Okay kids, DIY time.
How to Plast-Dip your shiny 1M wheels.
I've been on the fence about whether to get black wheels for my 1M. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of pictures of VO 1Ms with black wheels on the web. Plus, in my experience, photos never do a good job of depicting what black wheels look like in person. So I decided to Plast-Dip my wheels to get a better idea how they'd look.
For those that aren't familiar with Plasti-Dip, it is a synthetic rubber coating that can be sprayed onto most surfaces. Once it dries it forms a thin rubber coating. Depending on how many layers you put on, the coating can be very sturdy and resistant to scratches. The beauty is that once applied, a Plasti-Dip coat can be easily removed by simply peeling it off. It comes in a variety of colors and can be found for $6 a can at your local hardware store. Do a search online and you will find that people have "Dipped" just about anything you can imagine.
Items Needed:
- 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
- Something to lift your car off the ground (floor jack, etc.)
- Something to hold your car off the ground (jack stands, etc.)
- Something to take your wheels off the car (17mm socket)
- Something to clean your wheels (soap, sponge, etc.)
- Somewhere to spray your wheels (front yard, garage, etc.)
- Plast-Dip (at least 3 cans)
- Spray grip (optional)
- Painter's tape (or masking tape)
- Xacto knife (or any small blade)
- Tweezers
Time needed:
- 3 hours (4+ if you are meticulous)
Directions:
STEP 1 - Get your car off the ground and onto a good set of stands. I only had two jack stands so I worked on the wheels one axle at a time. For the front wheels, I lifted the car using a racing floor jack on the front jack-point under the engine. I then placed a 2-ton jack stand under each of the plastic lift supports behind the front wheel wells. I covered the top of the jack stands with old t-shirts to protect the plastic lift supports. For the rear wheels, I lifted the car via the jack point directly in front of the differential cover.
STEP 2 - Take the wheels off the car and give them a really good cleaning. I used a microfiber sponge and some car soap (Meguiar's). Make sure you dry the wheels thoroughly before moving onto the next step.
STEP 3 - Move the wheels to a shaded area, remove the center cap, and mask off the parts of the wheel that you don't want covered in Plast-Dip. I masked off the valve stem and the ///M logo. The ///M logo was a pain to do - I found that the easiest technique was to use tweezers and a sharp blade to cut around the logo. As I will explain later, you will have to mask off the ///M logo after each coat so you will eventually get really good at covering it.
STEP 4 - Get out the Plast-Dip. I bought a handy $3 spray grip attachment so that I wouldn't have to keep the spray nozzle depressed and also so I'd have a little more control when spraying.
STEP 5 - Spray on your first coat. Keep it light! The first coat should be approximately 50% transparency. Don't go nuts yet. The Competition wheels are tricky to spray because they have a lot of angles. I found the best technique was to spray the outer edge first, spray the inside edge next, then spray each individual spoke, and finally spray the sides of each spoke. Walk around the wheel and face each plane that you are spraying. You can optionally spray the rear of the wheel as well, though I opted not to.
STEP 6 - Spray on additional coats. I sprayed 4 coats total, waiting between 10-20 minutes between coats. Important note: you have to remove the tape from the ///M logo immediately after you spray each coat (i.e., while it is still wet) and then re-apply the tape on the logo before spraying the next coat. If you instead wait till after all the coats are dry to remove the tape on the logo, you could potentially start peeling off the Plast-Dip surrounding the logo as well (since it would be all one contiguous layer of rubber). It is a pain to reapply the tape so many times, but as you can see the results are pretty good.
STEP 7 - Wait for the Plast-Dip to dry off. I left the wheels out for an hour before I removed the masking tape and re-installed the center cap.
STEP 8 - Reinstall the wheels on your 1M and admire your work. That's it! I suggest letting the wheels dry for a solid 3 hours before you take the car out for it's inaugural ride wearing its upgraded shoes.
It's hard to tell from the photos, but the Plast-Dip does have a slight texture to it. That may be because I sprayed the wheels outside and dust settled on them in between coats. The only way to avoid that is to spray the wheels in a dust-free environment.
Also, FYI, there will be some overspray on the inner barrel of the wheels if you only spray the outside of the wheel. It's not a big deal because the over-spray peels right off, but if you're a perfectionist then you may want to spray both sides of the wheel - or at least mask off part of the inner barrel to protect it from overspray. I personally liked the overspray because it has a fade effect and thus isn't visible when the wheels are installed.
All in all, I'd say that the wheels turned out pretty nice. There are a few imperfections here and there, but I honestly don't mind. I know I'll get some flak from folks that think you can only put fancy $7,000 bling bling wheels on a 1M, but I'm actually pretty happy with the results. I now know that the car looks great in person with black wheels and I'll be keeping an eye out for sales on a good aftermarket set. In the meantime the Plast-Dip will keep my OEM wheels looking fresh (and protected too).
