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Author Topic: Anyone try Plastidip?  (Read 4021 times)

Offline freeskier7791

Anyone try Plastidip?
« on: July 13, 2023, 10:41:57 AM »
I am really leaning towards plastidip for my car because the current paint is very rough (clearcoat peeling really bad).  I have been doing some research and it seems the stuff from dipyourcar.com is pretty decent and I also like the idea I can add a pearl and also ceramic coat it.  I would be doing this myself, and the stuff can be sprayed with an airless paint gun.

Has anyone considered or done this?  I am afraid that I would have to do way more prep work if I was to wrap the car, and I have very little interest in learning how to paint, or paying someone to paint the car.
https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline shainiac

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2023, 11:22:34 AM »
I've seen a few plastidip cars and they typically don't look great after a couple of years. If you're going to go through all the trouble of doing body work, I'd just paint it yourself.
Also, a PD kit with their sprayer is not much more than you'll spend on paint.

IF you already have a nice, large compressor, there are plenty of decent budget spray guns out there.
I didn't want to invest in a large compressor that I'd rarely use and have to deal with taking up space so I bought a turbine sprayer. 

Below is the link to the one I used. I will say that my paint job is not perfect, but a good majority of that is due to a couple big mistakes I made in technique and prep.
Mostly, I didn't have a good feel for how much clear coat needed to go down to fully wet-out, so I have quite a bit of orange peel in areas. Also, I didn't use automotive drop plastic for my DIY booth, so I had old overspray falling into wet paint.

https://www.amazon.com/Fuji-2203G-Semi-PRO-Gravity-System/dp/B00D4NPPQY

Looks like the price has gone up $100 since 2020, but it includes everything you need. I do suggest buying different tips/needles for it ($50). I think the one included is good for base coat, but too fine for primer and you'd probably get a better result going smaller for clear.

For materials I used Speedokote. I used their primer, base, clear, filler, wax/grease remover, and a bunch of other supplies. All priced very competitively and as a novice was happy with quality.
I believe they have base/clear and single stage in a few colors and several different clear coats. I used their cheapest clear and would probably pay the small upcharge for one of their nicer clears.

https://speedokote.com/

With the sprayer, paint, and prep materials, I spent right at $1000. Again, it's not perfect, but it looks as good as it did when I originally sprayed it. No peeling, flaking, or rust bubbles. You'll probably have leftover materials, and you'll be able to make repairs whenever you want.




'88 TII -  Rods/Pistons LS3, Twin G30-770s, MaxxECU Pro/PDM
BMW DCT Swap, Ronin 8.8" IRS

Offline freeskier7791

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2023, 01:41:30 PM »

Thank you for the info, those panels look good!

I have both a turbine sprayer and a big 80 gallon compressor with like 15 cfm, so plenty of air to do painting, I really want a pearl lime green which I know is probably not the best paint to start out with.

https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline shainiac

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2023, 01:51:12 PM »
If you're really interested in doing a pearl, paint the car a white or black base and load some color blender with pearl under clear coat. That's how a lot of pearl and metallic paints are done. 

Pearls are cheap and a gallon of binder is <$100 from Speedokote. I was originally planning on doing a pearl over black, but I chickened out when I realized how much work it'd be to paint the hatch and door jambs.

https://www.paintwithpearl.com/
https://speedokote.com/smr-3500-automotive-grade-color-blender/

Here's the pearl I test sprayed but ended up not using. Black base, "Black Emerald Candy Pearl" in color blender, and clear over.


 
« Last Edit: July 13, 2023, 01:56:58 PM by shainiac »
'88 TII -  Rods/Pistons LS3, Twin G30-770s, MaxxECU Pro/PDM
BMW DCT Swap, Ronin 8.8" IRS

Offline Venom13132

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Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2023, 07:17:45 AM »
I did plasti-dip on my 1998 BMW M Roadster a while back.  It was a good temporary solution to make the car look decent.  I used their gallon system with the paint sprayer cause my buddy had the sprayer.  It looked good but its definitely a temporary solution.   It is a huge PITA to remove though.  The thicker you put it on the easier it is to get off.   It took me about a day of taping off and prep work and a day of spraying and "unprepping".   Dipyourcar.com is a good company and have a lot of resources and videos.
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Offline freeskier7791

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2023, 07:34:06 AM »
@shainiac how long did it take you to do the whole process start to finish?  I know regardless of what I cover it with I will need to do body work.


I am also considering wrapping, my friend is wrapping his GTI, first time and he said he wasn't bad as long as you have a second person, he is taking his time, he has at least 3 days into it.
https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline shainiac

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2023, 07:49:22 AM »
I painted the car in my free time over about 2 months, including sanding, filler/body work, and essentially painting the car twice because I didn't realize you shouldn't paint over sanded-through primer. My new paint reacted with my old paint and basically doubled my work to reprep and repaint. It sucked.

I actually started off trying to wrap the car, but every little paint chop and scratch showed through. I didn't have the patience for wrapping l, but I found paint and body kind of relaxing and rewarding. It's nice to work a few hours and see noticeable progress.
'88 TII -  Rods/Pistons LS3, Twin G30-770s, MaxxECU Pro/PDM
BMW DCT Swap, Ronin 8.8" IRS

Offline freeskier7791

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2023, 08:57:59 AM »
I painted the car in my free time over about 2 months, including sanding, filler/body work, and essentially painting the car twice because I didn't realize you shouldn't paint over sanded-through primer. My new paint reacted with my old paint and basically doubled my work to reprep and repaint. It sucked.

I actually started off trying to wrap the car, but every little paint chop and scratch showed through. I didn't have the patience for wrapping l, but I found paint and body kind of relaxing and rewarding. It's nice to work a few hours and see noticeable progress.

My big constraint is time, did you use high build primer to block it out and then a sealer primer before the basecoat?
https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline kinger

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2023, 09:39:59 AM »
I am going to dip a few smaller things.  I have my snowmobile dipped now and never liked the tacky feel for a car but now they released new top coats that fix that.  I am going to dip my 7 if I keep it.  I like that it's temporary and makes it easier to drive and not worry. 
93 Touring, 6.3L, T56 Magnum, Mamo RPS BC2 clutch, FAST 90, NW 90TB TB, 8.8, samberg everything, AC, PS, TC, Cruise, LED Tails, HID head lights

Offline shainiac

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2023, 11:57:44 AM »
I painted the car in my free time over about 2 months, including sanding, filler/body work, and essentially painting the car twice because I didn't realize you shouldn't paint over sanded-through primer. My new paint reacted with my old paint and basically doubled my work to reprep and repaint. It sucked.

I actually started off trying to wrap the car, but every little paint chop and scratch showed through. I didn't have the patience for wrapping l, but I found paint and body kind of relaxing and rewarding. It's nice to work a few hours and see noticeable progress.

My big constraint is time, did you use high build primer to block it out and then a sealer primer before the basecoat?

Yeah, I did body filler, etching or epoxy primer over filler and bare metal, high build, block sand, more etch over any burn throughs to bare metal, seal coat, and I sanded that lightly as well.
It's no doubt a time intense process, but if it's a race car, you could probably just etch prime anything bare, scuff the car, and spray it with single stage if you're in a rush. The 80/20 rule definitely applies to body work and paint, with the exception that mistakes from inexperience can cause a lot of re-work if you mess up something later in the process, like clear coat lol.
'88 TII -  Rods/Pistons LS3, Twin G30-770s, MaxxECU Pro/PDM
BMW DCT Swap, Ronin 8.8" IRS

Offline digitalsolo

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2023, 08:46:36 AM »
I've painted a bunch of cars in my garage at this point, and even my worst results were better than 99% of plasti-dip jobs.   The few "good" ones I've seen used fairly pricey product, and prep/effort times similar to just painting a car (since the time is in the prep regardless).

There are some satin/flat paints here:  https://tcpglobal.com/pages/hot-rod-flatz-paint that will hide sins, also.    Single stage, pretty easily to apply.   My FC was painted with the Hot Rod Flatz dark charcoal metallic (I think, LOL) the last few years I had it and it held up well and got lots of positive comments.

I have plastidipped wheels and some trim.  It works fine, but the texture/feel would drive me nuts on a whole car.

I'm planning to have my Aston Martin wrapped, but I'm not confident enough to do it myself, as the materials get $$$ quickly.
Blake MF'ing McBride
1988 Mazda RX7 - Turbo LS1/T56/ProEFI/8.8/Not Slow...   sold.
1965 Mustang Coupe - TT Coyote, TR6060, modern brakes/suspension...
2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage - Gen V LT4/TR6060, upper/lower pullies, headers, tune.
2021 Tesla Model 3 Performance - Stock...ish.

Offline freeskier7791

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2023, 03:17:30 PM »
Thanks guys, I think I am going to try to do as much prep work as possible and find a shop to do the painting, or build a portable paint booth so I can set it up outside and paint.  I am concerned about painting in my garage since it is attached to the house.
https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline freeskier7791

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2023, 07:35:01 AM »
not sure if I did the right thing but I did order some plastidip, I have a car show that I am going to Labor Day weekend and I would like the car to be one color, the plan is later on to pay a shop to do a good paint job
https://www.youtube.com/thedriftingdad
1985 Mazda RX7 GSL Drift Car

CCVT

Offline spacevomit

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2023, 09:58:09 AM »
I can just see myself getting caught up in the wrap, fall and hit my head and bleed out lol

Offline blacksi

Re: Anyone try Plastidip?
« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2023, 11:40:42 PM »
Plasti dip looks great for a 6 months or so, then time for a recoat...... over and over and the black that I started with looks more charcol.  I did my jetta at least 3 times and finally repainted the top half due to clear chipping and fading.  It was my 1st time painting a car ever.  The 6 or so years of plasti dip was a nightmare to remove...High pressure pinpoint pressure washing and gasoline and rags....I was afraid of painting and getting a run or orange peal but it is amazing what you can fix with a bit of rubbing compound and a youtube video. These were before I buffed it, it looks a bit better but its all about how much time you want to put into it...The car has 601K miles on it.

PS, I have 2 gallons of black plasti dip if ya want them for cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was about to recoat when I decided to clear.