I had some time these past couple of weeks so I decided to take on this particular project that I've been itching to try to begin the new year- picked a bad time of the year for this project, more on that later but it still worked out.

Problem #1: How many of you guys have exterior window/door trims, hatch trims pieces...basically any exterior trims that are currently peeling, fading, about to fade or just plain ugly as hell compare to the rest of your shinny car? I know this happens to a lot of our 25+ years old cars and mines is no exception. It's kind of annoying looking at a piece of plastic or rubber trim that's just stands out from the rest of the vehicle because it has been faded, chipped, or even rusted. I don't know how expensive are replacement parts for windows and doors trims, shop labor etc., but installing them as a diy, at the minimum would be a pain. I don't have patient for this type of work and don't trust my car to a shop to do this either...
Problem #2: Paint chips on the front lower lip spoiler, nose area and others. Again, an eye sore when 90% of the car is fine. To get a professional paint job is time consuming and expensive. Once again, I don't like to hand over my car key to a shop to do as they please for 3-5 days to get small area fixed.

Solution: Plastidip!

I've heard of this product a couple years back and after doing some research and watching many videos, I felt that this stuff may give me the best, most flexible (pun intended) to my issues above. A plus is if I don't like it, I can always remove it at any time and retain the original look. Finally, it's relatively cheap to obtain as a diy project with a quick turn-around time.

You will need:

3M blue painter tape for masking
Lots of newspapers
Plastidip paint- I use the flat black for the window/door/hatch trims and the spoiler itself (2 cans or so should do it), plastidip Clear and Glossifier for the front lip. Glossifier on top of Clear makes a nice clear -bra protective type of layer for your lip spoiler.
Goo Gone or equivalent - To wipe of over spray if any and for clean up purposes
Clean microfiber rags - Good soft rags for cleaning and buffing
Adhesion promoter (Bull Dog brand spray can) - optional
Spray Trigger - optional as it may help you with spraying a more even patter and more comfortable to use instead of pressing with your index finger.

Instructions: It's pretty self explanatory. It's about 40 degrees or cooler at this time of the year in my area so I learned the hard way because the plastidip works better in warmer temperature. I had a couple of try and error as the paint didn't stick to the rubber spoiler and I had to remove it a couple times and redo. Once I figure out to get the paint warm up with a small heater then it adheres much better. I find that you'd need at least 3 to 4 solid pass to really build up the paint well. The thicker the layering, the easier it will be for you to remove or peel of as a whole piece should you want to remove it.

Result: You can see it turned out pretty nice. It's my first stab at it so I did have an issue with the paint not sticking to the spoiler. I went to Pepboys in my area and got a Adhesive promoter called BullDog. I applied this to the rear spoiler and it helped with the plastidip sticking to the rubber material. Also, don't forget to prep the area well...I use a lot of Back to Black on the rear spoiler so it may be the reason, along with the colder temp outside, that the plastidip did adhere right away- so just prep all area well before using the plastidip. At one point, I may want to do a complete re-spray of the car but for now, I am happy with the result. You can be quite creative with these things and the possibilities are endless.

Have fun, there is a lot of material out there on plastidip a quick search will give you ton of info. I think the more you use the stuff, you will get more confident and figure out what's the best way to proceed.

Pictures coming soon...

 

Link to pix:

http://s809.beta.photobucket.com/use..._2010/library/

 

http://s809.beta.photobucket.com/use...postlogin=true

I moved the pix in a separate folder so use this link for more pix.

 

I am trying to figure out what you exactly did to the front? I assume you had some rock chips, etc... Did you first fill the chips with silver and then spray the clear Plastidip? The finish looks quite good in the pictures and I can't really see any chips.

 

Yes. I had quite a few road rash / chips on the front lip from being so low and once a month on the highway trip into town. For that area, and I forgot to mention this, I got Dr. Chips paint and did some touch up there. Then, I used a combination of plastidip clear (3 coats), and another 3-4 coats of the plastidip Glossifier. This combo is effectively a pretty darn good clear-bra cover for the susceptible areas. I have many litte chips but with these two paint choice, I am able to reduced the overall affected area greatly as you have pointed out, by blending everything in. I have a short vid that I am working on uploading...

 

Have you just repaired the splitter, or the entire front bumper cover? How did you find the Dr. Chips product? I have looked into this as well, but was not sold on it. Good to hear a first hand testimony.

 

It's mostly the splitter- lots of little chips. I bought the Dr. ColorChips as a kit for 24 chips or more and they have the exact paint. I have sooo many little chips that there was no way for me to touch up each one. However, I did the best I could (more like, ran out of patient, plus it's cold out), that I just continue on with the Clear coats and Glossifier applications...while not perfect but it proved that in combination, it works pretty well to minimize that unsightly chips. The beauty of it is that when it's warmer out, I could just peel everything off and do an even better job of touching up, blending etc, before re-applying the Clear and Glossifier. There are folks that use the combo (Clear/Glossifier/Pearlizer) as a clear-bra for the entire nose of the car. I just did the splitter since it's the one with all the unsightly chips. There are a couple small chips elsewhere that I will use ColorChips by itself---so yeah, I think it worked for my application.

 

Here is a short vid of the final walk-around- enjoy!

http://s809.beta.photobucket.com/use...ip%20951%20vid

 

Is plasti dip sorta like when they dip your Ice Cream cone into the chocolate sauce and it dries hard?
We don't have that down here I don't think.

 

Something to that affect...it's a paint but the finish is slightly elastic/rubbery to the feel. Very forgiving product and flexible to use. I mean for less than $100 in parts/material including the Dr. ColorChips kit, doing everything myself took several days but saved me the agony of forking out $1000 bucks for a "traditional" paint job. I think for racers that really don't care for a showroom finish will appreciate this type of paint and especially for the diy folks. For example, the often faded stone guards can be respray in plastidip and it'll be as good as new in functionality and in the looks department. I demonstrated this by using the Smoke plastidip paint over the stoneguards behind each wheel. I actually bought a new clear set but didn't have to use it yet because the Smoke came out kind of nice. I haven't decide what to do with the old stone guard (the bigger piece), in front of the rear wheels...I'd probably replace them with the clear ones I have in the set.

I don't believe that the product is approved to be shipped outside of the US currently but I am sure they are working on it.

 

I saw that Frank aka Gums was using it on his racecar.
btw...$1000 for a traditional paint job. You gotta be kidding me??? What the hell labour rates do they pay your workers up there? Paint down here would cost minimum $5k down here and easily go to 5 figures. Man I get sick of repeating myself but things are sooooooooooooooooo cheap in the US!!!

 

Car looks great!

and 1K for paint? Thats super cheap. I think the cheapest Macco job is $600, and normally looks like a kid with a rattle can did it.

Patrick, a quality job is just as expensive over here.

 

I've tasted both. They are not the same product.

 

Oh no, the traditional paint job is expensive. My shop quote for the splitter, header panel- basically the whole front excluding the hood and fenders was already $2K and a week of down time. For that $, i would put it towards maintenance and some nice parts. :-)

 

Thanks! Its a work in progress. I like the new look of your turbo also...are those oem turbo wheels?