Hey guys,

So this weekend I went about plasti dipping my rear valance and unfortunately it came out looking terrible so I simply removed it. The problem was that there was so much dripping that occurred during application that when it dried up, there were tons of bumps and imperfections on the valance . I'm guessing applying less layers at a time would prevent this, but the stuff that comes out of the spray doesn't come out evenly, so I would have to respray that same area a few times before all the white (the color of my car) is completely covered.

Do you guys have any tips that would prevent dripping? Or any suggestions to help improve my technique? Thanks!

And also I read around here that we should use a xacto tool on the edges of the masking tape to make a cleaner cut. Will this scratch my paint though?

 

"xacto tool on the edges of the masking tape to make a cleaner cut"
Are you insane? Do you know how brittle the paint is?

OK heres exactly what you need to do,
Buy some pin striping paint, wait for a day when its around 75+ not really humid, and get a jack.

I assume you don't wanna remove your bumper so jack up the back side so you have a better angle.
Follow the edge of the curve with pin stripping tape make sure this is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, This is one of those measure twice paint once situations.
After that, tape it up covering the rest of the car from over-spray.
Give it a quick coat as a base coat make sure it very lightly saturated barely black.
Once that dries a bit give it a good heavy coat
Heres the trick: you CAN'T let it dry to much! It needs to stay malleable. so your as soon as your done spraying your thick coat pull off the pin striping tape and let it dry.

While it dries to perfection (this will take hours) have a beer and admire it

Edit:To help stop the chunks coming from the can; clean the can from any visible paint, then turn it over and spray it for like 10 seconds.

 

i suggest multiple sprays as well as opposed to 1 continuous spray from up close. Keep a little bit of distance.

But to save yourself the hassle of jacking up the car, taping everything off, and spraying perfectly, go with bluebats overlays. It'll be worth it.

 

Multiple sprays (or layers i think your referring too) in this case without experience will dry and give him a messed up line.
Nobody said anything about up close you have to find the right distance where it doesn't clump up and or run. Also you can't just spray and hold it continuously, you'll get chunks VERY quickly that way. You have to do it in a quick stroke motion, stopping after every stroke and giving it a quick shake. I consider that one layer because your just applying one thick layer without letting it dry.

I do agree vinyl does come out much cleaner and is less of a pain in the a$$ but it needs to get professionally, very difficult to get done first time without experience.

 

Will pinstripping tape be any different from the masking tape that I'm using now? I'll try the quick base coat suggestion, followed by a heavier coat.

Also, I did pull the tape off after spraying relatively quickly, but I guess I wasn't quick enough because some areas were dried already so the tape did remove parts of the plasti dip :/.

 

Here's the thing the edges need to be wet when you remove the paint otherwise you won't have an even line.
The difference with pinstriping tape is that you won't get that straight of a line with regular tape nor will it come out as nice Ive done it before and it just takes practice you'll get the look soon enough!

 

wow ive never had any problem with PD running. you must have sprayed an extremely heavy coat

i have always had best results with many thin coats. i found that it gave a better finish.

i havent done anything requiring taping though

 

I guess I'm the only one having issues with PD running? The issue for me is that the stuff comes out like a shotgun blast...all spread out and not even so there are tons of areas that aren't filled in with the PD. That's why I have to spray over the same area again. By the time I fill up that area, so much has been sprayed already that it starts to run.

I'll try spraying a quick coat as suggested earlier even though there would be unfilled areas. Then I'll respray again until the areas are filled up?

 

just do many light coats. all the spots will be gone after a few coats

 

My advice is spend some money and have it painted right. Plastidip looks like **** up close.

 

agreed if you want it permanent

 

I would even do vinyl before plastidip if you dont want permanent