Nifty use for plastidip - pre trail run

[iSurfvilano]

So while I was grabbing coffee this morning I seen a nice (pretty new) G-Wagon with beefy off-road tires, ended up talking to the owner while waiting in line and come to find out he hits some pretty challenging trails near blue ridge. I made a snarky comment about he must have all the scratches professionally buffed out after use because it looked flawless...he said before he drives up to the trails he washes, waxes then uses painters tape to section off the hood, areas of the doors and fenders, then applies around 8-10 coats of plasti-dip then removes the tape. It ends up looking like he has black vendors, a big after market black decal on the hood and a thick black stripe along the doors. When he's done he just peels off what hasn't already been peeled off by branches. I thought that was a pretty clever use of the product, I asked him to send me some pics before he hits the trail again.

 

[toddjb122]

That's awesome!

I would actually really like to do this to my fenders. The painted parts will just attract scratches. However, I wasn't sure if the plastidip really peels off that easy or if I'd be picking remnants out of the edges for weeks.

I did inquire about putting clear paint protection on my fenders, but due to the size of the parts it was quite expensive. I might still do it. He said if he stretches the material along the curve instead of pressing down a flat rectangle (lots of waste material) it'd be a good bit cheaper. However, the stretched film may show some distortion.

For me it's less trail scratches (although that is a concern) and more I lean surf boards against the fenders when loading/unloading on the beach and if I'm not careful of the fiberglass fins they'll scratch in an instant.

 

[roverman]

It peels off really easy, provided you put enough coats on. The only thing I would watch doing the fenders is to tape off the crack between the fenders and the body really good if you do it with the fenders on the truck. And post pictures because I've considered doing it too.

 

[morrisdl]

Great idea for my NEXT truck. Way too late for ths one. I was figuring on just getting one already with pinstripping, but this is a good alternative. I have heard of people doing wraps and large magnet sheets for protection too.