Plasti Dip screw up

Hey all,
So I took hours out of my day to remove my tail gate and plasti dip the lower portion of my 16' taco. I carefully prepared the area, taped off the edged perfectly along the curved lines, and applied 5 coats over the course of about 3 1/2 hours. I used the standard plasti dip can. After letting it dry, i went to remove the tape and it just didn't want to separate from itself along the taped lines. I went very slowly and kept my finger down against the desired plasti area, but it still left a super sloppy line where I removed the tape due to it not tearing evenly. I ended up peeling the entire thing and its back to new, but I'm pissed I wasted so much time. I looked pretty sick with the flat black below.

Any ideas why it tore so terribly, even though I used blue painter's tape???

 

10 min between coats. And use 5-6 coats. You don't want it fully dry when you peel the tape away.

 

Seems like you let the dip dry too long between coats. You have to remove tape while the dip is still wet.

 

That's just Plasti-dip man, only way I've found to get a good clean line after masking is a razor blade... I just wouldn't want to put a razor blade on my new tailgate lol.

You could get a nice metal ruler to use as a straight edge to hold on the tape line as you peel?

Jake

 

plasti-dip

 

Even if I did it every 10 minutes, those bottom layers would be just as dry as they were… I'll look into a plastic razor blade and try that next time… if there is a next time.

 

Lightly run a razor blade along the edge of the tape so the blade is just barely hitting tape, not your paint

 

30sec-1min between coats. Do 1 light coat to start, just for the whole thing 1 light pass and then lay on 2-3 heavy coats. Then peel off the tape after like 10min.

I did it this with my grille, lower valence (front bumper), hood scoop, fog light sleeves, and window switch plates (inside the door) and they all turned out great.

I had a few screw ups before I got it down. Let it dry too long between coats, let it dry too long before peeling the tape, sprayed too thick of a coat in specific spots and they got shiny, sprayed it in the sun and it got bubbly. You name it, I wasted dip on it.

Anyway, everything I did only used about 2 cans. I bought 6 total but the other 4 got used on screw ups. It's all trial and error, but that's the best part of dip. You mess up, just peel it off and try again.

Good luck!

 

Apply your layers ALMOST to the tape line. On your last layer, put it on the tape line, when it gets tacky apply another layer and peel the tape off. Worked for me.

 

That sucks. Gonna have to sand it down and redo.

 

Pretty sure you just want me to sand my truck down for no reason bro! its plasti dip… already gone!

 

Yep, belt sander is the only thing that'll fix that mistake.

 

Do not take a razor to your paint even if it's plastic and you are careful. To get a clean line around where you taped off the tail gate, just apply a heavy final coat (I recommend upwards of 5 heavy coats in total), and remove the tape immediately after the final coat. Every time you spray a new coat, the dried plastic dip that you spray over will become wet again thus allowing you to peel off the tape without having any dip stick to the tape.

Plasti dip has always impressed me, if applied carefully and correctly it can last years, assuming the dip isn't being blasted by rocks or anything while driving.

 

it'll be on my rear… strictly a "no blasting" zone

 

@be_unscared Not sure why people are telling you to wait 10 minutes prior to peeling the tape off, that will most likely result in the same issue you just had.

 

Thanks brotha. Everyone has been super helpful. I think I'll wake up and do it again in the am. I have to run some errands so it'll look pretty terrible with a 16 and no tail gate! Haaa

 

People will see the huge blank space of your missing tailgate and just assume you're driving backwards and that's the grill.

 

Good luck! Post the results

 

If that doesn't work, gas.

 

Yeah man... HATE HATE HATE! Hope it feels gooooood... On the hole