The $6 Hood Blackout...

[juicebox]

I have been wondering how much of a difference these make and I wasn't quite ready to bite the bullet, so I just got a can of Plasti-dip.

I was really rushed, I just got in my truck, got a basic idea of how far I wanted it to come down, masked it off and went to town. It turned out about how I expected, I think if I were to do it in the long run I'd just end up doing the $80 vinyl deal. It is a good way to do it temporarily on the cheap, especially if you are on the fence about it.

Anyway, here is a bad iPhone pic.



It's not as far down as the vinyl, like I said, I had an hour to spare so I was really rushed, I just eyeballed the whole thing. It looks a little splotchy in the pic because it was about 45 seconds after I had put a coat on. That was probably the 5th coat and I have about 1/4 can left. Anyway, just thought I'd share my little project...


It comes off quick and easy too.

 

[corax]

That looks pretty good. I never knew Plasti-Dip would come off so easy like that - how is supposed to hold up long term? Have you heard if it would it last a few months or a few years?

 

[Tbird]

Great idea...and the video of the removal seals the deal. I'm gonna do this to my Tacoma sport scoop hood (blinding!!!) to see if I like it. If I do I'll remove it and go with a vinyl wrap.

Thanks for posting.

 

[t4rman]

Spraying my hood like that would make me nervous. I'm guessing the chemistry going on won't allow the plastidip to adhere to the factory paint? It looks great though. If I can be sure it will come off I'll paint some of my hood.

 

[juicebox]

That looks pretty good. I never knew Plasti-Dip would come off so easy like that - how is supposed to hold up long term? Have you heard if it would it last a few months or a few years?

I think it will hold up for a while, but I think I might take it off in a couple months. I have heard someone say it got brittle and was a little bit more difficult to take off, but they didn't say how long exactly. I've read about people plasti-dipping their whole car and just about all of them take it off after 6-9 months, and they say it was easy.

 

[juicebox]

Great idea...and the video of the removal seals the deal. I'm gonna do this to my Tacoma sport scoop hood (blinding!!!) to see if I like it. If I do I'll remove it and go with a vinyl wrap.

Thanks for posting.

One problem I had that others could learn from; I waited just a little too long to take the masking tape off. It worked out fine, but I really had to be careful or else the whole thing would come up.

 

[robert]

A lot of the kids on tacomaworld have plasti-dipped all sorts of stuff on their trucks including the wheels. There are plenty of threads over there that'll give you all the info you need.

<--- No plasti-seal on my truck.

 

[juicebox]

I didn't watch this whole video, but I would imagine he knows what he's talking about. I wish I watched it before I did mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kBWaSDmj0g

 

[Mrknowitall]

I have heard someone say it got brittle and was a little bit more difficult to take off, but they didn't say how long exactly. I've read about people plasti-dipping their whole car and just about all of them take it off after 6-9 months, and they say it was easy.

Even if it gets brittle, a power washer should make quick work of it, once you get an edge exposed.

 

[Sempertoy]

This very helpful. I have been toying with the idea of a hood blackout because my paint is very faded, and I had almost settled on spray painting it. This is a much better alternative and will be what I try first.

 

[juicebox]

Spraying my hood like that would make me nervous. I'm guessing the chemistry going on won't allow the plastidip to adhere to the factory paint? It looks great though. If I can be sure it will come off I'll paint some of my hood.

I don't see why it wouldn't come off easily. It is difficult to get off if it's not sprayed on thick enough. I would imagine that plasti-dip would be difficult to get off of a porous surface, but smooth car paint would be no problem.

 

[corax]

I might try this as a temporary coating on my rocker panels for the next rally weekend - the mix of high speed gravel & dirt does a good job of peppering the paint

 

[Rightovercrest]

I was looking for a way to clean up my girlfriend's Civic hubcaps a few months ago after I saw the price for replacements and grabbed the can of Plastidip thinking it would adhere to the hubcaps better than spray paint. Plus I already had some in the garage. So far they still look good and people actually compliment her custom hubcaps. It has held up well under the heat generated from braking.

I have not attempted to remove it and have no desire to since it filled in all of the curb rash nicely.

 

[Sempertoy]

I did mine yesterday in about 40 minutes. I am happy with the result but would like to go over it a few more times for it to be complete. In any case, it looks much better than it did before. Thanks again for the idea.

 

[Ric]

Plasti-Dip ROCKS, I done my grill last summer and its still holding strong, and just today, I did my mirrors, sorry no pix.