Have I lost my mind?

[JohnV]

Sooo...my 4R being an '04 and it's previous owner making it live outside has not left me with much of the factory clear coat still on the car.

I never wanted white but when I bought it I couldn't find the color I was looking for with 4WD and leather. I figured if I held onto it long enough it was gonna need some paint. Fast forward to now.

Instead of traditional paint I decided to go with the matte Camo Tan PlastiDip. Mainly because I wanted a flat finish and I refuse to rock primer. I hunt quite a bit and while I don't plan to sneak up on any game in the 4R, at least I'll be able to park it and leave less of a trace that there is a hunter in the area.

I went with the PlastiDip because of the cost as well. I ordered 5 gallons of PD through Dipyourcar.com on my buddy's account (he's done several cars and volunteered to help me do mine - I'm still gonna pay him though). 5 gallons cost under $400 shipped and we ended up only using 3.25 gallons and that included a re-spray of the wing because of a nasty run.

Took the wing off, the roof rack (it all got dipped black), the mudflaps, took the headlights and taillights, taped all the windows, and took off the trim that holds the tailgate switch and the license plate lights. A little more work than what some whole car dippers tend to do but my buddy and I were kinda picky about some things.

Took about 12 hours because we had all kinds of little things go awry. Nothing with the spray job directly - other than my buddy's Elvex 3500 spray gun taking a dump on us and him having to perform major rebuild work on it to get it working again. Should've taken about 7-8 if we hadn't hit the unusual snags.

I hadn't put the rear mudflaps on in the pictures below (they're back on now). I removed the running boards before we started as my 4XInnovations sliders are on order.

Observations - be REALLY, REALLY careful not to get even a drop of black plastidip anywhere on the tan. A mystery drop made it onto part of mine and while we were able to get it off, the tan underneath that spot looks odd and will be getting resprayed next week.

The door handles on the 4R are ultra prone to peeling when sprayed with PD. Two options - use black electrical tape on the inside surface (temporary at best) OR...

Just order some flat black door handles and leave them matte black (the option I'm going with - the handles are enroute as I type this).

The overspray is FAR easier to clean up/fix with PD than with regular paint. Camo Tan overspray on white paint is hard to see though.

The overspray is NOT easy to get off of a set of tires! It slipped both of our minds to mask off the wheels/tires before we started and discovered our error once it was too late. PD LOVES tires and tan is very obvious in the tread. Solution - hit it with some black PDhwell:

My buddy has had parts on his FJ done for a year now and they still look fantastic. He just recently did the whole thing in matte black and it looks phenomenal. He dipped several things on the front end of his and its held up to our daily commute route well - even with all the bugs we encounter driving over a lake at night on an interstate. I'm hoping mine holds up as well as his has.

The jury is out on how well this stuff will hold up over time but it sure cost me a lot less than a Maaco special and it looks a lot better too.

 

[BunMaster]

Looks great! Nice work.

 

[ebg18t]

That is damn cool.

 

[having fun]

Looks professional done, and the color not having the high gloss looks good to me, but, other may not.
I know in due time I would have to do some paint changes to mine and thought of a cameo theme. The pd wouldn't work for me as my problem is it gets washed with manzanita and other natures beautiful scenery at times. So far just manage to be surface scratches and waxing tends to make them not so noticeable for a minute.

 

[Mytoy4]

That's pretty awesome looking!

 

[LTDSC]

i really like that. Great choice on the color. Looks tough.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I'm not a fan of platidipping grills and such, but this is amazing, nice job

 

[R.A.]

Have I lost my mind?

If you have to ask, then yes, you have lost your mind!

Actually, you did an excellent job with PD! I've never played with the stuff, but have followed it through the forums. It will be interesting how it holds up over time.

Only thing bothering me is about your original color, white, is you said your lost your clearcoat. Toyota only used a single stage paint color (with white); it does not have a clearcoat finish afaik.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but afaik, Toyota's Natural White, 056, is a single stage paint and they never used a clearcoat on top of it.

Edit: A single stage paint job will fade over time; to bring back the original color/luster a cutting agent/polish will restore it. A dual stage paint job (base coat + clearcoat) over time the clearcoat will fail. When that happens the only thing you can do is repaint the affected area or the entire vehicle (base coat + clearcoat).

 

[JohnV]

First off, thanks for all the positive comments. I expected some negative ones as some folks can't stand the idea of their car not being shiny or being any other color than what they chose originally.

Looks professional done, and the color not having the high gloss looks good to me, but, other may not.
I know in due time I would have to do some paint changes to mine and thought of a cameo theme. The pd wouldn't work for me as my problem is it gets washed with manzanita and other natures beautiful scenery at times. So far just manage to be surface scratches and waxing tends to make them not so noticeable for a minute.

I think it will end up camo eventually. Initially the wife was very anti-camo (she said it would look "tacky") but I think that camo'ing it may be the best option down the line to fix imperfections in the current finish (which I know are inevitable - just like chips and scratches in paint). My buddy who sprayed his FJ has gotten some scratches in his from some light off-roading but nothing has torn through and they're not too noticeable - even on matte black.

Time will tell how it wears. I'll be sure to post updates after it sees some trails.

If you have to ask, then yes, you have lost your mind!

Actually, you did an excellent job with PD! I've never played with the stuff, but have followed it through the forums. It will be interesting how it holds up over time.

Only thing bothering me is about your original color, white, is you said your lost your clearcoat. Toyota only used a single stage paint color (with white); it does not have a clearcoat finish afaik.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but afaik, Toyota's Natural White, 056, is a single stage paint and they never used a clearcoat on top of it.

Edit: A single stage paint job will fade over time; to bring back the original color/luster a cutting agent/polish will restore it. A dual stage paint job (base coat + clearcoat) over time the clearcoat will fail. When that happens the only thing you can do is repaint the affected area or the entire vehicle (base coat + clearcoat).

Interesting. I didn't know that.

I do know that if you rubbed your hand across certain parts of it (before the PD) that you would get white paint transfer on your hand - I just always assumed the clear was gone...

 

[R.A.]

I do know that if you rubbed your hand across certain parts of it (before the PD) that you would get white paint transfer on your hand - I just always assumed the clear was gone...

A quick test to determine a single stage vs dual stage paint job is take some rubbing compound or the like on a dark/light cloth and rub it onto an area. If the paint comes off, then more than likely the paint is a single stage paint (I'm talking about the Toyota Natural White, 056), but this is also the case for other colors.

Some other manufactures of vehicles do use a dual stage white, but Toyota did not. Toyota, iirc, replaced the white and went to a metalic white or pearl, I think it's called a Blizzard Pearl?

Edit: Single stage paint has more or less gone away. Everything is dual stage now. And trying to find a painter who paints single stage is almost an impossibility.

 

[03limited2WD]

I think it looks awesome!!

How did you handle the painted metal inside the doors, at the hinges and such?

 

[gaterose]

Looks great! Now I'm debating on doing mine matte white or something..

 

[Snookup]

Dang. That looks great! Any pics of your buddies FJ?

 

[NJshadow93]

Did you use the plasti dip gun or just the rattle cans? I imagine it being a ton of work with the rattle cans. Also, where did you do it? In a shop/garage or outside? I can imagine the bugs trying to ruin it outside. In my experience, wet paint is a sign that says "Land here" to the bugs. :tsk: Looks great by the way.

 

[Brazenhead]

Kudos to you!

Looks great, time will tell how it holds up. I'm digging it for sure!

 

[20034RunnerV84x2]

I really like it, it actually looks kinda factory if it weren't for the matte finish. Great work!

 

[momo.75]

I really like that too! I think you should PD the wheels black

 

[futbolking]

Looks good.

 

[oljedi11950]

PD wheels

I really like that too! I think you should PD the wheels black

That's what I was thinking to Mo , just a little to offset , maybe mirrors to , but ya nicely done !

 

[J053619]

Beat me to it!

By the way, how did you do the trim around the windows & windshield, did you overspray and rip off the plastidip or did you tape them up? I'm trying to do my 4Runner as well but want to prep correctly before doing so.