 |
|
As you can see, my car needs some cosmetic love. Other than the fuel starvation, it’s driving wonderfully. One of the students at the Club Race school this weekend suggested Plasti Dip. I’ve since looked at some DIY’s and it’s totally in-sync with my CheapBastard Racing philosophy.
Anyone tried it, or know someone that has?
[attachment:1]C:\fakepath\2013-01-31 20.51.04.jpg[/attachment]
I repainted my car last year in my garage.
I used plasti-dip on all of my trim:
-bumper shrouds
-bumper rub strips
-door rub strips
-front grilles
-HVAC grilles
-door mirrors
-chrome window trim
-ugly brown windshield gaskets
-rear spoiler
-windshield wipers
but I used rustoleum gloss black spray cans on the body.
Having all the plastics the same color, rather than unevenly faded, freshened up the looks of the car a lot. I’m very pleased with it so far. Overall, it’s pretty easy to work with, but it can be slightly annoying at times. Some edges will pull up and start peeling (rather than chipping like normal paint), and there isn’t a good way to blend a repair into that damaged area. It works much better with the trim completely removed than with masking, since removing the masking tends to start the peeling.
I have no experience with painting the sheet metal with plasti-dip. My opinion is that mistakes made in flat/satin finishes are less apparent with bright colors than dark.
Are you thinking of doing the whole car, something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNY9Dx617N8
I’ve been curious about that as well, as it seems like a low cost solution for something that IMO doesn’t require high-end paint work. Some questions and concerns I would have would be:
I didn’t think too long and hard about it, as it didn’t seem like it would be a good overall solution, cost be damned. I’m usually wrong, though, so what do I know.
That’s exactly what got me thinking about it, Julian. I’m curious about your questions, as well. Apparently, they have some crazy chemical that will liquefy the rubber again so you can repair it, though I’m skeptical. Cheapthrills’ doing all the plastics/trim is something I hadn’t thought of, either. Ranger mentioned something about painting (shiny) vs Plasti Dip (matte) that got me thinking, as well. There’s a shop in town that I’ve talked to that will spray my whole car, as long as I prep it first - clean, sand, tape off - for dirt-freakin cheap - $200 - so I leaning towards that route - with an opposite-color stripe over the hood, roof and trunk lid, lined up where a passenger would sit. I’d also try doing the trim in PD, just for the fun of it.
Who knows, for sure. What I do know is that I have a race in April that the car needs to be ready for. Will probably take the car in the first week of March to get the painting done.
$200 to spray your car is a very good deal. Your plan of pulling and plasti-dipping the trim, and letting them spray the car sounds like a good course of action. Though the cleaning, sanding, and masking is a good amount of work, a good spray by a shop will save you a bunch of time, and would free up a couple days for you to spray your trim.
I am pretty sure this is what I am going to be doing to my car.
I had questions about the stickers as well and found this
http://www.dipyourcar.com/forums/showthread.php?644-Vinyl-stickers-on-Plastidip
http://www.dipyourcar.com/forums/showthread.php?442-INC-Customs-our-FIRST-whole-dipped-car
seems to work well.