Plastidip Whole Car Options

[rave2n]

Alright folks...I got a wild hair, and need to address it.

I want to plastidip the whole red GT.

There are a few reasons for such.

1. The current paint is horrible and ugly as sin with clear chipping off everywhere.
2. I will be swapping over black doors..and obviouslly I'd like the colors to match atleast some!
3. After seeing a couple done online, it doesn't look half bad, and would look better than what I have now.
4. Easy removal for when the swap is done, and the whole car will be professionally painted then.
5. I have a bunch of exterior bits I want to put on, but cannot because of the current red paint situation, this will have them all one color until it comes time to paint correctly.

According to calculations I should be needing about 25 cans. The paint is "flat" black..I'd call it more of a semi-gloss. There should be approx 5-6 coats depending on which panel is being painted. Will be done in stages to avoid uneven layers.

Lets hear thoughts on why and why nots please.

Did I mention I hate red, and love black cars?

This post has been edited by rave2n: May 8, 2012 - 12:04 PM

[mak5603]

The goods out weigh the bads (if any at all..) in my opinion as well. Especially since you are planning on a respray regardless after your swap. Just make sure you do a clean job and just like you said, it will be way better to have a one color car with non chipping paint and all of your parts.

[jordisonjr]

And no swirl makrs with plasti dip

But don't they make a kit for painting the whole car? as opossed to using rattle cans to do the whole thing?

[SwissFerdi]

Did I mention I hate red, and love black cars?

Yes. Do it.

[rave2n]

Hmm the panel has spoken! Well keep an eye out, I'll be tackling this shortly after the move.

A kit for the whole car...I must research this...may be cheaper than 25 cans at 6 bucks a pop.

[Special_Edy]

Well rattlecanning an entire car is going to suck, especially doing 4-5 coats. Plan it out well( like start on this fender, end on this bumper sort of thing).

Make sure to use wax/oil remover, its next to the automotive paint at most places. I would also suggest chipping off all the peeling clearcoat and wet sanding the entire car with 400 grit before you spray it. If you carry out this paragraph worth of suggestions you may get excellent adhesion, but if you dont you will have peeling and fisheyes.

One last thought, you could go over the final coat with wetsanding to make it more or less glossy. Not a bad idea since you will be rattle canning it.

[rave2n]

Well rattlecanning an entire car is going to suck, especially doing 4-5 coats. Plan it out well( like start on this fender, end on this bumper sort of thing).

Make sure to use wax/oil remover, its next to the automotive paint at most places. I would also suggest chipping off all the peeling clearcoat and wet sanding the entire car with 400 grit before you spray it. If you carry out this paragraph worth of suggestions you may get excellent adhesion, but if you dont you will have peeling and fisheyes.

One last thought, you could go over the final coat with wetsanding to make it more or less glossy. Not a bad idea since you will be rattle canning it.

Sounds about right, thanks for the tips.

Not sure about the wetsanding though, it is a rubbery type of paint, and may tear under such stress if not layered thick enough.

I'm currently looking into the plastidip car kit...basically a paint sprayer and paint, mix and goto town.

I have a keen arm for rattle cans, alot of the parts on my old celica were rattle and many would never know. Time will tell on this project. My car is currently ugly as sin, so all this could do is move forward progressivly.

[Box]

That's the one thing I don't like about my car, it's red. Kind of curious as to how this will turn out.

[mkernz22]

You don't need to sand the car, just use an automotive cleaner to get the oils and junk off. I used this on all 4 of my wheels with just wiping them with a rag and it came out fine. It's very hard to make this uneven, just make sure you have enough on so that when you peel it, it comes off nicely and not in patches.
It is more of a matte black than anything, doesn't reflect that much light so super-stealth in the dark haha

Oh yeah, and the cans work just fine. It might look weird when it's wet, but once it dries, it all settles down

[rave2n]

You don't need to sand the car, just use an automotive cleaner to get the oils and junk off. I used this on all 4 of my wheels with just wiping them with a rag and it came out fine. It's very hard to make this uneven, just make sure you have enough on so that when you peel it, it comes off nicely and not in patches.
It is more of a matte black than anything, doesn't reflect that much light so super-stealth in the dark haha

Oh yeah, and the cans work just fine. It might look weird when it's wet, but once it dries, it all settles down

Yea that is about the same process I had when I did my wheels

Now the super-stealth I'm all for...the cops here are already eye-balling me plenty in red.

Just didn't want to discredit Edy's post on a well thought out process for traditional paint.

[kurt95gt]

Why not just use flat black spray paint?
The only diff would be the peeling off part

[rave2n]

Why not just use flat black spray paint?
The only diff would be the peeling off part

You have a good point.

Reasoning is less mess, "matte" black as its been described do not like the flat flat look, and if I literally hate it..I just peel it away.

Plus can for can, they cost about the same, and I believe plastidip is more sturdy compared to regular rattle can paint that will get hard and brittle thus cracking/webbing all over the place, because of the old paint under it I may or may not sand...most likely not...just going to sand the bad clear out.

[kurt95gt]

I spray bombed my old civic primer gray for 25 bucks lol
It held up good but i hit the whole car lightly with 220 grit first
But i understand wanting to be able to remove it too if you dont like it

[Box]

Duplicolor makes automotive paint in spray cans. Brother used for bumpers, looks great.

[smkr3w]

DANG IT! I'm planning on doing this beginning of June and wanted to be first! LOL

Oh well, great minds think alike.
Tho' I will be doing white.

Cant wait

[LALA-shark]

You dont have to use the sray cans. dipyourcar.com sell a kit, it comes with an electric spray gun and the also sell gallons of the plastidip that you can use in the spray gun

http://dipyourcar.com/

[rave2n]

DANG IT! I'm planning on doing this beginning of June and wanted to be first! LOL

Oh well, great minds think alike.
Tho' I will be doing white.

Cant wait

Lol yea! I'll let you know how its goes.

You dont have to use the sray cans. dipyourcar.com sell a kit, it comes with an electric spray gun and the also sell gallons of the plastidip that you can use in the spray gun

http://dipyourcar.com/

Yea I saw that earlier and havn't decided if I want to pay 200 dollars for a sprayer, and a gallon of paint....doesn't make much sense.

I can use a traditional sprayer with some thinner and possibly get the same result, been researching just havn't gotten to a conclusion yet.

[mkernz22]

Honestly, don't waste the money on a gun and paint, the cans will come out perfectly fine. It'll still look great and you won't need to spend as much when you will just be painting the car anyway. Why spend the extra money on something temporary when you can put it toward the actual paint job?

[Tigawoods]

just wrap it

[smkr3w]

just wrap it

Wrap is expensive.. The cheapest I've seen it is online, if you do it yourself is about 500 plus.
I had a conversation with Yellowchinaman who said it wouldn't be ideal to wrap a WHOLE car yourself and wouldn't be worth it to pay a shop to do it either.