Dipped winter wheels. PS. Don't Plastidip in the cold..

[135iMike]

You can either skip to pics or read my horror/success story below

With winter here, I had to get snow tires to replace the stock RFT Summers. I've been a fan of black wheels, especially on white cars since I had my first car over 10 years ago. Needless to say, damn did I miss them! Anyway.. I decided to purchase a set of used wheels and spray them with Plastidip, since it's all the rage lately, and I enjoy some DIY in my life.

...so I'll start off by saying that I had no options here. Either Plastidip in 35-40 degrees, or don't Plastidip at all. I chose to give it a shot... Round 1 kicked my ass. I sprayed in globs. Coverage was terrible. I tried to power through, hoping after coats it'll salvage itself or something. 5+ coats later, it ALMOST looked like it could be saved, but it wasn't perfect and therefor not good enough for me!

....I rip it all off a few days later.

I come up with the idea that as long as I can keep the cans warm (I know the wheels are still very cold) that may at least spray well and do the job.. So, I buy 4 cans with the plan of leaving 3 inside at a time, per wheel, spray one - get the next can, spray the next wheel, etc.. What fun that was.

Well it worked! Oh and don't forget a SHITLOAD of shaking. That's key too.
In my pics you'll see that coverage still wasn't perfect on the first spray, very spotty and I was worried it was going to be a double fail.. I kept it going, rotating cans, shaking like mad, and throwing down a lot of very very light coats, like seen in that minimal coverage pic. 4 cans later (it was windy).. Finished!

Anyway, if anyone has a 'you should have just done XXXX' .. please make my day! Otherwise, take my advice and don't plastidip when it's near freezing haha.

A few pics, finally. (After this I noticed I have no closeups of it finished, I'll try to get.. they came out really well though. My car is also filthy, and I didn't tireshine the tires or anything.. lazy)









..almost ran out of light after the long day

[splitsecond]

Looks great. I'm tempted to ignore your warning and start my Plastidip project (since the alternative is to wait 2-3 months)...

[135iMike]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Looks great. I'm tempted to ignore your warning and start my Plastidip project (since the alternative is to wait 2-3 months)...

Yea my theory was.. If it sucks, I can always remove it!

Which for the record was cool and all, but really cleaning it, the nooks and cranies, like in the lug nut holes and whatever, did take some patience.

Just remember to shake, shake, and shake some more! Don't spray too long without shakes!

[splitsecond]

Good to know. Maybe I'll do it in shifts... I've got some time off right now, so my car doesn't need to be driven on a daily basis.