So after today's Cars & Café in Minneapolis I decided to attempt my blackout bumper idea, seeing as I've got the Difflow diffuser and R wing on now. I like the result, not love it. The corners are round (courtesy of a 1" washer for a template) but look a bit sharp. I'll let it sink in and see how I like it tomorrow - if I don't, it peels right off!
Here's the saga:
First, tape off the pattern after a ridiculous amount of measuring and tape line straightening:
Add some painter's paper to protect against overspray (just for easier cleanup really):
Remove the 4 screws that hold the license plate lights and tuck them up and out of the way (and take them apart and clean the 22 years of dirt out of the lenses while you are there):
After 2 coats, still showing plenty of red through:
After 4 coats its better, but not perfect. It took a total of 6 light coats to get all the surface and edges covered, about 5 min between each (it was dry due to light coats, heat and wind - the instructions say like 3 hours...):
Now the HARD part. You see, this neat Plasti Dip product is made to cover entire objects, not stop at a mythical line the in center of an object, like a bumper for example. Its rubber, and rubber will tear as it doesn't respect the line of my tape. Knowing this, I tried to move quickly after the last coat to get the tape to peal away leaving a nice clean edge, but no - it had already turned to rubber and wanted to peal up all of it when I pulled the tape.
Solution? A brand new Exacto blade and a super light touch to cut the surface of the rubber at the tape line, avoiding the clear coat underneath. Both corners tore a small bit if you look really closely as I didn't cut in enough...I'll deal with that after it sets up more.
Here's how it turned out:
It looks like a really well done flat black paint job...I'm impressed with the results coming out of a spray can I must say:
Here's the saga:
First, tape off the pattern after a ridiculous amount of measuring and tape line straightening:
Add some painter's paper to protect against overspray (just for easier cleanup really):
Remove the 4 screws that hold the license plate lights and tuck them up and out of the way (and take them apart and clean the 22 years of dirt out of the lenses while you are there):
After 2 coats, still showing plenty of red through:
After 4 coats its better, but not perfect. It took a total of 6 light coats to get all the surface and edges covered, about 5 min between each (it was dry due to light coats, heat and wind - the instructions say like 3 hours...):
Now the HARD part. You see, this neat Plasti Dip product is made to cover entire objects, not stop at a mythical line the in center of an object, like a bumper for example. Its rubber, and rubber will tear as it doesn't respect the line of my tape. Knowing this, I tried to move quickly after the last coat to get the tape to peal away leaving a nice clean edge, but no - it had already turned to rubber and wanted to peal up all of it when I pulled the tape.
Solution? A brand new Exacto blade and a super light touch to cut the surface of the rubber at the tape line, avoiding the clear coat underneath. Both corners tore a small bit if you look really closely as I didn't cut in enough...I'll deal with that after it sets up more.
Here's how it turned out:
It looks like a really well done flat black paint job...I'm impressed with the results coming out of a spray can I must say:
