I get to plastidip again!

"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
08/21/2013 at 21:57 • Filed to: None

So I parked under a tree, my car became a bird toilet. Went through a car wash to clean it off, and as my car is slowly pulled through I think to myself "I wonder if the plastidip will hold up"...

Actually, the answer is yes and no. One wheel survived, the others need to be redone. And even on those, the faces of the spokes were fine. What does it mean? I need thicker coats on the sides. Lesson learned. Fortunately I have a whole can left and can get another for $6. Looks like I have another little project this weekend, cleaning the crap off and starting over. Hooray!

DISCUSSION (10)

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Jayhawk Jake
08/21/2013 at 21:59

Even better is watching a coworker walk away from your car with what you think is a trashbag balled up only to find out he pulled the plastidip off of one wheel....

Naija > Jayhawk Jake
08/21/2013 at 22:27

you're suppose to get those cleaners that require no scrubbing to clean plastic dipped wheels, and they sell one on their site

Jayhawk Jake > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT
08/21/2013 at 22:40

Awesome. I'm seriously starting to question if I even want to bother. I just tried to patch up the one wheel that survived and seem to have screwed THAT one up while trying to wipe off a lug (scratched the dip).

I love the color, I'm not sold on plastidip. At least not on wheels. I might just save up for a set of black wheels or to have someone powdercoat them...

The Stampi > Jayhawk Jake
08/21/2013 at 23:26

I've heard that using the clear glossifier over your base coats of colored dip makes it a little harder to take off. Might be worth looking into unless you prefer the matte finish over gloss

Leadbull > Jayhawk Jake
08/21/2013 at 23:31

Plastidip is not supposed to be a permenant solution anyway. If you like it enough, getting them powder coated might be worth it.

Jonathan Hays > Jayhawk Jake
08/21/2013 at 23:39

Yikes, that's not good! How many coats did you put on? I put four coats of black on the wheels I did, with a four coat gloss top coat. So far its held up perfectly, although I hand wash rather than using a pressure washer (mainly because I'm cheap).

My brother plastidipped the wheels on his Jeep over a year ago and they're still looking good. Makes me wonder if it has to do with the wheel style almost. The wheels on his have a very flat design, without any sharp creases; maybe the plasti has an easier time bonding to that than it does to something more intricate. Who knows!

Jayhawk Jake > Jonathan Hays
08/22/2013 at 00:40

Four coats, but I think they were too light. On the faces it held up fine and peeled off as advertised, elsewhere it rubbed off easily, which it shouldn't do. I stripped them down for now, I will take the wheels off and try again some other time.

Jayhawk Jake > Leadbull
08/22/2013 at 00:42

I need to find a shop to powdercoat them. I got a quote from a wheel repair place for around $500, which is too much. I'd go as high as $200 or $250 for a powdercoat.

AddMustard > Jayhawk Jake
08/22/2013 at 02:14

Haven't gone through a normal wash with mine yet (need to this week) but since the regular wash is chewing up my license plates, I'm going touchless car washes in the future so hopefully that produces better results. How recently did you plastidip the wheels? They need 3 days before you can do anything rough with them

edit: I see you just did them Saturday - that should be enough time to cure. I've got 6-7 coats on my wheels, I'll try touchless tomorrow and let you know how it goes

Jayhawk Jake > AddMustard
08/22/2013 at 08:28

Like I said, since one wheel made it alright it's pretty clear that I just needed more/thicker coats.

For now, I cleaned it all off. I'll try again in another week or so.