out pretty darn good(especially since I was drinking wild turkey while doing it)- I will keep it.

From a distance you can barely tell it is there. You can see some irregularities in the grain(despite my best attempt). But I have noticed with plastidip after a bit of exposure to sun/washing, those irregularities eventually smooth themselves out.

Those "Irregularities" will not go away.

Your spray pattern was messed up and you accidentally coated the top portion will too much dip and it got a different texture because of how close or far away you were spraying.

Unfortunately thats gunna look tacky and you will eventually remove it. Ill put $10 on it.

The reason that I know this is because I have a TON of dip experience.

Cool thanks for pointers. I had same problem on my side mirrors, but at least partially disagree that they don't smooth out a little bit. My side view mirrors definitely look better now than they did when I first did them. It took a few washes etc but they are pretty even now.

I am not so worried about it looking like a perfect paint job, I am more interested in the protection as I was getting some real dings from the track. Willow Springs is basically a desert filled with sand and round pebbles. Every time you go its like someone throwing a bag of marbles at your car.

If you really inspect it, yeah the irregularities are noticeable. Maybe I will try smoothing them out a bit on next coat(and drinking less Turkey while I do it).

I noticed that Plastidip advertises a "Smoke" and a "Clear" spray product. I wanted to try it with smoke, but god forbid you call every store in the area and ask them to custom order it. Home Depot, Ace, and some paint store I called on plastidip's distributor list all refused to do a custom order without any real explanation. I will press harder on them next time.

Nick, I used a one coat horizontal, one coat vertical. I tried to keep a steady distance of about 6-8 inches while doing the "walk like a crab" thing. Any other pointers for applying this stuff?

Haha I understand! Order a couple cans off DipYourCar.com

They have tons of colors and clear coats.

They sell a spray gun nozzle that you can buy for about $3. Itll help the spray pattern.

I re-dipped my spoiler a few weeks ago and i wasnt paying attention to my sprays. Now the spoiler has different textures. Ill have to re-peel and re-dip!...Maybe with some wild turkey.

Yeah it's a fine balance of turkey/JD/Russian standard that will actually make you a good spray painter. Drink too little and you screw it up, drink too much and you may become a genius and be given the gift of vision. I have done a fair amount of painting(mostly acrylics some enamel) and some shellac work. Plasti dip has some characteristics of shellac, like the easy to repair/remove and it reintializes itself, you can't really tell how it looks until you look at it under 500 different lighting conditions from 500 different angles.

But for now I am happy. I will check that website out. Plastidip's customer service is as bad or worse than their distributors reading comprehension. I have gotten no help from them either.

And yes the nozzle does completely suck on the cans. Most of my painting has been done on model planes/cars and warhammer 40K figurines. Orcs Orcs Orcs Orcs.