To Dip or Not to Dip?

[isantop]

So I'm a bit on the fence.

My car (2Ga Eclipse) is currently in dire need of new paint. It's not bare (I can drive it around just fine), but the car looks like crap because of it. Definitely not ideal.

The problem is that the PO (or one of them) had the car cheaply painted 3G Blue-ish silver at a Maaco. I mean, the pain is peeling so bad, and on the spoiler, you can see the glossy black paint under the flaking silver. On top of that, the engine and door jambs are still black (the car was originally Kalapana Black).

Now, the long term goal is to save up a boatload of money and have the car painted black again, with the silver stripe around the bottom. But paint is expensive and I want to get at least a semi-decent job done (I really don't want to have to do this again in a few years). In the meantime, the car looks horrible and no up to my standards at all.

So, I've been thinking of having it dipped (there's a place that does it locally) in the meantime, but I'm not sure if I want to or not. First of all, with the condition of the top coat, I'm not sure what sort of prep would be required to get a good finish, and if that's too much then paint would be less expensive.

On top of that, I'm not a huge fan of the flat look (it looks great when it's done; it's just not my thing), and I was wondering how glossy you can get the dip to be.

So, if anybody has pics of glossy black dip (especially if it's on a 2Ga) those would be really appreciated. Also, what sort of prep would be needed to spray over a car with peeling top coat?

Thanks a ton in advance!

 

[Archer Fabrications]

If your gonna dip it do it yourself, it's gonna be way cheaper, you can't mess it up as long as everything is even and your patient

 

[isantop]

If your gonna dip it do it yourself, it's gonna be way cheaper, you can't mess it up as long as everything is even and your patient

I don't have a gun, air compressor, or a place to paint it (I live in Apartments). All of that, plus renting space, adds up to a much larger initial investment.

 

[AwD4g63TsI]

You need to have the surface as smooth as a new paint job if you plan on painting down the road. The reason is that you want the plasti-dip to peel off smoothly in large pieces. that won't happen if the surface is rough. Your plasti-dip will stick in to every nook and cranny and come off in tiny slivers. Best bet is to just wait, save up your cash and then then get it prepped and painted if the condition is that bad.

 

[cait sith]

If you plan on having it on a car longer than a year, forget about dip. You'll have a really hard time getting it off.

 

[bettfootball]

I don't have a gun, air compressor, or a place to paint it (I live in Apartments). All of that, plus renting space, adds up to a much larger initial investment.

All you need is a wagner power sprayer, no gun, no compressor.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I don't have a gun, air compressor, or a place to paint it (I live in Apartments). All of that, plus renting space, adds up to a much larger initial investment.

Dipyour car.com has an electric gun and a bucket of dip enough for your whole car for 200 bucks.........no need for compressor. Or you can use arisol cans.

 

[boblong6]

DONT DIP IT. I did my car for the winter cause It was all prepared for paint and I dipped mine cause it was sitting out side and I started to take it off the other day and it was a paint in the @$$. And you should dip.

 

[WF_Aspenwall_GSX]

Not sure exactly how I feel about this stuff, but I did some stock gst rims with it that came out great...used those before I got the car fully done.

My buddy back in VA did his car and it came out great. Here is a thread from another site that shows his results:

Plastidipped my beater eclipse.

 

[91-GS]

Why would you want a paint job that can be pealed off by hand?
Either save up the money and have it painted, or vinyl wrap the thing (although that will still be a "paint job that can be pealed off by hand").

On related note, i have seen a truck and a motorbike that were painted with truck bed liner. Bike was military-themed, the texture really matched the theme well. And that stuff can be applied with a roller or a brush, no gun of any kind required.

 

[Jdabishop]

Take the car to MAACO or whatever is similar for you and have them paint it. The plasti dip kit is only $150-200 cheaper then having them paint your car. Granted you get what you pay for but atleast you wont have to peel it off later when you have money for a good finish.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

The maaco job is gonna be worse then plastidip! Plastidip isnt permanent and won't harm anything maaco is gonna chip and crack...itll look basically tuee same as it is now.

 

[shakeandbake]

It is the best 200 dollar paint job you can get. And in the event that your going to get it painted professionally you can peel off most of it and you can also use a little bit of paint thinner for the difficult parts, the paint underneath is just going to be sanded off anyway. Its not a 15 minute process to remove it all. It took my friend and I less than 3 hours to get it all off.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

Here what i would do. TrY painting it yourself, if it looks like ass? Plastidip over it until you can afford to get it done by a pro( not maaco) if you do it right the first time. Then congrats! Lol

 

[Kapok6]

I didn't do my whole car, but I did the roof and trim of my 1G as the black paint was fading badly. Like I said, I only did the roof and trim, but I was EXTREMELY please with how it came out. Not only did I like it, but I had other people tell me they liked it a lot, DSMer's to old school muscle car guys.

If it were me and I planned on keeping the car, I would just save for a good paint job. Though if the choice is between maaco economy paint job and dipping, I would probably dip and be done.

 

[airmail96]

Honestly I would dip the car, as long as you follow the directions and do it properly you will have no problem when it comes to peeling it down the line. If you want to make it look like a paintjob grab some of the glossifier and give it a shine.

 

[meiko24169]

The ryno liner stuff at oreillys is easy to put on, androids cool. Two problems, 10 dollars a can and the weight adds up believe it or not. It's thick! Plasti dip is easy, pretty hard to mess up if you are patient. It peels off and googone also takes it right off. Macco is horrible! They don't prep your car worth a damn and they use crayola car paint )exaggeration) you will have fins, dust and dirt in the paint, and in 6 months, you will be in the same boat you are now.

If you want to do it cheap, prep it yourself, wet sand it and flat black primer or plasti dip it. If you do the prep work which isn't hard at all, a lot of shops will professionally flat black primer it for 50-150 bucks. It's what I do while saving up for paint, I've done it three times.

 

[gusu]

Dipyour car.com has an electric gun and a bucket of dip enough for your whole car for 200 bucks.........no need for compressor. Or you can use arisol cans.

This is true, I've been thinking about it for a long time.

The plastidip they sell their is intended for painting your car with. It is NOT standard plastidip and it comes out looking great. He also has several youtube videos on how to do it.

Plastidip actually resists scratches better than standard paint and is perfectly fine at automatic or manual car washes. There is red, blue, white, and black and maybe a few others if I recall correctly.

Anyway, if you use the stuff from dipyourcar it gives it less of a plastidip look and more of a smooth paint look.

Plus that electric gun is ####ing awesome to use.



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNY9Dx617N8[/ame] Here is an example. This video is old though, so the plastidip looks better now. He has some newer videos but this one is a pretty good one in my opinion.

 

[11Banger]

Personally I'd go with a dip... I've seen plenty of guys get tired of their car colors but not being able to change it cause they are short on $. With dip... no problem

 

[isantop]

Wow, thanks for all the responses lately!

Just to be clear; I plan on avoiding Maaco like the plague. The car currently has a crappy Maaco paint job, and where it's flaking on the spoiler you can see the glossy black original paint. It's horrible. ("Prep work? What prep work?")

Is there anything special about Kalapana Black that sets it apart? Is it a metallic black, or just a plain, solid black?

As for Dips, if I do it, it would probably be glossified. How glossy does that get? I've never seen even a normal dipped car in person, let alone a glossy one. If it comes out pretty good, it may make me change my mind about having it painted later.

Also, how hard would it be to do the grey stripe at the bottom of the car with Dip? I know it wouldn't be too bad with paint, but is it a pain to do it with Dip? I love the way that looks and really sets the 2Ga look off, IMO.

 

[slo335i]

I've plastidipped rims and plan to do my whole bmw in matte blue. For some odd reason no matter where I go or park people ding the hell out of my car. So that's my reason for that. If you want it to look good try to do 3+ layers. Prep work doesn't have to be perfect. Wash it sand the big chips out and go to town.

Understand tho your spaying plastic on your car. The gloss will help take away the plastic finish. I haven't seen it action and dipyourcar does it on a white Audi which I couldn't tell the difference before it after (because it was white).

On the plus side if u have any dings out bumps etc you should be able to mask the area and apply a fix. I give the big thumbs up for that!

 

[Solle]

Good concept, not something i would do to my car though man. if your going to do something right, do it right the first time.

save money > get paint

like a boss

 

[COdsm]

Dip works best on smooth, shiny surfaces, so if you clear coat isn't so great, I'd say don't. But plastidip is sort of still experimental because its really only been popular for a year and a half.

 

[Sws]

Plastidip actually resists scratches better than standard paint and is perfectly fine at automatic or manual car washes. There is red, blue, white, and black and maybe a few others if I recall correctly.

They actually have a bunch of colors haha, and a kit to mix different colors to get certain custom colors.

 

[Funfettie]

Maaco = garbage... I had my car painted there 2 years back, the paint started bubbling after 8 months, so I called and tried to get them to fix it under the 1 year warranty that comes with all paint they do. The lady in the service department rudely told me that maaco 'doesnt cover paint bubbling because its the users fault'. So dont ever give maaco your hard earned dollars for garbage paint.

I should post photos of how terrible the paint is.. bubbling everywhere, it chips if you look at it hard enough, overspray on the trim, glass, headlights and mirrors.. shit, they painted over the stickers under the hood!! They also painted over the street glow i had on the car back when i was in my ricer days.. No good...