I like.

 

Could you get some daytime photos so I can see what it looks like in the light? I can't decide if I like that color or not. Looks good at night but interested in daytime look. Thanks.

 

I just painted two test panels for the Z project, one black, one gunmetal grey.
I don't see "anthracite" as an option (at least not at my local Ace) and don't much care for the gunmetal...it's too dark and reads as "faded black" to my eye.

I think with plastidip the biggest thing is not the actual color, it's the lack of gloss.
Surely a personal choice but to me satin black looks intentional but satin red looks like a failed gloss finish.
If you can get over the fact that the car is not/never will be "shiny" (and thus, obviously freshly painted), the dip seems like a viable option.

The plastidip forms a fairly thick and slightly textured coating (think latex paint on sheetrock), so surface prep is way less arduous than for real paint.

 

My cars needs paint, but I'm short on funds after my rebuild. I have been thinking of satin black anyway so this might be a viable option if I can do this in the driveway/carport. I have clear coat peeling though. Would I need to sand that and rattle can it before I plastidip?

 

Mask off a section and shoot it.
The dip peels right off and you can see what it'll look like.

 

Mostly I'm trying to decide between white and the anthracite grey. I want to see how the grey shows on the lines of the car in the daylight. Sort of leaning towards the white since I like my car in white but my paint is in need of either a lot of buffing and sanding and waxing or new paint. The low cost of plastidip is very attractive to me for a short term fix until I can afford a good paint job.

 

These are some late afternoon pics

 

Wow from the pictures it looks great. How smooth would you say it is ? Im curious of how effective the self leveling is, like if there are some slight orange peel effect or anything.Im wanting to try this stuff.

 

Just put on the layers on even and it will be extremely smooth

 

stealth look , hope you put enough coats to peal it off in one piece , i've plastidipped a couple cars and learned the hard way .

 

In preparation to dip my project Z I've done some color samples to decide much the same thing.
I used the "gunmetal" rather than the metalized anthracite and found it rather flat and dull. The black was much richer.
We seriously considered white and in your case, that's the way I'd go.
It's a lovely color and the matte finish suits it perfectly.

 

8 coats is the way to go

 

Yeah I'm pretty set on white. I heard it can be a b**** to clean though. The glossifier is supposed to help with that a lot though. What do you guys think about using the glossifier? Worth it or not?

 

I went to a real franchise Dip Garage and got the whole spiel and saw all the color samples.

My take was...
If you resist comparing dip to "real" paint and accept it as a different protective coating for the car body, dip is very impressive.
However, when you try and tart dip up you invite comparisons that it simply cannot win.

All of the trick dip finishes were either too garish, too sparkly or too shiny and looked like a paint job gone slightly sour. The plain dip is more honest about what it is and by not promising much ends up delivering more.

 

How is the plasti holding up so far

 

It holds well..went through rain, the cold and a slight snow already

 

My friends at addipted figured out how to make it smooth. It looks great in person.

 

Threw some clear coat on it?

 

LOTS of clear...you can see the dip texture below the clear surface.

This illustrates to me the "uncanny valley" problem when tricking out plastidip.

("Uncanny valley" refers to CGI imagery...you have your obviously fake rendering and your perfect rendering and between the two you have the CGI that is "almost right" but not quite there...and it's unsettlingly weird, especially with human faces)

When I see regular plastidip, I think "what an interesting coating" when I see dips like the above pictured I think, "how did they screw up the paint?"

Besides, all that post-dip treatment ain't cheap and if I'm going to that expense and all the final sanding/buffing to get a gloss, I'd want regular paint...it would look more "real".

 

You can't clear plastidip, or you can but it'd be difficult to peel off. They do make a gloss kit for it to make it look all shiny and whatnot.

 

"can't peel it off".. pffft Why would I honestly want to?

That is the point of clear...... so it doesn't peel off, and I can buff it. If I am painting something for over $500 and have the intention of "peeling it off" in a year or so only to re-paint it again... I would need to seriously rethink my life strategy.

I would rather block sand my car and bring it to maaco just so I can buff my paint once a month.

perhaps my standards and wallet are higher then the typical FC owner.. idk.

 

Seems to me if you are going to go to all the trouble to spray clear and want something more permanent on it you would be better off to just use paint and be done with it.

Maaco will shoot clear I just don't know how much extra they charge. I have thought of using them. Do my own bodywork and prime/seal it then let them spray base and clear.

I thought of doing this plastdip 'cause it would look better than black primer till I can get a good basecoat/clearcoat on it, but only if Ican do it for $200 or less.

 

One thing I would worry about clearing the plastidip would be the clear peeling off of the dip. I had a 4 wheeler that I painted with a black bedliner and then cleared over it and it peeled like a lizard after about a year. The bedliner just isn't meant to be painted, and I imagine the dip is the same way. Could be wrong though could turn out great.

btw car looks good. I like that plastidip requires no sanding and ruining the original paint beyond repair like a macco job would. I have worked with guys that worked in macco shops (heard some horror stories there) and worked on cars that have been through macco and their paint is about only good for a track focused race car that would need painted like every other week or something. Crap for street cars, it doesn't last.

 

You'll need between 3-4 gallons to dip the FC and you can get a 4 gallon bundle direct from Plastidip for $226.
How much more you spend would depend on the current condition of the body and whether you already have spray equipment or not.
We'll be using an electric HVLP gun from Harbor Freight (yup, we ballin').

The easy removal is a real boon to you at this point as you try to decide.
Just get a spray can of dip and then locate the crappiest part of your car, dented, rusted, the most flawed area.
Give it a wash and when dry, spray it with the dip.
Lots of coats.

Next day, see what you think.
The thick matte finish may sufficiently mask the flaws or it may not.
If not, then you decide if simple bodywork is in the plan or not.

Peel off the test area and carry on.

 

I think I may get a can to try. The body on mine is pretty straight just some rust in acouple places I want to fix. If I like the test results the plan would be to fix and prime the rust spots then do the dip. I have an air compressor so I just need to get a spray gun.