Anyone have experience with Plasti-dip? Lesson needed

We're going to paint the roof of the Corolla with plasti-dip since the paint is in horrible condition. It is already relatively "primerish" due to Toyota not knowing how to make a decent quality white paint. There are also two small spots of rust that have started. Some questions that I have:

• What preparation beyond cleaning it should we do to the roof?
• Is there one way to clean it that is better for the application of plastidip, or can I just take it to the DIY car wash?
• What about the temperature--should we do this in a garage after leaving a heated blanket on it for an hour? (we're in Chicago).
• I understand that we'll need about 4-6 coats. Do we do them immediately after each other, or wait for one to dry?
• How long does it take to dry?

Or if anyone can point me to another thread with this stuff, that would be helpful as well. Thanks!

My best advice would be to head over to YouTube for the dipyourcar.com tutorials by "Fonzie." The quality is quite good.

If you're planning on driving it through the winter, just actually primer the car. Plastidip will allow moisture under it and accelerate corrosion.

Sand away the rust, or nutralize it chemically. Spray some epoxy primer to seal it up.

The dip drys nearly instantaneously. If you are using spray cans, soak them in hot water to raise the internal pressure for better atomization. If you aren't doing a color change you can get away with fewer coats.

I didn't clean my bike's tank when I sprayed it. Didn't seem to matter.

WOW Really Paul? wrote: If you're planning on driving it through the winter, just actually primer the car. Plastidip will allow moisture under it and accelerate corrosion.

So will your normal primers.

WOW Really Paul? wrote: If you're planning on driving it through the winter, just actually primer the car. Plastidip will allow moisture under it and accelerate corrosion.

My experience disagrees with this statement.

My experience also says that if your going white keep it clean. It stains really easily.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/the-plasti-dipped-e21/52192/page1/

My thread on it.

Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock wrote:

WOW Really Paul? wrote: If you're planning on driving it through the winter, just actually primer the car. Plastidip will allow moisture under it and accelerate corrosion.

My experience disagrees with this statement. My experience also says that if your going white keep it clean. It stains really easily.

I've seen far too many destroyed alloy wheels to even consider it for anything other than temporary usage.

In reply to WOW Really Paul?:

I had plastidip on my alloy wheels for 3-4 winters in Chicago without removing it and the wheels looked brand new still.

Kill the rust with some rust reformer type phosphorus spray then clean well with grease/tar remover or isopropyl alcohol. 4-6 coats yeah but let them dry slightly between coats like normal spray paint, maybe 15 min. The more coats the easier it will come off, my largest coated panel is a Volvo hood (full bed size ha) and did 4 coats I believe and it's actually worn thin in some spots and silver shows through. But I believe there's no time window for respray so you can go over it whenever.

Edit, my girlfriends front grill is also dipped maybe 3 coats and it's wearing thin and chrome shows through. Medium thickness coats work well I feel (I did thin coats on the two pieces I mentioned)

I don't know much about plasti-dip, except someone tried to do it to the car I recently purchased.

It didn't bond worth a crap- I could literally peel off every square inch if I tried. It most certainly would not breath- it's like the car is wrapped in a balloon (which then started peeling in sheets).

On the plus side, it looked so horrible that it reduced the value of the car and contributed to my being able to buy a complete running rust free Miata for $600.

In reply to SVreX:

That is exactly what it's supposed to do. Peel off like that I mean.

In reply to Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock:

By itself???

In reply to SVreX:

If an edge lifts for whatever reason it certainly can. It's not that hard to get off. I never had any problems with it lifting the year and a half or whatever it was I had it on my car. It did deteriorate towards the end though.

mtn wrote: - What preparation beyond cleaning it should we do to the roof?

The better the prep, the better the result. Just like if you were going to paint.

- Is there one way to clean it that is better for the application of plastidip, or can I just take it to the DIY car wash?

After I've sanded, filled, sanded, primered, sanded and washed the repair areas, I use the dipyourcar.com pre-dip spray on the whole car.

- What about the temperature--should we do this in a garage after leaving a heated blanket on it for an hour? (we're in Chicago).

If you spray when the air temp is too cold, the product tends to not adhere properly and you get massive overspray issues. I'd try to avoid doing it in less than 50 degree weather if possible but 70 is ideal.

- I understand that we'll need about 4-6 coats. Do we do them immediately after each other, or wait for one to dry?

On a warm day, 10-15 minutes is all it takes for a coat to dry to the touch. Often you can go right into your next coat on the first side of the car after finishing the last coat on the other side.

- How long does it take to dry?

Let it dry 24 hours after the last coat for best results. They also sell a dip hardener spray you can use.

Or if anyone can point me to another thread with this stuff, that would be helpful as well. Thanks!

Here's my thread with all my experiences using the product. I plan to do dip #3 this spring with one of the new metallic pearl flakes in their high gloss product.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/plasti-dipped-my-rx-7/54350/page1/

Why not just use some cheap normal paint? If the car is white or black its easy to match or if you were doing a "temporary" color change with plastidip it'll look better as paint.

Plus if you have rust nothing will stop it except treating the rust or sanding then treating. Covering it up on one side usually doesn't stop it from spreading.

Rustspecs13 wrote: Why not just use some cheap normal paint? If the car is white or black its easy to match or if you were doing a "temporary" color change with plastidip it'll look better as paint. Plus if you have rust nothing will stop it except treating the rust or sanding then treating. Covering it up on one side usually doesn't stop it from spreading.

Mostly because cheap normal paint applied in a garage will look like E36 M3, and is more permanent than the plasti-dip.

I normally do heavy coats every 15-20 minutes. It will run if you go too heavy. It's almost the consistency of rubberized underspray, just doesn't come out in such big chunks. Keep some WD-40 handy for any over spray, and what not.

SVreX wrote: I don't know much about plasti-dip, except someone tried to do it to the car I recently purchased. It didn't bond worth a crap- I could literally peel off every square inch if I tried. It most certainly would not breath- it's like the car is wrapped in a balloon (which then started peeling in sheets). On the plus side, it looked so horrible that it reduced the value of the car and contributed to my being able to buy a complete running rust free Miata for $600.

Super jealous of the "running rust free Miata" for the exact same price I paid for "a pile of rust that loosely resembles a Miata but somehow still runs". I really should just do the fly-and-drive thing & visit family in Atlanta while I'm at it next time I feel the urge to buy a cheap car.

My son and I used plastidip on his E30. It's been on there for about 2 years. Held up really well. He decided to peel it off of a few panels for repairs and respray. Comes off the vertical surfaces pretty easy but the horizontal? Almost impossible. It's like sun and time have conspired against it ever coming off. And I'm not talking about hard to get off. It literally will not come off. He's begun sanding it off. Food for thought.

Subarust has dipped hood & front end. I was lucky that a local SCCA friend had tried his own dip business & dropped it, but kept the equipment. All I had to do was buy the 1 gallon of dip. Professional application goes a long way vs rattle can. (I've done emblems, wheels etc by can and it's fine, but I've heard large areas like roof and hood might show streaks.)

Now the roof is starting to show some age, deciding if I will try my rattle can work in the Spring.

In any case, wait about 15min per coat to dry, even thin coats. Temp makes a difference, I did the Subarust emblems too late, around 50-60F and it has some serious texture but good enough #becauserallycross. If you have to do it in lower temps, use a bucket of hot water to warm the cans after spraying.

dbgrubbs wrote: My son and I used plastidip on his E30. It's been on there for about 2 years. Held up really well. He decided to peel it off of a few panels for repairs and respray. Comes off the vertical surfaces pretty easy but the horizontal? Almost impossible. It's like sun and time have conspired against it ever coming off. And I'm not talking about hard to get off. It literally will not come off. He's begun sanding it off. Food for thought.

I've heard that if you mist the trouble spots with some thinner first it will soften up old dip and make it easier to peel. In worst case situations, they sell a dip dissolver spray that lets you just wash it away with a pressure washer.

I did my whole motorcycle in white. Plastics were already screwed so I figured it couldn't hurt. It's only been on 4 months. Looks a whole lot better than the scratched plastics, and cleans easily with a damp rag. It's not fabulous but I had a hard time justifying a full respray on a beginner bike that I got for cheap.

The only downside to mine has been that Kawaskai wants stupid money $37 for one tank sticker, so I have no decals on my bike yet. $37 really? By the time I buy one for each side I'd have more into the two stickers than all of painting the bike.

I did sand down the plastics prior to spraying, but not the tank. All seem fine so far. I used cans and sprayed on warm summer evenings.

sorry for crappy photo

I had my bike white. It attracted dirt like a small child. If you decide on a different color, don't peal it off, just spray more. It'll come off far easier.