Someone asked me to explain how I did this on another thread... Rather than putting it all off-topic, here's a dedicated thread.

A year or so ago, I was thinking of putting a black Turbo badge on my car. I'd used plasti-dip on my truck before, and decided to use it on the turbo to make sure I liked the black Turbo badge enough to order a factory black badge... I like it, but a year later it looks great so I haven't bothered to buy and install a fancy Porsche OEM version.

General process:

• Clean thoroughly, and with Isopropyl alchohol at the end of regular cleaning. Remove all wax, oil, dirt, etc.
• Mask an overall rectangle around the badge, maybe a couple of inches around the badge, then thoroughly cover anything else that might get overspray with tape, paper, moving blankets, whatever. [Note: in the pictures below, I would leave an even larger area unmasked if I did it again, just makes it easier to grab a corner when dry.]
• The thing with plasti-dip is you don't want to try and mask only what you are painting. don't try and block paint with vasoiline, etc.
• Make sure the paint is warm enough, plasti-dip works like crap when it is cold. Warm it in a bucket of warm water if you have to.
• Coat very lightly for first layer, wait, lightly for second layer, wait, layer, wait, layer, etc. Don't apply any individual layer to thickly.
• Let dry completely!
• You now have an entire rectangle painted black (or whatever color you chose.
• Start peeling away the unwanted areas. If sufficiently coated, it tears cleanly right at the seams of the letters to the paint. Plastic razor blades and toothpicks are useful for this process for grabbing a corner to start peeling.
• Lots of videos on youtube showing a more complete process...

Clean first...



A bit overkill masking the rest of the car...



I'd make this a bit bigger opening next time...



First coat very lightly... this is after I think 2 or 3 coats?



Subsequent coats kind of "melt" into previous coats and have a wet look. If it isn't smooth, try a lighter coat and make sure the paint isn't too cold.



More coats... More is better.



Finished, clean off any residue. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the the strange bit, peeling off the overspray and having it just "break" on the letter boundaries.... Again, plenty of videos on youtube.

Fourteen months later...

 

 

Thanks brother!! Good idea on starting this thread.

 

 

I'll be doing this soon. Or may wait until it warms a bit.

Now, for a slight derail. Who can point me toward some OEM style looking BLACK exhaust tips for a 997.2TTS?? That Doesn't cost a freaking Mint!!
Couldn't believe one company wants $700.00 for a set. That's nutz for tips!

 

I agree... Tips always seem to be crazy expensive! Folks have plasti-dipped exhaust tips as well apparently with good results.

PS, doesn't look like I'm going to be high bidder on that 360 Modena!

 

Yeah, it went for a good bit more. But I figured it'd need to be around $90K to take it home. Maybe BAT bridged the gap.

 

Looks good!

 

I agree it was perhaps worth $90K+ with the low miles, but the seller really didn't know much about the car considering he was the original owner. Early Modena's had a few issues that might or might not of been taken care of. It was NOT documented in the service records he provided... Plus at $90K+, you are nudging into 430 territory which is a superior driver.

 

Have them ceramic coated, did mine last year looks great.

 

Very true. 430 6MT would be about the newest Fcar I could ever begin to think about affording.
I'll have to stick with my TTS for a while. I still love it.

The exhaust tips? I want some black ones but even if I wanted to keep my chrome ones, they need a good cleaning. Not sure some of the dark carbon spots would come clean. Previous owner didn't do a good job of cleaning them regular since it was his daily for so long.

 

Thanks, that looks good. I've only used plastidip once, but your point about NOT masking makes me realize I did it wrong.

 

Or you order one of these and keep the OEM one in case you ever want to go back: https://www.dhgate.com/product/for-p...#s1-2-7b;searl 2837464177

It is hard to see if the size is the same as the original, and I realize some people have issues with anything knock-off and not OEM.

At the same time, the plasti-dip process seems pretty straight forward. I was wondering if it could be used to cover all the cracking carbon fiber areas on my steering wheel.

 

Not likely... Plasti-dip loves to tear cleanly on any gap or corner, which is what makes it so unique and useful for covering things like badges. Exactly NOT what you want to and fill steering wheel cracks.

 

If he wants to go back now, all he has to do is peel it off. Seems a lot easier than unmounting and mounting a new emblem, worrying about alignment, etc.