Matte Metallic Gray - Plasti dipped my whole car

[Liquid Smoke]

So I've been using plasti dip on and off for a while now since I got my car, doing wheels, trim, grille, etc. I just love the product after all that and wanted to go ahead do the whole car now. Finally got around to it yesterday, this is my first time spraying a whole car with anything, but DYC's videos made it pretty easy to get started lol (thanks Fonzie!). I bought the spray gun they use as well and it works great to get nice coverage.

I sprayed pretty much after sunset with a light, got pretty dark but I wanted to finish it up and not have to wait and do all that masking again the next day. But it came out veryyy smooth, better than I expected since it was my first time I was a bit worried. I know some of you guys worry about plasti dip, but I used one of the good sprayers and if you do it right it turns out awesome, I bet you couldn't tell between this and vinyl side by side. But I couldn't be happier with the finish and color, exactly the color I was going for. At night it has this dark gray, close to satin black look, but in the daytime and in the sun it just pops and you can really see the metallic pearl shine.

I went for a metallic dark gray. Mixed in some metallic gray pearl into clear dip and sprayed over my originally black car. I left the side mirrors, front splitter, and the roof in black, I love a gloss black roof. Also left all the chrome/alu trim (left the rear emblem in that brushed alu type look it ended up with and will leave it instead of peel back to chrome for now. And I had this done before, but the wheels are plastidipped too for a gunmetal look.

Here are just a few pics for now I snapped before work, but I will try to get some better ones within the next few days and post them. These are a bit washed out from the sunlight, but you can see in some of the pics the actual color and finish, and you can see how smooth it is in the close ups. Let me know what you guys think!

(I have to peel off some of the leftover dip off a few pieces of trim, and also when I sprayed the trunk it was getting cold and the cold metal started to get dew on it, so it came out uneven like that, but it's an easy fix I will just respray trunk and can smooth that out no problem.)

View full album here with lots of other pics: http://imgur.com/a/DACrq#0

[Hamburger]

Oh yea dude that looks killer. People who bag on plastidip need to take a look at this.

[dennisA4]

Well, i have to admit. Just looking at the pics, that turned out way better than I would have expected.

[name.goes.here]

Beautiful result, excellent work!

How will it stand up to the NYC winters though?!

[Liquid Smoke]

thanks guys. and yea definitely plasti dip is awesome, people like to think it's "cheap" just because its inexpensive and easy, but i did this myself for less than $200, no reason in the world i would pay $2k+ for a full vinyl wrap. if you try to rattle can the whole car then it will look like crap, but if you are using the gallons, and have one of the good sprayers that work best with plasti dip, the finish turns out perfect if you do it all right.

as for standing up to weather, i've had my grille plastidipped for close to a year now, looks good as new. i've also had my wheels dipped for a few months and they are fine as well. i do a lot of highway driving (1500 miles/mo) and it stands up to rock chips and everything great. as long as you do thick durable coats you will be fine, it doesnt chip so easily and looks great, if you ever mess up a panel or something, just spray over it or just peel and respray it, but not much bad i can say about plasti dip.

[spzavertnik]

Well, i have to admit. Just looking at the pics, that turned out way better than I would have expected.

+1

[AudiKerl]

Nice, looks good and even! You did a good job!

[Frinkferta]

Wow! This looks great. I will consider doing this down the road. It will protect the original paint too!

[Mops@Nemesis]

Excellent work, and I like the color.

[FuchsB]

Excellent work, and I like the color.

What mops said. Looks great man. Nice color choice and job

[TheHeiko]

Looks great! Awesome work! The color looks great and the matte finish is perfect. If I were to do this I think I'd go with the same color.

[rahip4567]

looks amazing :) Does this stuff peel off during a car wash or you only hand wash it?

[Wilbur]

Looks awesome. My dipped wheels peeled a little every time i washed them. Hope yours is good.

[Liquid Smoke]

thanks guys, and yeah i do love that gray color. i went for something similar to a matte version of Daytona Grey (my favorite of Audi's colors).

as for holding up, you just need to give it a few days for it to fully cure, and after that you can go through all the automatic car washes you want and it won't peel off or anything. i've had it on my grille for like a year now and it holds up fine through washes, rain, snow, salt, rock chips, you name it.

also my wheels are fully dipped, and sometimes at automatic car washes they will use those 'brooms' and scrub at wheels pretty hard, no damage to the dip at all. you just need to make sure you have a good amount of coats and its thick, for example you can get even coverage and dip all 4 wheels with maybe a can and a half, but just because it's covered doesnt mean its thick enough, you need to use like 3 cans for 4 wheels and get a good 7 coats or so on there, after that its perfectly durable. also for wheels you have to make sure the edges/lip of the wheel is dipped enough, because if the edge is very light then theres something there for it to easily peel off, and once you have an easy peel point thats when it might slowly start to peel from the edges.

and of course you have to not use any chemicals that would start peeling or liquifying the dip, i know certain citrus cleaners like Purple Power might, and goo gone of course, and also gasoline can damage it as well (gotta be careful for gas spillage). but most detailing products work fine, i'm planning on waiting a few days to cure and then i'll give the car a coat of spray wax, makes the matte a bit shinier and also protects it too. but yeah its a great protectant for the original paint underneath as well, rock chips already fckin up my front bumper the past 2 yrs.

[rahip4567]

thanks guys, and yeah i do love that gray color. i went for something similar to a matte version of Daytona Grey (my favorite of Audi's colors).

as for holding up, you just need to give it a few days for it to fully cure, and after that you can go through all the automatic car washes you want and it won't peel off or anything. i've had it on my grille for like a year now and it holds up fine through washes, rain, snow, salt, rock chips, you name it.

also my wheels are fully dipped, and sometimes at automatic car washes they will use those 'brooms' and scrub at wheels pretty hard, no damage to the dip at all. i have no worries about the durability so far. as long as it doesnt acid rain LOL

thanks for the info... Might look into this :)

Btw what color was your car before?

[Liquid Smoke]

thanks for the info... Might look into this :)

Btw what color was your car before?

car is originally black, i left the side mirrors and roof original color.

[Speycaster]

Nicely done! I really like the look.

[Ajp428]

I like it a lot looks like a great job done

[Highlander1010]

Looks pretty awesome!

[VMRWheels]

Looks pretty awesome!

Agreed. That looks pretty cool.

[Okan509]

link aght workin

[amz]

Looks great!

[AudiHockey]

Looks very good!

[righteous_bucks]

looks awesome get some more pics up!

[Liquid Smoke]

Thanks guys, glad you all like it! Here are some more pics I just took, a bit better lighting since the sun isn't beaming down as much as earlier. You can see how it shines in the sun, the metallic pearl really pops, and at some angles you see a bluish hue to the gray, but it just has this sick metallic shine to it. Best mod I've done so far lol.

New album here: http://imgur.com/a/UVHOW

[kpride4eva]

SICK~!

you got to let me see it in person.

Do you ever come to NJ, Edgewater?

How is the finish? I always wondered how the edges would look. I hate to have the little trims not perfectly cut~

[Fburg A4]

That view from the rear is the one I was hoping to see with the gloss black roof. That paint job (I'm calling it that, I don't care) is amazing for how little it cost. Probably took up a little personal time but it totally transforms your car. Great job for your first attempt at it, too. Although I think you are kind of rubbing it in to others that did a poor job by saying you did it in the dark haha

[KompressorLOgic]

looks pretty good!

[Liquid Smoke]

That view from the rear is the one I was hoping to see with the gloss black roof. That paint job (I'm calling it that, I don't care) is amazing for how little it cost. Probably took up a little personal time but it totally transforms your car. Great job for your first attempt at it, too. Although I think you are kind of rubbing it in to others that did a poor job by saying you did it in the dark haha

thank you, yes cost is barely anything, $150 worth of the paint and if you want to include $60 for the spray gun (onine price, $120 in stores). and this is my first time doing the whole car so 2nd time around i can do it quicker, but this time took me 4-5 hours, and thats including masking and everything. about 2 hours or so masking, another 2 hours or so with the spraying, mixing pearl, waiting on coats etc.

and LOL sorry if it came off that way, don't mean to 'brag' that i did it in the dark lol. i just wanted to make the point that if done properly then the plastidip is smooth, if you dont spray it right thats when you complain that its cheap crap and comes out all rough and textured. i just meantioned the dark part to excuse some of the uneven spots on the hood and trunk, but also yeah just saying its not that difficult if i did it in the dark, doing it in daytime would be even easier.

SICK~!
you got to let me see it in person.
Do you ever come to NJ, Edgewater?
How is the finish? I always wondered how the edges would look. I hate to have the little trims not perfectly cut~

finish is great and smooth, not rough at all. if you didnt touch it, and just came to look up close you would think its prob vinyl. and edges are fine, you just have to spray heavy on the edge when you're done so it 'wraps' around the edge and doesnt peel there. i have a few edges along the side of the windshield i need to touch up, but its not a big deal and quick and easy to do touch ups afterwards.

[AudiHockey]

What color dip are your rims painted?

[Liquid Smoke]

What color dip are your rims painted?

they are anthracite with a very light coat of pearlizer over

[Beast]

Looks awesome man :)

[A4 Centaur]

Great work!

[NoR32]

Well done and impressed!

[toekneepark]

Amazing!! Nice work!

[the_illest]

Looks really good man love the color!

[Liquid Smoke]

thanks guys, here's a night time shot. damn i cant stop staring out at the driveway today haha

[Pared]

Looks great! Man you are constantly doing stuff to your car. You must get bored easily! ;)

Wish I had the time to see this in person.

[Liquid Smoke]

Looks great! Man you are constantly doing stuff to your car. You must get bored easily! ;)

Wish I had the time to see this in person.

haha thank you. yeah im always looking to customize something, even minor details. i got the mod bug, but im more about looks than doing performance mods, dont really need to spend on that now, but i like doing these DIY mods that are cheap but look nice and 'upgraded'. and yea i do kinda get bored of it, not that i dont like it later on i still love the mods i've done, i spend a lot of time 'sleeping' on the ideas so i dont regret it later lol, but cant say i dont like anything so far. i just get this creative itch to want to just customize it more.

but i think for the most part i am done with it looks-wise, at least for everything i planned since i got the car and pretty much most of the major visual mods - got my drop, wheels, custom color, custom red leather accented interior - only thing missing is a quad exhaust which i'll do next summer maybe.

ohhh but i do have a 'minor' mod that i am going to do in about 2 weeks or so, after i order some vinyl pieces :)

[dracolnyte]

wow i like this a lot!

just curious how did you get that coat? you mixed metallic grey with pearlizer or clear coat? or metallic with grey? confused