Plasti dip review

[hearno]

I'm sure there have been plenty of these threads but I figured I'd add mine in to possibly encourage someone that's hesitant. I have zero painting ability and I found this extremely easy. As I'd heard, the hardest part was masking stuff off to prevent overspray and only because it's time consuming. As you can see in the first picture, the rear bumper trim was fairly grey and oxidized. I wanted something more permanent than a back to black type product. Here are the pictures. Let me know what you think. I did about 4-5 coats and waited less than 5 minutes between each. I didn't care what the label said. I'll wait until it's dry tomorrow to pass final judgement but so far I think it's great and can't wait to use it again.













By the time I was finished, it was getting dark. I'll update with better daylight pics tomorrow.

 

[fricksean]

Looks good! I don't even bother reading the instructions either and I wait maybe 10 minutes between each coat. I actually plastidipped both my bumpers a couple days ago! The cool thing about plastidip is that if the surface you're spraying isn't very smooth (I scraped off the excess paint on my bumper but it was VERY uneven and not smooth at all), it helps out and actually dries up with a smooth surface.

 

[sluggercz]

[MENTION=97032]hearno[/MENTION] Turned out real nice man. I might try this out tomorrow, seeing as I still have a couple cans of Plasti-dip left over.

Only hesitation is whether or not it will absorb fine trail dust like my wheels do...time will tell I guess.

 

[MarcusAurelius]

Looks great, I sprayed my rims matte black and they turned out great. They looked so good one of my friends was converted and now wants to spray his Silverado's wheels.

I don't know why the instructions say it takes hours in between coats, for me it was a couple minutes and would be dry to the touch.

 

[hearno]

before versus after...

 

[EdmundGTP]

Unless you're very careful about loading and unloading large things, that dip is gonna get gouged up in no time. It doesn't take very much effort to introduce dents or "digs" into a heavy coating if plasti dip, which is why I'd be hesitant to use it anywhere where it will possibly exposed to rocks, sticks, logs, shoes, or any other large heavy items with corners or edges.

As far as plasti-dip's resistance to dust retention, it's best not to expose the dipped area to any sort of dusty environment until after it has "cured" for at least a week or two.

You'll notice when you paint with it, that even though the coat is dry to the touch, it still has a "soft rubber" feel to it. It takes at least a week of DRY weather for it to harden up that extra bit that makes it more resistant to dirt and debris. Until then, dust WILL stick to it and be difficult to remove completely.

I've plasti dipped a number of parts on my truck, and once the weather cools off here I plan to peel it all off and re-do all the parts with actual matte black paint instead.

 

[eddiebx]

I honestly do not mean for this question to come off offensively at all, but I am curious what was the point of plasti-dipping a black vinyl trim panel, with black plasti-dip?

Couldn't you have to used something like this to get the color back?

 

[hearno]

I honestly do not mean for this question to come off offensively at all, but I am curious what was the point of plasti-dipping a black vinyl trim panel, with black plasti-dip?

Couldn't you have to used something like this to get the color back?

No offense taken but... Not sure if you read the first post in its entirety. Basically, I wanted something that wasn't a greasy coating on the trim. I wanted something more permanent but at the same time reversible. I'm extremely happy with the difference it made. Whether or not it holds up is another story but that's one of the other reasons I tried it. I wanted a test run of the dip to see what it's all about. For $6, I'm ecstatic so far.

 

[sluggercz]

No offense taken but... Not sure if you read the first post in its entirety. Basically, I wanted something that wasn't a greasy coating on the trim. I wanted something more permanent but at the same time reversible. I'm extremely happy with the difference it made. Whether or not it holds up is another story but that's one of the other reasons I tried it. I wanted a test run of the dip to see what it's all about. For $6, I'm ecstatic so far.

Just did the same on my runner, click to see more pictures of it.

 

[EdmundGTP]

Really the way to go in restoring black plastic trim panels that aren't black anymore is to use a product like Mother's back to black, or Vinylex. While they may have a "greasy" feel in their initial application, they do penetrate the plastic and restore its actual original color and condition. After a few repeated applications of either of these products, you can regularly wipe the area clean with a quick detailer spray and still have the look that it did when it was new. Even minus the "greasy" feel.

Plasti dip will quickly get you back to the original "look" but it's not durable enough to last for years in a high usage or wear area. On trim panels or accent panels that only get touched when they get washed, the dip will hold up for a few years. Other places, the dip will start to show its age much sooner than the original plastic did.

 

[Tigerfan]

getting ready to do the wheels on my '04 would the clear glossifier, I think its called,
make it more durable and easier to clean?

 

[EdmundGTP]

getting ready to do the wheels on my '04 would the clear glossifier, I think its called,
make it more durable and easier to clean?

Not that I'm aware of. I believe the glossifier ends up being the same consistency as regular plasti-dip, but dries more shiny than matte. Dipping the wheels is a great way to test the waters to see if you'll like a new color/finish on them, but I wouldn't expect the Dip to last very long if you do any off-roading. If all you do is drive back and forth to work, the finish will probably hold up for a year or more.

 

[liqourish]

They make a wipe for 20$ at Walmart that is guaranteed to last like 5 years or something. I also saw the advertisement on Cable Network. It looks legit, but I rather get an oil change

 

[The Thomas J]

Plasti dip is a great product. i've used it & I liked it. I'm going to do this on to my runner & it's running boards.To make it stronger & last longer I use a matte clear coat & it looks great.

Depending on the weather it could take any where from ten minutes to a half hour to fully fry between coats. The more dry it is out side the better. So doing this in the height of a summer heat wave is not a good idea.

 

[Pirate VI]

The best thing to use is a heat gun, it will make faded plastic look band new again. They have them for about $20 in Walmart near the paint section.
The Jeep guys use this on their fender flares, worked great on my old TJ. Ive seen it used on the old Avalanches with all the unpainted plastic as well.

 

[sluggercz]

Really the way to go in restoring black plastic trim panels that aren't black anymore is to use a product like Mother's back to black, or Vinylex. While they may have a "greasy" feel in their initial application, they do penetrate the plastic and restore its actual original color and condition. After a few repeated applications of either of these products, you can regularly wipe the area clean with a quick detailer spray and still have the look that it did when it was new. Even minus the "greasy" feel.

Plasti dip will quickly get you back to the original "look" but it's not durable enough to last for years in a high usage or wear area. On trim panels or accent panels that only get touched when they get washed, the dip will hold up for a few years. Other places, the dip will start to show its age much sooner than the original plastic did.

Time will tell if Plasti-dip is a durable solution, but I can tell you I've had little success with those plastic restorer products. Have used them on friends cars as well as my old LR Discovery, and they rarely last and leave the plastic rather greasy - a big problem for trim pieces around cargo loading areas.
Either way, Plasti-dip is not the quicker solution as the prep work means that you will spend more time then you would have if you just apply a plastic restoration product.

 

[eddiebx]

No offense taken but... Not sure if you read the first post in its entirety. Basically, I wanted something that wasn't a greasy coating on the trim. I wanted something more permanent but at the same time reversible. I'm extremely happy with the difference it made. Whether or not it holds up is another story but that's one of the other reasons I tried it. I wanted a test run of the dip to see what it's all about. For $6, I'm ecstatic so far.

Haha, yeah...I completely missed that in your original post. Hopefully the plasti-dip holds up for you! If you are careful and don't touch it much it should be fine.