PlastiDip front bumper

Original Post
I have a silver C2 and I am thinking of doing the middle section of the front bumper. I know a few others have used PD before, just looking for some tips!

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Taping


Corners were a bit tricky




Grill was super easy to tap


Plasti Diping
1st coat


2-5th coat

I used the entire can by this point

Tap removal
Taking the tap off was a bit challenging because the Plasti wanted to stay on the tap. In a few areas the Plasti started to pull off the bumper and created a slight jaggy edge in some spots. I don't really know of a way to avoid this from happening as the Plasti tries to bond to the tap and won't make a clean break.


Total time - 2 hours from start to finish

I've been meaning on doing this for awhile, you get to it first post photos

I was holding out hoping someone would chime in but it looks like I'm just gonna do it! I will post pictures.

Original post updated!

That looks great. Plastidip is difficult as it likes to peel off with the tape. I will be using it on the wheel center caps for my Prius while leaving the toyotal emblem in silver for contrast. I am anticipating trouble upon removal of the tape but I ink in this case, I may use an exacts knife to cut around and remove the tape easily.

I dipped my front bumper did a bit diffrent lines but I used the tips from dipyourcar.com in this link and it worked pretty well. I actualy took the bumper off the car to do this and removed the grills.
How to Plasti Dip® in Sections - Plasti Dip For Your Car - Resources & More at DipYourCar.com NEW Glossifier=

How long have you had yours on?

I hope you are getting the Plasti-dip that has the UV inhibitor in it. They make their Colors with, Good, and without UV inhibitor, Bad! With out the UV inhibitor, your efforts will fade and look kinda bad in about 10 months or so. I got a can of red, I had to call the company and speak with a sales man to glean this little tidbit of knowledge! Be sure you buy the UV add spray!

Hmm. I don't think mine has UV inhibitor in it. I will have to check the store to see what they carry.

Give Plasti-Dip a call, ask for sales, tell them you are looking for a (What ever you want) color, with UV inhibitors, they will look it up and give you the paint number to look for!

WOW! That looks totally cool! I want to do this to my front bumper for a different reason. You see, on my way to a working lunch, I was engrossed in conversation with my boss and did a slow roll over a low curb and scratched up the very bottom edge that curls under, just below the right fog light. Thanks for the excellent pictures! I'm concerned about how to get smooth lines and an even separation between the paint and the plasti-dip.

i got my prius yesterday, and have 3 cans of plastidip that were waiting for it

Im also going to attempt to plasti dip myself a rear bumper protector..
we will see how that goes

How did it go, Gcoop?

been busy busy
may attempt it tomorrow morning

was going good..
till the final coat where i was doing the edges along the tape

i bumped the car with the bottom of the can and took a chunk off..

and as i was trying to fix that i waited to long to take the tape off so the plastidip tore and i didnt have as as clean of a line as i wanted..
so i decided to just rip the rest of the tape off not caring, then peeled off the dip.
i will try again.

i looked pretty good besides the screw ups though.



also, i do not recommend frog tape..

it wouldnt stick at all kept coming up, i was fighting with it the entire time.
didnt give me clean lines on the back bumper either.
im going to go get some different tape in a bit.
then give it another shot.

I am not a body man. Hate body work on cars. But, could a guy/gal take a q tip and run vasoline along edge of tape to keep paint from sticking? I guess one would need a very steady hand, which I do not have. I am considering getting some estimates from body shops. If I do it, it has to look factory. You folks are better than I am and have much more patience. Every foto I see, on a light car, makes me want it more on our silver. I think it will give the car a mean look from the guy's rear view mirror ahead of me. I noticed hundreds of Ford Focus cars on our trip and they look good in the front blacked out.
Dan

For those of you having issues with the plasti dip sticking to the tape upon removal, I've found a solution I too had this issue when I tried using plasti dip (for the first time) for the bottom part of my front bumper to test out the process. After some research, I found this video demonstrating a technique to get nice crisp lines:



Basically, instead of spraying on your first coat and then waiting for it to dry... then spraying on your second coat and letting that dry... etc., you have to spay on all desired levels of coating in ONE coating WITHOUT letting it dry first. As soon as you're done spraying, you have to remove your tape from a sharp angle while its still wet. Once all the tape is removed, you let the plasti dip dry as usual.

I tried this technique for the top portion of my front bumper and the lines came out nice and straight However, I sprayed on too much plasti dip during the process, and that created a dripping texture once it dried, so I'm going to have to redue it again

Here are some pics of my results. The bottom part of the bumper was when I applied the plasti dip in the "traditional" way and it created jagged edges due to it sticking to the tape. And the top part of the bumper is when I applied the method mentioned in the link I posted. You can also see the dripping effect from spaying on too much plasti dip:







I hope this helps you guys

I read someone's suggestion of applying multiple layers of tape - removing a layer after each coat of Plasti Dip is applied. It sounds logical, but has anyone tried this with any success?

I have been wondering how well this holds up to weather, bugs, cleaning, and general road use. Anybody have comments who have this done for a while?