Plasti-dip car respray
Discussion
Late last year I purchased a Mustang with a few “issues”, one of which was a poor paint finish. It had clearly been badly re-sprayed at some point and then not looked after resulting in poor paint matching on certain panels, numerous small scratches and blemishes. I decided to try “plasti-dip” - a system using a type of “sprayable rubber”, which costs less than a traditional re-spray, is easier to apply, and is also reversible. A friend of mine had used this system on his car a year earlier with good and (so far) long lasting results, and as he also needed to spray his new car we decided to try to spray the two cars in a day - this turned out to be too optimistic but we managed to spray my car and the first three coats on his Saab.
The procedure is similar to normal spraying:
- mask the parts which do not require painting (although unwanted overspray can be peeled off (see pic of lights below) after spraying so this doesn’t have to be as accurate as with paint)
- mix the base (I used black to deepen & darken the resulting blue colour but any base colour can be used)
- spray 2-3 coats of base to achieve full coverage with 15-20 mins drying time between coats
- mix the clear coat with the colour and spray 3-4 coats to achieve full coverage
- after 1 hour it is cured enough to peel away the excess from lights etc (see pics below)
- after 24 hours it is cured enough to drive & wash with soapy water
- after a month it is cured enough to take through an automatic car wash without damage
The benefits are:
- any overspray can be removed from the car after spraying
- the plasti-dip can be removed easily at any time in the future without any damage to the original paintwork
- the cost of the plasti-dip rubber paint is approx. GBP 300 - 350 (more if you want to add metallic flakes or other finishes), plus the one-time cost of the spray gun
- additional coats of plasti-dip can be added at a later date to change the colour of the car again
The result can be seen on the pics below.
For the record I am not associated in any way with the manufacturer of any of the products – I thought that this information may be interesting to other PHers with cars with poor paint finishes who want another option as opposed to a traditional re-spray.
Cheers
Hi Muncher
We masked off the interior, and sprayed the door shuts with three coats of black, decided to leave the door shuts black in case I decide to change to another colour in the future, when the black had cured after 15 mins we removed the masking and closed the door onto the initial latch - so not all the way closed - then we sprayed the blue... Here's a couple of pics...
We masked off the interior, and sprayed the door shuts with three coats of black, decided to leave the door shuts black in case I decide to change to another colour in the future, when the black had cured after 15 mins we removed the masking and closed the door onto the initial latch - so not all the way closed - then we sprayed the blue... Here's a couple of pics...
Hi otolith
Yes, the plasti-dip I applied should be waxed after a couple of weeks to seal the finish etc... After approx one month it can go through an automatic car wash "street" without damage (although I must admit I won't try that - but then again I don't take any cars through those prefering to hand wash).
Yes, the plasti-dip I applied should be waxed after a couple of weeks to seal the finish etc... After approx one month it can go through an automatic car wash "street" without damage (although I must admit I won't try that - but then again I don't take any cars through those prefering to hand wash).
Hi Kris
Thanks... Well - the prep work is 70% of the job but is much less than the prep work required when liquid spraying due to the fact that only the seals touching the paint work need to be precise, any gaps don't need to be precise as any excess can simply be peeled off post spray... We preped and sprayed almost two cars in one day which is pretty good going... It was a long day but happy with the result!
Thanks... Well - the prep work is 70% of the job but is much less than the prep work required when liquid spraying due to the fact that only the seals touching the paint work need to be precise, any gaps don't need to be precise as any excess can simply be peeled off post spray... We preped and sprayed almost two cars in one day which is pretty good going... It was a long day but happy with the result!
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