Plasti Dipped the '67

[swamp rat]

Subscribed! New to me.

[bigwheel15]

Looks great but I always worry about the one guy who decides to be funny and pull a nice sized spot off.

[Step'67]

Originally Posted by low&slow

Very cool. I've read a lot about plasti-dip but never would have guessed painters out here in Idaho will actually be willing to use that stuff. Neat to see you in Nampa. Where did you go to get it done?

Hey, a fellow Idahoan! I actually painted it myself, was my first adventure in painting a vehicle. Converted 2 bays of my garage into a paint booth, worked out pretty well.

Originally Posted by prairewolf

... What did you do for surface prep before putting the Plasti Dip on. ... I know with paint that everything has to be right or it is not good. ... maybe dip is a lot more forgiving prep wise. ............ I have a 2 wheel trailer I may do/experiment with ........time will tell....... thanks,kent

... p.s ...my last an only vehicle paint project I did/helped with was my GTO, in highschool shop class 30+ yrs ago, ...and a classmate with a steadier hand than me sprayed it.......time flys

Prep was very simple. Do all of your obvious body work, sanding, smoothing, etc. I choose to wet sand the whole truck before paint to ensure no scratches and give the Dip a bit less tooth to grab onto in the event I didn't like it and wanted it off. Note: Dip does do an excellent job of filling in minor imperfections. After that, I washed it a couple of times with plain dish soap, then wiped it all down with an isopropyl alcohol/water mix. Then tack cloth, etc etc...
Crazy how times have changed, I was always the kid my friends would come to for help on their rides, except now they're mostly Hondas instead of American muscle... Oh well...

Originally Posted by bigwheel15

Looks great but I always worry about the one guy who decides to be funny and pull a nice sized spot off.

Don't you just love people? That honestly did cross my mind, but even up close you can't tell it's Dip, or a "wrap job". Looks just like any standard paint, so hopefully they'll leave it alone.

Originally Posted by Evaded

Dip is great... Both mine... the red still needed two more coats to complete at this point. Its durable, washable and looks cool. You can buy the expensive kits for other colors, or just buy rattle cans and spray yourself. You need to really know what your doing with rattle cans, my black Subie was complete and awesome! Black coupe is green underneath and red sedan was red..

BTW four door Subie has white dipped wheels as well...

Total cost per car with paper, tape and 20 cans of dip under $175

Eric (Evaded)

Yah I definitely would'nt reccomend rattle cans to anyone starting out, pretty hard to get it to look right. Looks great!

[sboris]

Interesting. Something I might consider on a low budget ride.

[Step'67]

Another thing it's good for is for those whose trucks are primered, maybe body work done, even ready for paint, but they just aren't ready/can't paint it quite yet. This is a great way to get a top coat on everything, seal out the elements so the primer doesn't absorb water, and still have it look awesome.

['69C-10]

Looks great! I've done 5-6 sets of wheels but haven't worked up to doing the C-10 yet. Did you do your door jams, etc.?

[Step'67]

Thanks! I didn't actually. I was on a tight deadline trying to get it done before a show and didn't have time to do so. But all the jambs are flat black, and I like the contrast when you open the door, so will probably leave it that way for a while.

[ksshane]

This is what I was thinking about doing, but not sure what to do about the inside of the bed. It seems durable enough for going down the road, but I doubt you can use it in the bed if you plan to haul anything.

If I can figure out what to do about the bed I might be sold

Originally Posted by Step'67

Another thing it's good for is for those whose trucks are primered, maybe body work done, even ready for paint, but they just aren't ready/can't paint it quite yet. This is a great way to get a top coat on everything, seal out the elements so the primer doesn't absorb water, and still have it look awesome.

[Step'67]

Yah that is one drawback, you'd have to be careful if you sprayed the inner bed. Depending on what you put back there, it might not hold up to well. What I did was mask off the inside of the bed, right on the line where the bed rails take a 90 and turn into the bed walls. Then when I sprayed, I feathered the edge so despite Plasti Dip's slight thickness, it's nice and smooth. Then you could go back (or do it in the first place) and paint it even temporarily. My inner bed is black and the contrast with the silver looks pretty good so I left the bed for now, at least until I get to replacing the wood.

[Prematuregrey]

How well does it do with heat? In Texas, it gets HOT for long periods of time and I'm wondering if this stuff will hold up over time or loose its adhesion after 30 days of 100+ and 100% humidity. Does the engine heat on the hood affect it much or discolor it? Would it hold up well in the inner fenders? I've been planning on rubberizing or bed lining the inner fenders of my truck but this stuff appears to be less expensive.

The truck looks great though. And thank you for the informative write up.

[Step'67]

This past summer in Idaho has been one of the hottest in quite a while, breaking 100 easily. I have had no problems at all in the heat. There are guys who paint their exhaust tips with this stuff so it's pretty heat resistant. Hood looks great, in fact the rest of the vehicle looks just like the day I painted it. No fading, no discoloration, nothing. Temperature within reason doesn't seem to touch it.

I probably wouldn't use it for the underside of the inner fenders. While it may hold up just fine, that is a lot of abuse. Keep in mind this stuff is designed to be removable, so it doesn't dry rock hard, and therefore is susceptible to tearing. I would probably stick to at least under body coating for the inner fenders.

[Haggis]

I'm actually doing the same on my truck, as a temporary paint job until I can tackle the bodywork. The stuff is awesome, really easy, cheap and holds up really well. As some have said it dries to a rubbery type finish so it holds up really well to dirt and debris. As long as your surface is nice, clean and smooth underneath it will be smooth on top.

As far as heat goes, a lot of the import guys use it for engine covers if that give you an idea of what it can take. Their website claims up to 200 degrees of heat resistance.

Another note, you can use regular paint over the top and it will peel off with the plastidip should you change your mind.

[Step'67]

Plasti Dip is definitely versatile and can be used just about anywhere in an automotive application. I can't speak to the top coating of Plasti Dip with paint, but I do know applying a standard automotive (or rattle can) clear coat over top of it does make it nearly impossible to remove the Dip should you so choose, so I would personally recommend against clearing it with anything other than a Plasti Dip gloss clear coat (or satin).

[CBrown680]

I have seen some the videos on You Tube and they make it look fairly simple. I am sure it has some really cool applications, might try it on my wheels, and the underside of the hood, and maybe the interior. The possibilites are endless.

[az's1971C10]

Thanks for reminding me of plasti dip. I just started sanding my C10, or should I say my daughters C10. It has a crappy paint job and I was planning on doing the truck a little at a time due to time and money. It will be a high school truck so I don't want to put a nice paint job on it for HS parking lot abuse. I think this might be my best option until the truck comes back to me full time.

For those of you who start plasti dipping your C10's please post your pics.

[Evaded]

Heat is not an issue with dip... im in San Antonio TX and have had zero issues with dip. Ive been using dip for the last 5 years. We have months of 100 degree weather here.

Eric (Evaded)

[swamp rat]

First thing that comes to mind for where i live would be getting door dings, guess it would depend on the angle of the hit as to if it would dent or tear?

[Jahloha]

Originally Posted by Haggis

I'm actually doing the same on my truck, as a temporary paint job until I can tackle the bodywork. The stuff is awesome, really easy, cheap and holds up really well. As some have said it dries to a rubbery type finish so it holds up really well to dirt and debris. As long as your surface is nice, clean and smooth underneath it will be smooth on top.

As far as heat goes, a lot of the import guys use it for engine covers if that give you an idea of what it can take. Their website claims up to 200 degrees of heat resistance.

Another note, you can use regular paint over the top and it will peel off with the plastidip should you change your mind.

Haggis:

Give me a holler when you do this or if you already have. I would be interested in seeing the results first hand; if you'd be cool with that.

Mahalo!

[Step'67]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

First thing that comes to mind for where i live would be getting door dings, guess it would depend on the angle of the hit as to if it would dent or tear?

I haven't had any issues with it getting torn. This stuff is pretty tough, and as long as whatever hits it doesn't have a sharp edge, it wont cut. It takes quite a bit of force to cut, let alone actually tear Dip from the underlying surface. I do have one door ding that I noticed shortly after painting it, and the only reason I can see it is because the line is a slightly lighter color than the surrounding paint. You really have to look for it to see it though.

[american revolution]

can you spray a clear over a patina original paint truck to keep that original patina look. will it protect it?

[JointTech]

assuming $300ish in dip. What does $300-$500 worth of sherman williams auto paint get you? Will it last as long? when does dip start fading or cracking. It looks really cool vs $3000 in PPG paint, but if you are comparing it to cheap paint?? Sherman williams is theonly place around me that sells paint and the quote was for a matte grey in their house brand. not including primer.

I was thinking of priming in normal car paint and then doing the rest of the truck in that plastidip hot pink. my wife would love it. Then in a year I can peel it off and paint it the color I want.

[Haggis]

Originally Posted by Jahloha

Haggis:

Give me a holler when you do this or if you already have. I would be interested in seeing the results first hand; if you'd be cool with that.

Mahalo!

I've already started. Just been working on the roof so far, got about 3 coats on. I'm only using the spray cans from Home Depot, so its not the best way to do it, but cheapest. I also did very little prep other than cleaning it because this is only meant to be short term paint job, hence why it looks a bit uneven and you can see filler cracks (which i didn't do, I found then while sanding down the rough spots in the paint). So far I'm 4 cans on the roof alone, roughly $25, I'll need one more to finish it off, then a lot more for the body but this is the cheap way to do it.

Originally Posted by american revolution

can you spray a clear over a patina original paint truck to keep that original patina look. will it protect it?

Oh yes. They make a clear version of the plastidip. A lot of people use this in place of a clear bra for the front of the car to protect from chips. Now its not a permanent solution, but it should protect for 2-3 years no problem.


I also want to note, some paint shops have added plasitdip to their available services for very reasonable pricing. We have a couple places here in SLC that will do a full car for around $500 depending on size and color, just striping for $150 and they can even custom tint it for you.

[swamp rat]

So reading above about comparing to paint, i'm not a body man but i envision needing some kind of a paint booth with positive ventilation and exhaust/filter to do a halfway decent paint job, what about Plasti dip? Just spray it outside? have some of you painted lesser expensive paint outdoors too?

[Haggis]

The nicer the setup, the nicer it will turn out. I'm just doing mine outside in my driveway. It dries very quickly, and even being here in the fall underneath trees I haven't had anything stick into it. I just always give it a good wash off before laying another coat if I have to leave it for a few days. I also am focusing on just one panel at a time since I am outside and using spray cans, that way its easier to keep on top of it. Obviously using an indoor area or some kind of makeshift protection would allow you to go at it much quicker. With a spray gun setup and a garage, you could easily have it done in 1-2 days.

[Step'67]

As Haggis said, the nicer your "spray booth" the less contaminants will attach to the paint. You don't need to go crazy, and you can just paint it outdoors, but doing it indoors, hanging some plastic, and removing as much dust as possible goes a long ways. Painting out of a rattle can with this stuff is just like using spray paint, it can be done (Evaded's rides look very good), but usually doesn't look nearly as good (uneven, striping, etc). If you do it "the right way" with actual thinned Dip out of an HVLP gun, one can achieve much better results. You can easily do an entire vehicle in one day, from prep to baking it in the sun using an HVLP gun.

While Haggis said it's cheaper to use the spray cans, that's true if you are taking into account buying the sprayer as well. But for around $25, thinning the Dip yourself, you could have nearly a gallon of sprayable Dip, ready to produce much better results and a much smoother more consistent finish. If you're on a tight budget, or don't want to justify buying the sprayer, that makes sense. But if you can afford the sprayer (or even a cheap Harbor Freight HVLP gun that the Dip community says still works great) I'm more of a fan of, if you're going to do it, do it right.

In regards to the question about covering patina with it. As long as it is well prepped, free of any dirt, debris, paint chips, etc, theoretically it should cover just fine. I used clear Plasti Dip to make my own color, so you could just spray it with the clear Dip without mixing any pigments in it. Or use Plasti Dip gloss, just depends on the look you're going for.