GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I decided to PlastiDip my wheels for the heck of it this weekend...







I like how it turned out. It definitely really changes the look of the exterior. I'll probably keep it on for a while and eventually peel it off.

PlastiDip is a truly awesome product! It sprays really nice and evenly and it really does peel right off without issue. I had a really easy time removing it from all the little bolts on the wheels. I gave it just enough time to dry thoroughly and than I peeled it right off without hassle.

Lets add this to the things I want to do when I meet with you

This looks familiar ha! Looks much better with your color. When you do go and peel it off, have some goo gone handy. Some of the crevices on these wheels don't always peel right off.

Great job!

Now Carrie ... you simply have TOO much time on your hands and don't know what to do with it Nice Job anyways

tpollauf wrote:Now Carrie ... you simply have TOO much time on your hands and don't know what to do with it Nice Job anyways

Me too. Summer before college, and I work only three days a week. Not complaining, but it's sometimes hard to find things to do.

The wheels looks good. Nice, even job. I just never thought you'd ever do that, Carrie. You seem more for the concourse-style, but flat black wheels on a silver car look good. Down side: it now looks like you need to lower it.

Looks great! Good Job

Question about the PlastiDip, never having used it myself. I've seen instructions saying that you need to do like 4-5 coats of it for good coverage. But I've also seen where people say that for a clean line, you need to pull the masking tape up off the car while the stuff is still wet; if you let it dry, apparently when you pull the tape up, you can get a jagged edge.

So, hopefully you see where I'm going with this..... Are they saying that if you pull up the tape on the fourth or fifth coat, while it's wet, that will be enough to ensure a clean line? If not, then colour me confused

Good question.. I had assumed you didn't give any drying time between coats to achieve that but looking at various guides online they all say wait 15-20 minutes between coats. They seem to indicate if you remove masking immediately after the last coat it comes up clean.

canadave wrote:Question about the PlastiDip, never having used it myself. I've seen instructions saying that you need to do like 4-5 coats of it for good coverage. But I've also seen where people say that for a clean line, you need to pull the masking tape up off the car while the stuff is still wet; if you let it dry, apparently when you pull the tape up, you can get a jagged edge.

So, hopefully you see where I'm going with this..... Are they saying that if you pull up the tape on the fourth or fifth coat, while it's wet, that will be enough to ensure a clean line? If not, then colour me confused

I can confirm that this is NOT true. What you should do is get a few coats on the main area you're spraying, tapering off at the corners. Then go nice and heavy on the edges before peeling the tape. Alternatively, try spraying and then edging with a toothpick.

nice job looks great!

Looks GREAT Carrie! I'll be curious to hear how it holds up under rainy/nasty weather conditions.

Also, did you take the wheels off to do this? Just wondering because I've seen videos on Youtube where it was done with the wheels still on the car. I'm a little apprehensive about doing that though.

im actually in the process of plasti dipping my whole car but not with a spray I'm actually doing it with spray guns. I will post pictures when its all done!

You should use 4-5 LIGHT coats or 2-3 HEAVY coats or you'll have issues with it not being easy to remove later on. Light coats will always result in a better finish, although this product tends to level out entirely & not show orange peel unless you are going wayyy heavy on the coats.

I did 3 heavy coats on my jettas wheels when I sprayed it & it peeled off easily before i sold the car. I waited maybe 10-15 mins between coats but if you put it into perspective, it takes about 2-3 mins to lay a coat down on each rim anyways so by the time your done with your 4th rim you really only need to wait 5 minutes before re-coating the 1st rim again. Doing 4-5 coats will take about an hour & on the final coat, just wait 5 mins for it to dry a bit (lose its gloss) and then peel away the excess.

I found its still easy to pull the excess within 2 hours of the final coat. If you don't peel away the excess & wait til the following day, you risk pulling off all of it when you peel it away unless you are very careful near the edge where you want it to tear loose.

IMVHO plasti-dip needs to make the alternative colors more readily available. The product is fantastic as far as I'm concerned & they could really sell a lot of it if they market it for car enthusiasts & offer it in 10+ colors. The only site I'm aware of that sells custom color is dipyourcar.com and IMO its overpriced (they keep raising their prices as it becomes more popular....bastards).

09vGT wrote:Lets add this to the things I want to do when I meet with you

LOL! Sounds good Ethan! I know where we can get the PlastiDip for cheap !

Adam24303 wrote:This looks familiar ha! Looks much better with your color. When you do go and peel it off, have some goo gone handy. Some of the crevices on these wheels don't always peel right off.

Great job!

Thanks for the heads up Adam ! I got some advice from another member who recently did his wheels about removing it from the little rivets pretty much as soon as the final coat is dry because it makes it much easier. Boy, was he right! The PlastiDip came right off the rivets with a toothpick.

tpollauf wrote:Now Carrie ... you simply have TOO much time on your hands and don't know what to do with it Nice Job anyways

LOL! I've been wanting to do it for a while and finally decided to go ahead and do it since the weather's been really nice here the past week or so.

KITT222 wrote:The wheels looks good. Nice, even job. I just never thought you'd ever do that, Carrie. You seem more for the concourse-style, but flat black wheels on a silver car look good. Down side: it now looks like you need to lower it.

I never thought I'd do it either, but I figured since the PlastiDip isn't permanent, why not? I kind of like it, but than again, I don't. Hopefully it stays looking decent until I put the winter wheels on in a few months and than I will peel it off. Either way, it's definitely not permanent.

XRVibe10 wrote:Looks great! Good Job

Thanks!

canadave wrote:Question about the PlastiDip, never having used it myself. I've seen instructions saying that you need to do like 4-5 coats of it for good coverage. But I've also seen where people say that for a clean line, you need to pull the masking tape up off the car while the stuff is still wet; if you let it dry, apparently when you pull the tape up, you can get a jagged edge.

So, hopefully you see where I'm going with this..... Are they saying that if you pull up the tape on the fourth or fifth coat, while it's wet, that will be enough to ensure a clean line? If not, then colour me confused

I followed the directions on the can which say to do 3-4 heavier, wet coats. I allowed 30 minutes minimum dry time in between coats, again, per the directions on the can. The only part I peeled off was on the little rivets around the spokes. I was advised by a fellow GV member to remove the PlastiDip off these as soon as the final coat was dry. I followed this advice and the PlastiDip came right off very easily using a toothpick and it did not peel any PlastiDip off any other part of the wheel, so I would say probably peeling any PlastiDip off should be done sooner rather than later.

trickyVibe wrote:nice job looks great!

Thanks!

jackie879 wrote:Looks GREAT Carrie! I'll be curious to hear how it holds up under rainy/nasty weather conditions.

Also, did you take the wheels off to do this? Just wondering because I've seen videos on Youtube where it was done with the wheels still on the car. I'm a little apprehensive about doing that though.

Thanks! Hopefully it stays looking decent until I put the winter wheels on in a few months and than I will peel it off.

I did remove the wheels because it just seemed like it would be so much easier with the wheels off. I also removed the center caps and I did spray a couple coats of PlastiDip on the backsides of the wheels to achieve a full black look.

shaeet wrote:You should use 4-5 LIGHT coats or 2-3 HEAVY coats or you'll have issues with it not being easy to remove later on. Light coats will always result in a better finish, although this product tends to level out entirely & not show orange peel unless you are going wayyy heavy on the coats.

I did 3 heavy coats on my jettas wheels when I sprayed it & it peeled off easily before i sold the car. I waited maybe 10-15 mins between coats but if you put it into perspective, it takes about 2-3 mins to lay a coat down on each rim anyways so by the time your done with your 4th rim you really only need to wait 5 minutes before re-coating the 1st rim again. Doing 4-5 coats will take about an hour & on the final coat, just wait 5 mins for it to dry a bit (lose its gloss) and then peel away the excess.

I found its still easy to pull the excess within 2 hours of the final coat. If you don't peel away the excess & wait til the following day, you risk pulling off all of it when you peel it away unless you are very careful near the edge where you want it to tear loose.

IMVHO plasti-dip needs to make the alternative colors more readily available. The product is fantastic as far as I'm concerned & they could really sell a lot of it if they market it for car enthusiasts & offer it in 10+ colors. The only site I'm aware of that sells custom color is dipyourcar.com and IMO its overpriced (they keep raising their prices as it becomes more popular....bastards).

I totally agree about selling more colors. They sell the black, white and glossifier at my local Walmart for $6.97 a can. I checked out Farm & Fleet, two more Walmarts and Meijer and none of them carried any PlastiDip products. I did end up getting more at Menard's. They only had the black and it was $5.98 a can which surprised me. It is a great product for anyone wanting to try different looks and not have it be permanent.

My dad freaked out when he saw the first coat of PlastiDip on the first wheel in the garage when he got home from work. He was telling my mom that I was ruining my Vibe and it was going to look ghetto, etc. It took me a few times of explaining that it wasn't permanent, etc. before he finally calmed down a little .

As I said above, I am not liking the look as much as I thought I would. I just don't think it's really my "style". It will definitely be getting peeled off at some point before income tax time as I will be getting new tires. I am actually considering getting the wheels powder coated metallic silver, but we shall see.

Sometime within the next few days, I am going to throw two of the wheels on my mom's Vibe just to see how it looks on hers. I'll be sure and post some pictures.

http://www.dipyourcar.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; carries dozens of colors and are the experts when it comes to plastidip. They also have dozens of youtube videos to answer just about every question you might have. They also plastidip very expensive cars and exotics. You should show your dad the practical applications of non-permanent coatings, he may just convert and help you dip your moms ride. LOL

hotbug1776 wrote:http://www.dipyourcar.com carries dozens of colors and are the experts when it comes to plastidip. They also have dozens of youtube videos to answer just about every question you might have. They also plastidip very expensive cars and exotics. You should show your dad the practical applications of non-permanent coatings, he may just convert and help you dip your moms ride. LOL

I've checked that site out before. I am checking it out right now to see if they have silver. If so, I may order some and do our wheels in silver. I think silver would be much more our style while still slightly changing the look of the exteriors. I wouldn't want my dad helping me with anything like that because he would drive me nuts !

vibenvy wrote:

hotbug1776 wrote:http://www.dipyourcar.com carries dozens of colors and are the experts when it comes to plastidip. They also have dozens of youtube videos to answer just about every question you might have. They also plastidip very expensive cars and exotics. You should show your dad the practical applications of non-permanent coatings, he may just convert and help you dip your moms ride. LOL

I've checked that site out before. I am checking it out right now to see if they have silver. If so, I may order some and do our wheels in silver. I think silver would be much more our style while still slightly changing the look of the exteriors. I wouldn't want my dad helping me with anything like that because he would drive me nuts !

they have a new silver that is supposed to match factory alloys in color and texture, and it's glossy. (I'm thinking about getting it if I don't like the black on my rims, but so far I'm liking it).

hotbug1776 wrote:they have a new silver that is supposed to match factory alloys in color and texture, and it's glossy. (I'm thinking about getting it if I don't like the black on my rims, but so far I'm liking it).

Hmmm... this sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I will have to look into this for sure. Thanks for the tip Andy !

vibenvy wrote:

hotbug1776 wrote:they have a new silver that is supposed to match factory alloys in color and texture, and it's glossy. (I'm thinking about getting it if I don't like the black on my rims, but so far I'm liking it).

Hmmm... this sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I will have to look into this for sure. Thanks for the tip Andy !

Because I like you... a little.

https://www.dipyourcar.com/pages.php?pageid=94" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah, I was reading through posts, etc. over there yesterday. I am definitely going to give the True Metallics Aluminum a try over the winter after we get our new tires installed. I think the silver will be much more our style while still providing a noticeable change to the exterior look. And the best part is, they sell the glossifier at my local Walmart for $6.97 a can, so I will only have to order the PD itself through DYC and thus will save a decent amount of money.

Keep forgetting to post that I removed the PlastiDip a couple weekends ago. It came off the front of the wheels pretty easy, but the backsides were a bit of pain.

vibenvy wrote:Keep forgetting to post that I removed the PlastiDip a couple weekends ago. It came off the front of the wheels pretty easy, but the backsides were a bit of pain.

I'm gonna Dip mine next Jan / Feb once winter is over... which is like one weekend here in Houston.

vibenvy wrote:I decided to PlastiDip my wheels for the heck of it this weekend...

PlastiDip is a truly awesome product! It sprays really nice and evenly and it really does peel right off without issue. I had a really easy time removing it from all the little bolts on the wheels. I gave it just enough time to dry thoroughly and than I peeled it right off without hassle.

Question: If PlastiDip peels off so easily, is it intended to be a permanent or semi-permanent thing, or is it understood to be temporary? In other words, I've been itchin' to remove my crossbars and then plasti-dip what remains of the roof rack and the parts that hold it up/hold it to the car... After doing this, would it stay on there for weeks? months? years? And does it hold up to washing, etc? Thanks!

03VIBEswfl wrote:Question: If PlastiDip peels off so easily, is it intended to be a permanent or semi-permanent thing, or is it understood to be temporary? In other words, I've been itchin' to remove my crossbars and then plasti-dip what remains of the roof rack and the parts that hold it up/hold it to the car... After doing this, would it stay on there for weeks? months? years? And does it hold up to washing, etc? Thanks!

I would recommend checking out dipyourcar.com for more information on how long you can expect it to last, etc. I would think a couple of factors would affect how long it will last: 1.) Where you use it on the vehicle (I would think on the roof would be a pretty safe place to use it). & 2.) How well you clean the surface prior to using the PlastiDip. Again though, I only used it this one time and removed it pretty quickly so I can't really sufficiently comment on how long it lasts, etc. Definitely do some reading on DYC for much more quality information .

vibenvy wrote:My dad freaked out when he saw the first coat of PlastiDip on the first wheel in the garage when he got home from work. He was telling my mom that I was ruining my Vibe and it was going to look ghetto, etc.

My parents reacted the same way to me painting the calipers.

lannvouivre wrote:My parents reacted the same way to me painting the calipers.

I just showed my dad the picture that KITT photoshopped for me of the Enkei Kojins on my Vibe. He asked if I was going to paint them black !

vibenvy wrote:

03VIBEswfl wrote:Question: If PlastiDip peels off so easily, is it intended to be a permanent or semi-permanent thing, or is it understood to be temporary? In other words, I've been itchin' to remove my crossbars and then plasti-dip what remains of the roof rack and the parts that hold it up/hold it to the car... After doing this, would it stay on there for weeks? months? years? And does it hold up to washing, etc? Thanks!

I would recommend checking out dipyourcar.com for more information on how long you can expect it to last, etc. I would think a couple of factors would affect how long it will last: 1.) Where you use it on the vehicle (I would think on the roof would be a pretty safe place to use it). & 2.) How well you clean the surface prior to using the PlastiDip. Again though, I only used it this one time and removed it pretty quickly so I can't really sufficiently comment on how long it lasts, etc. Definitely do some reading on DYC for much more quality information .

Cool, thanks for the tip!

vibenvy wrote:I just showed my dad the picture that KITT photoshopped for me of the Enkei Kojins on my Vibe. He asked if I was going to paint them black !

Next time he's at the store and holding a shirt up to himself to check the size, ask if he's going to sew it directly onto himself. I'd say "ask him if he's going to buy it," but then he wouldn't ask, "what? Why?"

lannvouivre wrote:Next time he's at the store and holding a shirt up to himself to check the size, ask if he's going to sew it directly onto himself. I'd say "ask him if he's going to buy it," but then he wouldn't ask, "what? Why?"