Plastidip your bike? Pretty neat!
 

Hey all. I have nothing to do with this company/website......but I just thought it was a neat idea some of you might find cool!

Apperently this guy has a system to spray thinned plastidip on WHOLE vehicles, bikes, rims, trim, etc....the stuff lasts up to 3 years, is cheap, lets you have fun with new colors, protects the original finish , and is completely removable.

At first I thought to myself " how stupid" .....but then I checked out the forum and saw all the different projects people did with their bikes and cars. Its actually really neat!

Check it out guys!

Www.dipyourcar.com

Funny, I've been looking into that stuff for the last couple of months! Except I was looking at the vehicle side and not the bike. Seems like a good way to protect your paint for a few years.

This what I'm doing as we speak. I've so far, done me forks, and triple tree. Next, as soon as I'm finished with a few minor repairs, it's the whole fairing.

It's a good and easy product to use, but, not for a long term thing. The reason I'm doing it is to see if the final results will be what I'm looking for as a look. If it works for me, then, I'll officialise the job with real paint.

The lowdown of this product is, if left for too many years, it becomes increasingly difficult to remove, and, you then need thinner to remove it, and, can damage the OEM paint in the long run.

I'll be posting pics of my project soon.

I dipped my bike last year. As well as parts on my car the stuff is awesome if you don't like it just peel it off.

A friend of mine sprayed his hood of his car and his rims. It was an absolute nightmare to get off... I would recommend trying small parts first to see how it actually comes off. This is just based on my personal experience. Maybe others have had better luck though. If any of you do spray your bike, post some pictures. I am curious to see how it comes out.

I plastidipped my xr600 plastics last month. I don't like the stuff. The nozzle on the spray can gets clogged up, and sprays an inconsistant stream. I used three cans for three coats. It's a bit porous, if you touch with a greasy finger, good luck getting it off. Those are my gripes, I'll be peeling it off and going gloss black for all the plastic. I attached a couple images of the white plastidip after applied to my bike. I think I'm a pretty good "spray painter" but this stuff was not as friendly as paint.

The grease is really tough on the paint. At least with white it isn't as obvious. Black is just about the worst one to have grease marks on because it looks like spots.

Let us know how it goes peeling it off. I had a hell of a time getting it off a smooth hood and rims.

also if you paint your tank with it, gas will eat right through it and it will run really badly. i thought about plasty dipping the bike but ended up painting it instead. i didnt wanna go through the trouble of the whole process to paint the bike for a semi permanent finish

Did you heat the cans in a pot of water? This makes a night and day difference in painting with it and it looks so much better, smooths the texture out and you have no issues with nozzle clogging.

It seems there are 2 classes of people when it comes to Plasti-dip:

1) People that haven't used it and tell everyone how it "peels right off"

2) People that have actually used it and tried removing it. Buddy's GF did that to her GS500, and I heard it was a beeotch to remove.

ok, so here's a 3rd class:

3) I've used it on some shiny metal parts (not painted) and found that it easily peels right off, but only if I used approx. 3 coats. Applied too thin and it was a pain.

Now, I only had it applied for around 2-3 months, so time after application seems to be an area worth learning more about when it comes to ease of removal. Additionally, what it's applied to might also be a factor (bare metal vs. painted surface)

OK, that's good to know. The only people that I know that have used it put it on plastic bodywork.

This guy used it on his BMW, and I think it turned out pretty good.

http://hayashi.smugmug.com/Public/20...MG_2715-XL.jpg

I did work some Plasti-dip, it does work well and hold pretty good on plastic parts, peeling off may take some time, nut if you heat the surface a bit with a heat gun, it peels off relatively easy, just have to be patient, still better than the alternatives.

Nope, but now I know! Thanks for tip!

Are speaking of warming the cans simply by opening the hot water faucet and leaving the cans for a few minutes ? Or, are we speaking of boiling the water, and then putting the cans in ? (which I doubt very much, and, wouldn't make sense) But, for the sake of argument, just want to know.

Boiling water is not necessary, in fact you may cause the cans to burst, I don't think you want to see the result of that ;-), fist option is good enough.

Just heat the water on low to medium low for about 10 minutes or so. You can feel the can and tell when it is pretty uniformly heated and you can see the difference it makes in the spray. When I use 2 cans I just remove the pot from the stove and take it to the garage with me and spray with one while the other is staying warm and swap them out on occasion.

This is also a really good idea to do with normal spray cans
as it builds up more pressure in the can and it will atomize better and give a more uniform mist of paint, same thing as racers do with their nitrous bottles
only they want more pressure for more power and get up off the line.

Another free tip for a nice rattle can paint job is to heat the freshly painted surface over the stove or with a heat gun to bake it but be carefull dont keep it to close

I just got a quote from a very reputable business in Philly, KustomDips, $550 to do my small cage! They do pretty good work, look at the photos. Kicker is they are about 2.5 hours away. I asked what I could do for the 8 hours it takes and seeing my facebook cover photo (tail of the dragon pic), he offered up the keys to the shop ATK supermoto for the day!! Very tempting.

Anyone have some pics to share? I am definitely going to do this to a truck cap I have that is a different color, and maybe do the wheels of my truck to match.

Dipping my bike is done. Below are a few pics of the job finished. It's an easy product to work with, and, like anything else, does have pros and cons.

Cons;
- Not recommended for very long periods of time. Past 1-1 1/2 years, it becomes more difficult to remove. Not impossible, but, more difficult.
- Since it's a petrol based product, don't make it come in contact with other petrol base products (gas, brake fluid, oil or thinner, etc) This is my reason for looking into a gas filler cap like McCuff in another thread.
- Does not resist as well to rubbing or scratches. It tends to want to remove. Basically less resistant then paint to scratches.
- Stinks to high hell. Use in a very well vented area, and, I recommend you wear a face mask that is good enough for vapors. Just my opinion for the face mask.
- Needs four to five coats in order to be able to peel off with greater ease.

Pros;
- Inexpensive
- Easy to use
- If you don't like it, just peel it off.
- Allows you to make some tests to see if it works for you.
- You can repaint over a damaged area with ease.
- Don't need to mask everything, it just peels off.
- Paint over rust, it practically stops it from popping back out.


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Looks great! Good Job.

Looks real good Mate.

I'm going to do the lower cowling first, then make some tank grips with it and go from there :P

Reviving an old thread - how much time should be allowed between coats? Is 1 can enough to put 3 coats on a front fender of the SuperHawk? If not, then how many? Thanks!

1 can is enough I think. 10 to 15 min between coats should be sufficient.

1 can would probably get you at least 5 coats on a front fender. More coats are better when it comes time to remove it, and the can states how much time between coats. I ordered 2 too many when I did my truck cap. When I did my grill, it was too thin and large bugs removed some spots exposing chrome. So make sure you err on the side of a thick film.

Thank you gentlemen! :)

Here is mine that I have dipped pieces on!!!!

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