Per the thread title, does anyone have experience of how Plasti-Dip wears on wheels?
Having had snow twice last week we're now into 60 degree weather here in the hallowed State of Michigan so the snow tires are coming off this weekend and the summer wheels going back on. The issue is the OEM Volvo wheels look like E36 M3. Corrosion is breaking out under the clear coat all over them and they look really terrible. To get them re-finished is a $700 process so that can wait until the pennies are topped up. In the meantime I'm wondering about Plasti-dipping them as a temporary measure. Being and OEM clear coat I see it as borderline not feasible to rub them down to paint them properly as the face is a machined finish, hence the long term desire to get them professionally done.
It looks like they do an aluminium, anthracite and gold in their metallic line. I’d like a dark bronze but they don’t have one. Aluminium would be too bright, the gold too garish so much as I hate black and anthracite wheels it may be the only choice.
Also how many cans of paint would I need for four 18" wheels? This is the car when new (100K Michigan miles ago) to see the car color and OEM wheels.
This shows the color best
Bronze is going on my FR-S wheels. The make a copper metalizer color. I'm thinking that over a black base coat will make the color we both want. Dip Your Car has forums. Maybe someone has figured out bronze for us.
My experience with orange plasti-dip on wheels is that they get covered with brake dust which you can't really completely clean off.
I used regular black in rattle cans back in 2011 or 2012. I had some orange peel and dirt was hard to get out, but otherwise, it held up nicely. I never exposed it to snow. I would consider anthracite with glossifier for my current car.
I did and it was terrible. 2 cans of red for 4 16" wheels was NOT enough. It's more of a 1 can = 1 wheel. You still have to do all of the same prep as paint, so you might as well paint it. Brake dust can NOT be cleaned out of Plasti-Dip. It took 5x the work to peel that garbage off after 6 months and paint the wheels than it would have taken me to just paint them in the first place.
In reply to Javelin:
If you did the same prep as you would for paint you did it wrong. Just clean them really well, that's it for prep. I would do a minimum of one can per wheel, maybe two.
In reply to Nick (LUCAS) Comstock:
You still have to take the wheels off, mask the tires, and clean the things. The only additional step for real paint would be sanding, if needed.
The wheels are off and they'd be cleaned before going back on anyway, sounds like I'm 75% there on the prep.
This is a street car DD so no bright reds or oranges to show dust.
Certainly not going to rub down and paint them. As I said the clear coat is in bad shape and to get a good paint finish would be a huge amount of work. It's wait for the $640 - 700 to get them properly refinished and turned on the face, or do Plasti-dip as a stop gap.
I'm amazed to hear that there are Plasti dip forums. Of too search.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson:
I didn't think it was too awful to do. I'm my experience the more you use the better. If you layer it on thick is tends to sit smoother and then when you go to peel it off it will come in a sheet versus being awful little chunks.
I recommend the note card method for masking off the tires or the DYC guys will even show then just applying tire shine to the rubber before spraying and it wipes right off the rubber.
I made the hood of a Honda Fit black because well, why not and I got sick of it one day walking out of a Taco Bell and peeled the sheet off in piece. Took about 30 seconds.
Also when you go to peel, if it's not coming off in a sheet, a pressure washer does wonders. You just have to sweep up the pieces afterwards.
Hal
SuperDork
3/10/16 7:49 p.m.
Haven't used it on wheels but I did the grille on my Outback in August 2015. It has held up very well thru the hot summer and the ice storms and blizzard this winter.
Didn't do any special prep, just cleaned it well with rubbing alcohol and sprayed it on. Loved how easy it was to mask and peel off the excess.
Plastidip works okay on panels and such. But in my experience should NEVER go on wheels. The heat from the brakes makes them not want to let go easily. Case in point my friend had plastidipped wheels that after a few months looked like ass, took him forever to get the crap off cause the brakes baked it on after 6 months. Fast forwards another 6months and he's got the itch for black wheels again. This time I convinced him to save money and use normal spray paint in semi gloss. The finish turned out great and it's held on very well. Now you can't remove it as easily as plastidip but plastidip on wheels that have been in use 6months+ isn't easy either.
If it were me I'd go to the local autoparts store, can't remember the brand name I used (vht maybe?)but they sell high temp wheel paints in various different colors. I bought some in bronze and it's great
My G35 had PD on the wheels when I bought it . It was done poorly. It looked like ass. I would never re-do that stuff on wheels. It's impossible to keep brake dust out of it. On the other hand, the grill was also done and looks OK.
I have used it to do the front grille, emblems, and wheels of my 87 volvo 740. I also did a friend's jeep wheels, which he now touches up once in a while by himself. Prep work makes the difference I think. My wheels looked like E36 M3, and I'm intending to swap them at some point, if I still own the car at some point, so I don't care about brake dust at all. Friend's wheels are black, so it's pretty much invisible. If it is an issue, I'm pretty sure Dipyourcar.com sells something to clean the brake dust. I wouldn't know, as I'm holding off ordering from them until I'm ready to dip the whole car.
With that said, my wheels are 14", his were I think 18". I managed 2 wheels a can, after several light passes for each wheel. I did buy 6 cans though, and assumed 1/wheel with 2 extra that I did not use for his wheels.
edit: I also did not remove the wheels. I did the front/sides, and used trashbags to cover the brake/rotor, and cardboard to cover the tire itself as I passed over it.
If you're getting grain in the finish, you're doing it wrong. Wet, wet, wet. Overlap by half the spray pattern. Don't skimp, thus making the amount thicker, and it will come off in sheets. If you have problems pealing it off, you didn't spray enough on. They make a softener to help with removal if you are having issues.
The PO had done my stock miata wheels with it.. MASK THE berkeleying tires off. It has held up for however long its been on there, but once it started to peel off the rubber of the tires, there's a lot of blank spots and chips. Still on there rather securely, I don't know if I'll be able to get it off if I so decide.
Doesn't look bad at speed, from the inside, or at a distance, but up close you can tell it was a crap job ( this is a cropped photo from 3k miles ago, without the crop it was just dark). You can also really see the overspray on the tires
As another data point, I did the wheels on my 9-5 wagon two years ago in black. I didn't do any prep other than scrubbing with wheel cleaner beforehand.
They've been through two winters, a couple scratches here and there, but mainly in the wells around the lugs. They still look better than they did before spraying them.
Rustoleum has a hammertone finish that works great on wheels, or specific wheel spray paint cans from Rustoleum or DupliColor
I bought a salvage 2010 Camaro. The wheels were dipped black. They were peeling, so I can grab an edge and pull off big sheets of it. The PO vinyl wrapped the roof and hood, wish that stuff came off as easy.
Sandblast and powdercoat, instead of "refinishing" them? I've heard quotes for $40-50/wheel. If you've already got chipping clear coat, PD may not like peeling off of raw aluminum that easily.
I do 1 can per wheel.
Take them off the car, clean, put note cards around the edges. Let it set between coats.
Take your time and it will last. I went two years with black on my mustang. Used a pressure washer to get the majority of it off, spent ten minutes getting the leftovers off after, wd40 softens it up.
I used the Duplicolor Hyper Silver Wheel coating on my street wheels. Did a gray basecoat to darken them slightly and they are holding up well.
Duplicolor Hyper Silver Wheel Coating
I am not going to paint these wheels or sand blast them and powder coat them. When I do them properly I'll get them refinished. I don't want to do anything that will make re-finishing harder. It's Plasti-dip or nothing at this point.
I think I'll try and figure out who carries plasti-dip and stop by on the way home.
