Plasti Dip Application Tips

[The Stig]

Plasti-Dip Application Tips (for Spray Cans):

1. Consider practicing on something unimportant first, just to get the hang of it. Something like a light switch cover, a piece of scrap wood, or something lying around in your garage.

2. Clean whatever part you are coating very thoroughly – Start with soap & water, but then use acetone, paint thinner, or nail polish remover to make sure you get all of the finger grease & etc. off of it…

3. If you’re not planning on removing the plasti-dip ever, consider sanding the part before coating it. While not necessary, sanding the part will produce better results…

4. Your first few coats should be very light. You need to establish a base. Start with a very, very light spray over the part, so thin you can still see the original color under it. Wait about 15 minutes then do another light coat, but this time spray thick enough you can’t see the base color anymore.

5. In your next few coats start laying it down thicker and thicker. Once you have a solid base built up, you can & should lay it on pretty thick – obviously you don’t want it to run, but you want it on thick enough it looks glossy.
6. Shake the can a lot, and take breaks while spraying so you don’t get lazy and hold it one spot too long and create drips.

7. Don’t try to spray too large of an area at one time – the nozzle will start to clog, resulting in drips and uneven spraying. If you’re going to do a large area, have multiple cans you can switch between so no one can is being used longer than 1-2 minutes.

8. Allow 30-40 minutes between coats after your first two coats

9. Be sure to spray it from multiple angles to get full coverage – I suggest propping the part up, and then making sure you can walk around it so you can hit it from every angle. If you don’t get full & even coverage, some areas of it make look darker or glossier than other areas.

10. The closer you are, the smoother the texture. The further away you hold the can, the more textured it looks. Spray accordingly, but be forewarned that if you spray too far away it will be really annoying to clean…

11. Let it dry for several days before trying to wash or clean it – it takes a little longer to fully cure and will be a little sticky or tacky to the touch in the meantime. If possible, I’d wait at least 24-48 hours before installing the part on your car to ensure it doesn’t chip prematurely.

12. Keep the can upright when spraying, and be sure to clean out the nozzle by spraying it upside down when done. It is easy for it to clog, which will produce poor results.

13. Temperature – like normal spray paint, avoid extreme temperatures such as it being really cold, really humid, or really hot. This will affect drying time and may also prevent it from curing properly.

14. Over-spray – now this is the really awesome thing about Plasti-dip – you don’t really have to worry about over-spray that much…if you happen to overspray you should be able to peel it off.

15. You can refresh your plasti-dipped items if they start to wear, fade or chip – after about a year my grille needed a few touch ups, so I just cleaned it and re-sprayed it from scratch, starting with a few light coats and then building it up, just like I originally did, and the results were stellar, making it look brand-new again.

16. Always buy a few extra cans – since you spray it on pretty thick, you go through it pretty quickly. I buy my Plasti-Dip through Amazon, but you can buy it at local home improvement stores like Home Depot, Lowes or Ace Hardware too…

17. Take the tape off while the plasti-dip is still wet. AKA finish your last coat and then immediately peel the tape off. This will prevent the plasti-dip from peeling off when you take the tape off an hour or so later.

Plasti-Dip Removal Tips:

Equally as important as applying it, is how to remove it. Personally I haven’t been too successful in this area, but here are the most common ways to remove it:

1. Pressure washer – blast it off
2. Mineral Spirits or Acetone - disintegrate it
3. Sandpaper – sand it off
4. Fingers


Uses for Plasti-Dip on Cars

You can use Plasti-Dip virutally anywhere except areas that get very hot such as the engine bay or around the brakes & wheels.

1. Black-out Grilles – a cheap project that can really transform the look of your car…
2. Black-out Emblems – de-chrome those ugly badges by spraying them with Plasti-Dip for a more stealth look. You can even do this with the emblem still attached to the car! Check out this thread on G35NYC.com for pointers on this
3. Black-out window or chrome trim – much like the emblems, your overspray will peel right off the windows of your car and/or car paint, so you can use this to pretty easily cover your window trim.
4. Interior Trim – I’ve seen several people Plasti-Dip interior trim pieces to match their OEM trim – the black textured look matches perfectly with a lot of common interior materials, making it seem as if it came that way from the factory
5. Wheels – I’ve seen it done, and it does work. Though you may have to touch them up after 6 months or so. If you’re considering having your wheels powdercoated black, you could try Plasti-Dipping them to see how they look, and if you don’t like it you could always peel or pressure wash off the Plasti-Dip.
6. Rear Valence – this one is iffy – the heat from your exhaust may eventually melt off the Plasti-Dip, so it really depends on how much power your car puts out and if you still have catalytic converters or not, but for many applications you’ll be fine.

[GreenMonster]

spent about 3 hours painting the bezels over and over because I didnt have an awesome guideline like the one above (thanks OP)

Plasti Dip is pretty F*ng awesome.. just spray, if you mess up just peal, cant ask for anything better. The finish on the bezels look superb, its like a satin almost flat black. Ill post pics of the bezels later. Thanks again for the detailed guideline

Regarding your tips on how to remove: I just used my hands no matter how wet or dry the object is you just literally peal it off and viola its back to normal, no marks or stains.

[anglwngss]

Excellant write up. Thank you..
one question, Which thread on G35NYC?

[xpanda305x]

Originally Posted by GreenMonster

spent about 3 hours painting the bezels over and over because I didnt have an awesome guideline like the one above (thanks OP)

Plasti Dip is pretty F*ng awesome.. just spray, if you mess up just peal, cant ask for anything better. The finish on the bezels look superb, its like a satin almost flat black. Ill post pics of the bezels later. Thanks again for the detailed guideline

Regarding your tips on how to remove: I just used my hands no matter how wet or dry the object is you just literally peal it off and viola its back to normal, no marks or stains.

what he said! i was helping him out and omg this stuff is super cool! you mess up or you dont like how it looks? NO PROBLEM just rub it off or peel it off!

we did the front lower bumper thing! and removed it! we did the bezels! AMAZING!

[GbrilliantQ]

Done my taillight bezels, rear bowtie and the rims. Looks amazing. Just need some better weather to get some pix.

Great tips for a beginner!

[Alain]

i've seen white plasti dip spray on amazon. does white pllasti dip spray really exist. i've been to my local hardware store a bunch of times and asked them about it and they always tell me that they've never heard about white plasti dip spray.

im afraid to buy it from amazon and not get white.

anyone know if white really exists?

[xpanda305x]

yes go to the plastic dip website they have white , clear , black , yellow , red , blue

[Alain]

Originally Posted by xpanda305x

yes go to the plastic dip website they have white , clear , black , yellow , red , blue

yeah, i saw that. but the only thing i saw was that "mix your own colors" i don't think you can spray that after you mix the white..... i think that's only for dipping.

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by xpanda305x

yes go to the plastic dip website they have white , clear , black , yellow , red , blue

You can order all of the above colors in spray can or dip form. You can also do the "make your own color" and get a spray can of that as well.

However, in my nonprofessional opinion: stay away from the clear. It is not a glossy clear as you would think. But rather a flat dull clear coat. On top of it not being glossy it is very hard to apply, doing it wrong will leave bumps and blisters in the plastic.

[xpanda305x]

idunno? even then dipping would be easy or u can transfer it to a spray?

[Alain]

ohhhh, you can get the white in spray form ??!?!?!?!??!?! niiiiiiice

[Jimbabwe]

When you repaired that area in the from (#15) did you remove all of the old plasti dip or did you just go over the top?

Great writeup

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by Jimbabwe

When you repaired that area in the from (#15) did you remove all of the old plasti dip or did you just go over the top?

Great writeup

You need to remove all of the old plasti dip. Otherwise you will get a layering effect. Again its not hard to remove either so not a big deal to take a bit off.

[GoPaul]

I also used Plasti dip on my tailight bezzels, they turned out great.

[yotaman96]

Will the plasti-dip come off if it's ran through a car wash with high pressure?

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by yotaman96

Will the plasti-dip come off if it's ran through a car wash with high pressure?

That I do not know. My car does not go through a car wash so I have no experience. Does someone who knows this from personal experience want to chip in?

[DarkneSS]

Im gonna spray my friends car black at night while hes sleeping as a birthday present.

[zombi]

Plastidip won't come off in a car wash you can pressure wash it and it will be fine.

[bigwayne3000]

Is the black a gloss? If not, since the clear coat isnt that great, what would oyu reommend using as a clear coat or in order to get a glossy look to it? All my accents on my car are gloss black so I would like to stick with the gloss black look. Another question, how do you do the lug nuts so that when you put on/take off the tires, the lugs dont chip or get destroyed??

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by bigwayne3000

Is the black a gloss? If not, since the clear coat isnt that great, what would oyu reommend using as a clear coat or in order to get a glossy look to it? All my accents on my car are gloss black so I would like to stick with the gloss black look. Another question, how do you do the lug nuts so that when you put on/take off the tires, the lugs dont chip or get destroyed??

Sorry, plasti-dip is a flat/satin black. I am sure that you could spray a clear over it after you were done, though I do not know how that would affect the whole "peels right off" thing.

As for the lug nuts, you can't do them. Well I mean you can, but they will just get ruined when you put them on. I went to Apex Motorsports and bought a set of black gorilla lug nuts.

[JCO2185]

i love plasti-dip. i am officially hooked on this stuff. Did my wheels, lower grille, and the taillight trim rings.

I even have people at my job doing their wheels with this stuff now lol

[zkdreads]

Plasti-dip is the shiznit!!!

[YOUNGnRECKLESS]

great write-up. i've done my wheels and heritage grille with this stuff, looks great. its basically a perfect match with the OEM black like you said.

well done

[scythezo6]

I plasti-dipped my rear trunk panel, LS7-style. I taped off the bumper and then masked larger parts off with plastic trash bags. I removed my bezels and went at it. The only thing that is difficult for me is peeling away the masking/painters tape with out peeling the plasti-dip away. Anyone have any suggestions? I WILL NOT use a blade to score the edges because thats just down right stupid. I'll post up picks later. It looks oK but the passenger side edges look a little stupid up close - its reversible so what the hell right?

[scythezo6]

Originally Posted by stieger

That I do not know. My car does not go through a car wash so I have no experience. Does someone who knows this from personal experience want to chip in?

I ran my car through a touchless wash yesterday. Tailight bezels, front bumper and rear trunk panel still intact. The trunk and bezels were sprayed last weekend and the front bumper about 2 weeks ago.

Verdict: Holds up under pressure.