Powder coat or plasti dip?

[candy_wagon]

I have mentioned here before that I will (eventually) be turning all my silver bits black on my white VRS wagon including wheels, grille, roof rails and even my mirrors.

I have always thought I would powder coat the rims and vinyl wrap the rest, but recently I have been researching plasti dipping everything instead.

Has anyone had any hands on experience with plasti dipping? I guess I am concerned about durability - particularly with high impact areas such as the grille.

The upshot is I can buy a kit with 4 cans of matte black and a 'glossifier' from the USA landed for under $100. This would be about a quarter of the price of the powder coat and vinyl route.

[Tim]

plastidip is a bit of fun to have a tinker with but its not very hard wearing. Really it depends if you want the results to be long lasting or not.

Also plastidip is available locally for around $30/can if you shop about. You wont be able to import pressure packs via the post.

[team_v]

I did my grill in plastidip and it probably needs redoing after 2 years.

I don't know how long it would last on wheels though.

[mitch750]

my friend did 1 and a half wheels with 1 can.. so itd be about 200 of all your wheels..

[bluefrog]

I bought from the local distributor Australian Master Distributor Plasti Dip International-Performix (Plastidip) @ $25 per can incl. GST. Shipping is cheap and by fast courier ftw

They also sell a 'can gun' attachment for $10, which supposedly gives a more even coat and better results, but I haven't tried it out yet so can't confirm.

gonna be giving my flat fives a temporary new look pretty soon

[The Speedfighter]

I have mentioned here before that I will (eventually) be turning all my silver bits black on my white VRS wagon including wheels, grille, roof rails and even my mirrors.

I have always thought I would powder coat the rims and vinyl wrap the rest, but recently I have been researching plasti dipping everything instead.

Has anyone had any hands on experience with plasti dipping? I guess I am concerned about durability - particularly with high impact areas such as the grille.

The upshot is I can buy a kit with 4 cans of matte black and a 'glossifier' from the USA landed for under $100. This would be about a quarter of the price of the powder coat and vinyl route.

I've got mine done with Plasti-Dip, and I've also got a friend in Holland who's done it on his Lupo. His wheels lasted for almost 2 years

plastidip is a bit of fun to have a tinker with but its not very hard wearing. Really it depends if you want the results to be long lasting or not.

Also plastidip is available locally for around $30/can if you shop about. You wont be able to import pressure packs via the post.

I disagree, I've tested it out on my rims here, and couldn't crack it or chips out of it

my friend did 1 and a half wheels with 1 can.. so itd be about 200 of all your wheels..

1 can is enough for roughly 1 rim (standard Neptunes)

[Tim]

I disagree, I've tested it out on my rims here, and couldn't crack it or chips out of it

Of course it doesnt crack or chip. Its a rubbery finish. Any impact with something mildly sharp tends to tear it though and once it does it can start to peel off. It is what it is. But a strong finish it is not.

[The Speedfighter]

Of course it doesnt crack or chip. Its a rubbery finish. Any impact with something mildly sharp tends to tear it though and once it does it can start to peel off. It is what it is. But a strong finish it is not.

Agreed on that point. But we've tried pointing a high pressure hose on it, nothing happened. I start going over it with sandpaper, nothing happened. Finally when I scraped a rock on it (and I put quite a bit of pressure on it) that's when it started going wrong.

[Stan]

I'm sure plasti dip has its purposes... Seems to work really well for trim, mirrors etc

I had my wheels powder coated for $45 each, which included having them blasted - hard to beat at that price and durability

[zei20t]

if you spend $100-150 to spray your wheels in plastic - and maybe do them every 2 years or $200-300 to have them powercoated, I know know ill be going powercoat.

$45 a pop is a good price IMO

[candy_wagon]

Wow - thanks for your input everyone. I wasn't expecting much on this topic!

plastidip is a bit of fun to have a tinker with but its not very hard wearing. Really it depends if you want the results to be long lasting or not.

Also plastidip is available locally for around $30/can if you shop about. You wont be able to import pressure packs via the post.

Thanks Tim. That was the sort of thing I wanted to hear. Also, I simply forgot about importing pressure packs!

I did my grill in plastidip and it probably needs redoing after 2 years.

I don't know how long it would last on wheels though.

I plan on having my car for more than 2 years and I will do approximately 40,000km per year. Maybe it won't be durable enough in my application.

I bought from the local distributor Australian Master Distributor Plasti Dip International-Performix (Plastidip) @ $25 per can incl. GST. Shipping is cheap and by fast courier ftw

They also sell a 'can gun' attachment for $10, which supposedly gives a more even coat and better results, but I haven't tried it out yet so can't confirm.

gonna be giving my flat fives a temporary new look pretty soon

Hmmm, what colour are you going Todd? Will be interested to see the pics and how they come up...

I'm sure plasti dip has its purposes... Seems to work really well for trim, mirrors etc

I had my wheels powder coated for $45 each, which included having them blasted - hard to beat at that price and durability

I can see you're in Gellong Stan, but who did you use to get the powder coating done? I am in Melbourne.

if you spend $100-150 to spray your wheels in plastic - and maybe do them every 2 years or $200-300 to have them powercoated, I know know ill be going powercoat.

$45 a pop is a good price IMO

Agreed. For the wheels at least, powdercoating seems to be the solution. I may still consider plasti dip for the other bits though.

[dArK5HaD0w]

How hard is it to remove the plastidip, should one choose to change the mind?
Does it come off cleanly, no residue, no discoloration?
The silver neptunes on yellow is growing on me more n more each day.

[Mysticality]

How hard is it to remove the plastidip, should one choose to change the mind?
Does it come off cleanly, no residue, no discoloration?
The silver neptunes on yellow is growing on me more n more each day.

Comes off clean, no residue at all. I tested some on my bonnet when I got it the other day. Clean and shiny.

I was really ashamed with the spray job on my grille, so I plastidipped it!






Looks good, IMO.
Although if I get over the matte finish, I'm gonna get some "glossifier" and coat it in that.