Fanatics Guide: Plasti-dip Matte Black E46

Well guys I figured I'd share my Plasti-dip experience with you all. Bellow I will go into some detail on the preparation, what all I bought, how much it was, how I set up the "studio", and the overall experience of it, along with pictures and a time-lapse video so you can see the progression.

Shopping list:

Dipyourcar.com

1. 3 Gallons of Matte Black plasti-dip - $177
2. 3M Respirator - $29
3. Pre-dip spray - $9
4. Glossifier - $9
5. Repair kit (In case I needed to fix anything after.....I did)- $7

Amazon.com

1. Earlex 3500 Sprayer ~ $135 (I bought from here because my roommate has Prime so shipping is faster and cheaper then from Dipyourcar.com)

Home Depot

1. Painters tape (2 rolls) - $9
2. 9'x12' clear drop cloths - $12 (I grabbed 6 at $2/each)

Setup

My garage "fits" 2 cars so I had plenty of space to move around in it and set up the sheets to mask just about everything. The only pointers I can give would be to cover EVERYTHING. My roommate and I were under the assumption that as long as we mitigated over-spray, then we'd be ok for the most part, well yes and no. Yes in the sense that we never got any on the walls and floor. No in the sense that its still an airborne paint that's coming out of the gun so when i finished and turned to the sheets, i saw a beautiful pattern all along it.....and the ceiling. Its really nothing major and you can hardly tell (and its comes off pretty easily) but yeah DEF should cover what you dont want to have excess paint on.




Prep

BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP.
I really can't stress it enough. I read a few other posts on doing this and they all say the same thing. Preparation is the make or break for this kind of ordeal. If you take the time to prep well then your paint job should go off without a hitch.
Anyways, to start I covered the roof in an old sheet, and the rest in newspapers then taped around it. I left large areas on the front and back windshield so that the dip would peel off easier - excellent tip too btw from Fonzy at dipyourcar. Other then that its pretty self explanatory. Just look at where your natural edges occur and do not try to be a tape genius and tape straight lines, trust me, you can't. I had already had my roof/trim vinyled years ago so thats why I covered it.
Once you take the time and patience to cover places like your grill, exhaust, and air box cut outs, then your ready for the actual paint job. Remember be patient and take your time.
Places I noticed to be the hardest:

1. Along the roof-rail where the door lift up for a roof rack, I had to exacto-knife this to get these open.
2. Door handles
3. Where the bottom window trim meets the body
4. The top window trim as you get closer to the hood (it comes very close to the body.

Painting
Ok this was the hardest step to start, but really the easiest step if you have a steady hand and patience. (I only say the hardest because I was crazy nervous to start )
I wont go into every detail about how to do it, because I'm for sure no expert. Instead you can check out Dipyourcar's youtube channel and learn from the pro himself as I did, watching him paint an entire car and re-paint a car using the newer Earlex Gun.
It is very methodical and you will separate the car into sections as you can see from the video. This makes it easy to achieve little victories. Also your areas will sometimes not be the same "shade" but dont worry it will settle out as long as you are consistent.
With 3 gallons, I was able to get 5 solid coats and have some left over for when I do the wheels later on.
The first coast is light, and after that it gets heavy and dark.



The mark on the hood is just dust I hadn't brushed off yet.

Besides all that I still have the wheels to redo - since I was planning on doing them now but seeing how dipyourcar forgot to mail my glossifier in my original shippment......

I will continue to update as I progress forward with the wheels and anything that comes up over time - Hope you guys enjoy -

wow great post...

looked like it turned out really well

Originally Posted by ZHPinthe103

wow great post...

looked like it turned out really well

Thanks I really appreciate it - I'm hoping to have the glossifer soon and get the wheels done then get some real pics of it for everyone here -

Looks cool - I might plastidip my bicycle frame for kicks.

Looks good, good job and good write up. I've been waitin for this. How is the texture? Is it smooth to the touch?

Originally Posted by KaliVertBoy

Looks good, good job and good write up. I've been waitin for this. How is the texture? Is it smooth to the touch?

yeah at first for about 12-24 hours, its going to seem a little rough, but only in the sense that it feels like rubbing a balloon. After that and once you get it out, wash it down and let it dry, yeah its pretty smooth. Obviously not nearly as smooth as a $2k vinyl wrap job, but yeah pretty damn smooth.
The first layer (as you can see in the video) is very stripe heavy, its only meant to be a base and very thin layer, but thats the only one like that. I experimented a lot with the spray cans on my wheels before doing this and noticed that when you do more then 1 coat as the light layer you end up just making the finished layer (4th) extremely textured and not smooth at all. So yeah 1st layer quick, every other layer should be almost fully reflective without running the paint (very fine line here), and then it dries and presto.

Wow it looks fantastic! Great job

I think I just sort of leaked a little bit seeing the M stripes in your kidney grills... I've never seen that before, I LOVE it.

So you're saying to get a smooth finish apply all coats, after the first coat, thick? I want to do my autocross wheels and I'd rather have the smooth finish but in my experience it leaves a textured finish.
Do you know where to buy colored plasti dip in spray cans?

Home depot, menards' lowees and prolly a few other home improvment stores carry plasti sip but to get it in other colors besides black you'll have to search online.

Originally Posted by peytonracer4

So you're saying to get a smooth finish apply all coats, after the first coat, thick? I want to do my autocross wheels and I'd rather have the smooth finish but in my experience it leaves a textured finish.
Do you know where to buy colored plasti dip in spray cans?

Yeah to get it in different colors in cans, on dipyourcar.com
And yeah, watch a few of the videos of Fonzy demo-ing how to apply it, especially to wheels. Like I said before, I had to experiment a few times with the cans before I got a wheel just right. Took me about 2 cans for 4 wheels and I had to redo one. I can get a close up to show you some of the "texture."

Ok lemme say three things.

1)You clearly sprayed over your headlights. LOL
2) You clearly sprayed your windshield. LOL
3) Nice work, looks clean...but I fuvking hate all your plasti dippers

Originally Posted by trive2

I think I just sort of leaked a little bit seeing the M stripes in your kidney grills... I've never seen that before, I LOVE it.

This!!! ^^^

From the whole car, I been staring that the front grill.

Originally Posted by sweetness

3) nice work, looks clean...but i fuvking hate all your plasti dippers

+1234873459764985

and I hate the Steeler's.....


Looks good man, I know that was a lot of work, but that looks great.

+1 on the kidney grill, original and on point

Not a big fan of Plastidip but nicely done! Looks good.. Got some outdoor pics in daylight?

Originally Posted by Sweetness

Ok lemme say three things.

1)You clearly sprayed over your headlights. LOL
2) You clearly sprayed your windshield. LOL
3) Nice work, looks clean...but I fuvking hate all your plasti dippers

It's preferable to spray over that stuff and peel it off, as opposed to trying to mask it off with tape. The natural lines created where parts meet allow the dip to tear off to a perfect line, as opposed to trying to make a perfect line with tape. And large pieces pull off easier than small ones.

Not that i'm condoning this. I think it's utterly ridiculous. But...just addressing your post.

Great

Looks great from the front angle. Maybe with some more aggressive wheels and a moderate drop it'll be probably be pulled off right. Nevertheless good job

Awesome!!!