EzekeiL
Member
Hey everybody,
Dunno if this has been covered yet. I know a lot of people have touched upon plastidipping in general, but I wanted to do something more then just flat black...even if the results werent very far off xD
Basic Goals of this project:
- If you want a different color then just flat black or white
- If you want to retain the awesomeness of being able to remove and return to factory whatever at any point in time.
Budget: $40 - $100 Depending on what kinda paint, what kinda supplies, and how much of all of it.
I did my wheels. I really wanted some nice bronze colored wheels to go along with my car. I will tell you right now...it is hard to find the right bronze in a spray can to go with silver... >.> Seems the most important part about this is patience. Take your time and it will come out good. No need to rush. This took me two days since I had to do only one pair of wheels at a time and the first set took me longer cause I only had a rough outline of what to do xD
Supplies:
- Plasti-dip (white or black) - I averaged a can per wheel with 4 coats *
- Some form of colored spray paint. I went with Rustoleum Oil Dipped Bronze *
- Painters tape or Playing cards or something like playing cards (will touch upon later)
- Newspaper or some other form of covering (if you are using painters tape)
- Car Jack, Jack stands, standard tools
* - Follow the directions for your desired paint for coat and dry times.
This is a simple, and cheap, way to change the look of your car if your not really into just flat black or white. It is quite labor intensive...as I found out. You can apply this to any part you would normally plasti-dip. The finish depends a lot on what paint you use and how you apply it. Without a clear coat the plastidip will lend itself to a slightly rougher surface but that can be compensated for with the paint. You can also clear coat this to give it a really nice smooth and shiny finish once your done with color, but clear coat is a hardener so it will make it significantly harder to remove when the time comes! It will come off, but it will be more difficult.
I apologize a head of time for the crappy pics
Step One:
Find a place to paint!
- If you have a booth then you are golden!!
- If you HAVE to do it outside...try to make it on a really windless day with low pollen or try to find SOMETHING to cover the wheels with. If you do it outside be prepared for the side effects. If your ok with some dirt flecks then go for it! If your more of a perfectionist but dont have a booth, then try to do what I did (read below)
- Make your own booth!!
I did this by using my garage doors and just taping up some plastic painters covering stuff. I found some laying around, but if you have to go buy some then it isn't all that expensive. A garage isnt the best setting since there is still dust and dirt and stuff but it keeps you out of the wind and any stuff that might be flying around. I managed to get no perceivable dirt in the paint, so I would say thats a win.
...And before I get yelled at for leaving my car on the jacks (and yes, that is the scissor jack up front...) I had to work with what I got...and I dont have any jack stands so that was what I got. They are on my 'To Buy' List.
Step Two:
Prep the wheels (or whatever part) for paint.
- I have no pictures of this, but all I did was wash them really good with water. If you want to use a chemical then by all means go ahead, just make sure that you dry it THOROUGHLY because some stuff will have an adverse reaction to the paint and it wont bond so you will end up cursing after you did all this work. Take your time, this is pretty important part.
Step Three:
Mask off the wheels (or whatever part)
- Ok, this is where I had some trial and error. I started off using the blue painters tape, and this would have been fine (if not a little slow) but my tires had some of the 'make me tire shiny like' silicone/wax and i found out the hard way that the tape doesn't stick to that stuff. So long and skinny is make sure you dont have anything that will keep the tape from sticking to the wheel if you use this method! Here is a picture after I had a near disastrous tape peel while putting on the plastidip. If you use painters tape only you can use newspaper or brown masking paper to guard from over spray.
- So that little part was the only part of the original tape job that stuck. I remembered hearing about using playcards in my research so I used the only thing I had that was like it. Notecards!
- This is the other tire in the set which I (thankfully) masked off after I did the first coat on the other tire. I used my notecard technique and it worked much better. I used the painters tape around the rim to give me more of a forgiveness area and to add more rigidity to the notecards to hold them in place.
- As a side note, the painters tape sticks just fine to uncoated rubber (like the back of my tire for instance) ...just all that tire shine stuff makes the tape not stick...common sense, but I totally didnt even think about it
- I did my wheels by the two's since I didnt have four jacks or jack stands. So on the second set I got a little smart and got some dollar store playing cards and used that to section off the tires from the wheel...looked kinda cool too
- It was much easier with the playing cards and also much much quicker! If you have the opportunity to get the tires off tho, that would be the best way to go about it!! In absence of that tho this was the best way for me. Come to your own conclusions tho.
- I masked off around the tire, where the hub connects to the wheel, and the center cap area. If you want more designy stuff then go for it! Just read up so you get it right!
Step Four:
Paint Thy wheels!
- Now you are ready to paint! First put down your coats of Plastidip. I did 4 coats on each wheel. Remember that many thin layers are better then on thick. So with that in mind try to keep your first coat light but get good some paint on all the areas. I particularly had trouble with getting in the little lip between the tire and wheel. Just takes a little bit of patience and by the last wheel I figured out that I should hit that spot first xD Try to be even with your coats ( i know this is difficult with spray cans) and you should be ok! Plastidip is relatively forgiving in the sense that it is somewhat 'Self healing' it will make up for some of your bad spraying and even out nicely. It was perfect for me to get used to spraying on the wheels! All in all it was pretty easy on the difficulty chart once I got the hang of it.
- Next, I waited 2 hours for the plastidip and then I coated with the paint with the same process! Easy as that!
- The bronze doesnt really come through in the pictures, and it is a little darker then I would have liked but I am satisfied with it for now!
On the car:
This is Stock:
So that's it!
This is a cheap and easy way to change the whole look of your car.
I am quite happy of the way the wheels turned out and I learned a whole lot from this process. The best thing about this is that when I am ready for a new look, or if I want stock back, all I have to do is peel off the paint and either start over or leave it stock.
I highly suggest this if you want to go with a color besides flat black or white but you dont want to have to go through the whole prep process involved with actually painting plus you want the flexibility to remove it later on down the line and do something different or return to stock without having scuffed up the original finish.
I am not totally sure on durability yet, but I know plastidip has been proven to be pretty strong. You can use any paint you want on it, but I would suggest some form of outdoor paint. Im pretty sure rustoleum will hold up pretty darn good because its a relatively proven paint. There is also duplicolor, and duplicolor wheel paint plus a ton of other options for colors. I will probably go with something alittle more radical next time ;D
I hope I touched upon everything, but if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Best of luck to you all!
Dunno if this has been covered yet. I know a lot of people have touched upon plastidipping in general, but I wanted to do something more then just flat black...even if the results werent very far off xD
Basic Goals of this project:
- If you want a different color then just flat black or white
- If you want to retain the awesomeness of being able to remove and return to factory whatever at any point in time.
Budget: $40 - $100 Depending on what kinda paint, what kinda supplies, and how much of all of it.
I did my wheels. I really wanted some nice bronze colored wheels to go along with my car. I will tell you right now...it is hard to find the right bronze in a spray can to go with silver... >.> Seems the most important part about this is patience. Take your time and it will come out good. No need to rush. This took me two days since I had to do only one pair of wheels at a time and the first set took me longer cause I only had a rough outline of what to do xD
Supplies:
- Plasti-dip (white or black) - I averaged a can per wheel with 4 coats *
- Some form of colored spray paint. I went with Rustoleum Oil Dipped Bronze *
- Painters tape or Playing cards or something like playing cards (will touch upon later)
- Newspaper or some other form of covering (if you are using painters tape)
- Car Jack, Jack stands, standard tools
* - Follow the directions for your desired paint for coat and dry times.
This is a simple, and cheap, way to change the look of your car if your not really into just flat black or white. It is quite labor intensive...as I found out. You can apply this to any part you would normally plasti-dip. The finish depends a lot on what paint you use and how you apply it. Without a clear coat the plastidip will lend itself to a slightly rougher surface but that can be compensated for with the paint. You can also clear coat this to give it a really nice smooth and shiny finish once your done with color, but clear coat is a hardener so it will make it significantly harder to remove when the time comes! It will come off, but it will be more difficult.
I apologize a head of time for the crappy pics
Step One:
Find a place to paint!
- If you have a booth then you are golden!!
- If you HAVE to do it outside...try to make it on a really windless day with low pollen or try to find SOMETHING to cover the wheels with. If you do it outside be prepared for the side effects. If your ok with some dirt flecks then go for it! If your more of a perfectionist but dont have a booth, then try to do what I did (read below)
- Make your own booth!!
I did this by using my garage doors and just taping up some plastic painters covering stuff. I found some laying around, but if you have to go buy some then it isn't all that expensive. A garage isnt the best setting since there is still dust and dirt and stuff but it keeps you out of the wind and any stuff that might be flying around. I managed to get no perceivable dirt in the paint, so I would say thats a win.
...And before I get yelled at for leaving my car on the jacks (and yes, that is the scissor jack up front...) I had to work with what I got...and I dont have any jack stands so that was what I got. They are on my 'To Buy' List.
Step Two:
Prep the wheels (or whatever part) for paint.
- I have no pictures of this, but all I did was wash them really good with water. If you want to use a chemical then by all means go ahead, just make sure that you dry it THOROUGHLY because some stuff will have an adverse reaction to the paint and it wont bond so you will end up cursing after you did all this work. Take your time, this is pretty important part.
Step Three:
Mask off the wheels (or whatever part)
- Ok, this is where I had some trial and error. I started off using the blue painters tape, and this would have been fine (if not a little slow) but my tires had some of the 'make me tire shiny like' silicone/wax and i found out the hard way that the tape doesn't stick to that stuff. So long and skinny is make sure you dont have anything that will keep the tape from sticking to the wheel if you use this method! Here is a picture after I had a near disastrous tape peel while putting on the plastidip. If you use painters tape only you can use newspaper or brown masking paper to guard from over spray.
- So that little part was the only part of the original tape job that stuck. I remembered hearing about using playcards in my research so I used the only thing I had that was like it. Notecards!
- This is the other tire in the set which I (thankfully) masked off after I did the first coat on the other tire. I used my notecard technique and it worked much better. I used the painters tape around the rim to give me more of a forgiveness area and to add more rigidity to the notecards to hold them in place.
- As a side note, the painters tape sticks just fine to uncoated rubber (like the back of my tire for instance) ...just all that tire shine stuff makes the tape not stick...common sense, but I totally didnt even think about it
- I did my wheels by the two's since I didnt have four jacks or jack stands. So on the second set I got a little smart and got some dollar store playing cards and used that to section off the tires from the wheel...looked kinda cool too
- It was much easier with the playing cards and also much much quicker! If you have the opportunity to get the tires off tho, that would be the best way to go about it!! In absence of that tho this was the best way for me. Come to your own conclusions tho.
- I masked off around the tire, where the hub connects to the wheel, and the center cap area. If you want more designy stuff then go for it! Just read up so you get it right!
Step Four:
Paint Thy wheels!
- Now you are ready to paint! First put down your coats of Plastidip. I did 4 coats on each wheel. Remember that many thin layers are better then on thick. So with that in mind try to keep your first coat light but get good some paint on all the areas. I particularly had trouble with getting in the little lip between the tire and wheel. Just takes a little bit of patience and by the last wheel I figured out that I should hit that spot first xD Try to be even with your coats ( i know this is difficult with spray cans) and you should be ok! Plastidip is relatively forgiving in the sense that it is somewhat 'Self healing' it will make up for some of your bad spraying and even out nicely. It was perfect for me to get used to spraying on the wheels! All in all it was pretty easy on the difficulty chart once I got the hang of it.
- Next, I waited 2 hours for the plastidip and then I coated with the paint with the same process! Easy as that!
- The bronze doesnt really come through in the pictures, and it is a little darker then I would have liked but I am satisfied with it for now!
On the car:
This is Stock:
So that's it!
This is a cheap and easy way to change the whole look of your car.
I am quite happy of the way the wheels turned out and I learned a whole lot from this process. The best thing about this is that when I am ready for a new look, or if I want stock back, all I have to do is peel off the paint and either start over or leave it stock.
I highly suggest this if you want to go with a color besides flat black or white but you dont want to have to go through the whole prep process involved with actually painting plus you want the flexibility to remove it later on down the line and do something different or return to stock without having scuffed up the original finish.
I am not totally sure on durability yet, but I know plastidip has been proven to be pretty strong. You can use any paint you want on it, but I would suggest some form of outdoor paint. Im pretty sure rustoleum will hold up pretty darn good because its a relatively proven paint. There is also duplicolor, and duplicolor wheel paint plus a ton of other options for colors. I will probably go with something alittle more radical next time ;D
I hope I touched upon everything, but if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Best of luck to you all!
Last edited:
