My experience with Plastidip durability

[gaterose]

Plasti-dipping has become a popular method for painting wheels, emblems, etc. here lately and I see a lot of people asking about the durability (and not a lot of responses or long term updates) of the plasti-dip so I thought I'd share my experience.

I plasti-dipped these pieces all at the one day about 7 years ago when I got bored working at a local hardware store and wanted to try it out.. I purchased the Hi-Lift jack at the same time, for reference it came powder coated. I used the plasti-dip to rubberize some eye bolts that were used to hold the hi-lift and a shovel onto the custom mounts in my bed. They have been in the bed and exposed to the elements (not garage kept) ever since.

This eye-bolt supports the heavy end of the jack and has been removed and re-inserted several times using both my hands and a long screwdriver for the times it seized from the elements.

You can see that the plasti-dip is pretty much fully intact but very damaged by the UV rays with a couple small cracks. You can also see how rusted the hi-lift is in comparison.

This is the light end of the jack and clearly the vibration has scraped pretty much all the rubber off of this mount

This is clasp used to lock a shovel in the bed, you can see that it is pretty much entirely intact as well with the exception of the top which has been scraped off from opening & closing the hasp.

These pieces have been in the elements almost 7 years and all have been scraped, bumped, slammed, and scratched up by rubbing metal and the rubber continues to hold well.

I think it should last very well for you guys dipping emblems and wheels. Clearly the sun has deteriorated the color but like I said it's been in sunshine and Alabama humidity for 7 years.

 

[Runner27]

Thanks for the update. I am thinking about blacking out my wheels this summer. Still deciding between Duplicolor wheel paint and plasti-dip. Duplicolor process is time consuming with all the prepping, priming, and painting while plasti-dip is fast and easy. I wasn't so sure about the durability of plasti-dip until this post. However, I think that the wheels may see more vibration, heat, and road dirt than your bolts so it may not last as long. Any body who plasti-dipped their wheels wanna update us about the durability?

Thanks.

 

[gaterose]

I don't know if wheel heat exceeds the heat from the sun here very much, my toolbox (where this is mounted) has gotten so hot that I had to use a shirt to open it. I've never felt my wheels get that nearly that hot.

Vibration is the same, this was mounted to a toolbox in the bed of my truck which has a lot less dampening than the cab. The Z (my truck's 'name') has seen almost as much dirt as pavement and the toolbox, shovel, axe, & hi lift vibrate constantly (you can hear the rattling inside the cabin) with the high speed driving I do in dirt with that thing.

I can't say much about road dirt but it has been covered in mud and had ATVs banged into it then pressure washed without coming off.

 

[Runner27]

if you still remember, how many coat of plasti-dip did you spray on your bolt and did you do any prep?

 

[gaterose]

The only prep I did was wipe everything off with mineral spirits before I dipped them.

You can see how thick rubber is where it's cracked... I did a lot of coats, probably 5 or 6. Maybe more, as I said it was 7 years ago so I'm not 100% certain