Dummy’s Guide Episode 6: What the hell is Plastidip?

You see the kids around the corner open up a whoop-a** can of Plastidip to give their dope (NOT!) wheels a new colour? Is it a brand of spray-paint? Deodorant perhaps? Momma’s liquified turkey dinner? Nah, son. 

Plastidip is peelable paint in a can! Yeah baby – P.E.E.L.A.B.L.E.

It’s a new alternative to foiling – which we have covered in depth in Episode 4 of this series.

Is Plastidip better?

Like anything and everything, Plastidip is not without its pros and cons. 

But unfortunately, the product has more cons than pros – trust me I know, but more on that later.

I’m going to start with the pros of Plastdip aka dip. 

Plastidip is super easy to apply, unlike traditional foiling, which requires a heat gun, squigee, knives, scissors, a couple of friends, food and beer.

All you really need to Plastidip a part (or car) is to clean the surface, open up a can and spray it evenly in a smooth motion. I’ve personally dipped quite a few parts and it can be done in your basement in a couple of minutes.

Unlike foiling, you don’t even need to remove parts to dip a car. You just need to mask off the region you don’t want to dip and spray away. 

This is also the reason why it’s cheaper to dip a car than to foil. Foiling is much more labour intensive than dipping is.

It’s completely reversible too! Tired of the Plastidip, just rip it off and go back to the stock colour instantly.

It’s also a great and cheap way to try out a colour on a part before ruining it permanently.

Sounds great so far, so why shouldn’t I dip my car?

Ah, the cons. We were never meant to deserve anything that easy and good.

For one, Plastidip does not do well with heat which directly affects its durability. Steer clear of anyone who tells you a dip will last you years. The dip dries out with the heat and ages faster than Meg Ryan.

It is also a dust magnet. The texture of dip is very rubber-like. This means dust and dirt does not roll off the dip like it does on paint and foils. No matter how many times you wash your car, that dip is going to get dirty by the time you’re out of the carwash.

Fuel and Plastidip are not the best of friends either. A little touch of gasoline on your brand-new dip job is enough to melt it – gets pretty ugly. I’ve had to keep a towel below the hose every time I filled gas to protect the dip. It’s tedious. It’s not worth it.

And last – it’s pretty rice! 

Having experimented with Plastidip on my own cars, and venturing into dipping cars for people, I can truly say that it is not worth it. It’s a pain in the kuboos to maintain and it’s only really worth dipping small parts – emblems, trim pieces etc. It makes everything else look old and dusty very quickly.

Like anything new (relatively), I bet peelable paint technology has a long way to go and there would come a time when changing the colour of your car or parts is easy.

But until then, stick to what is tested and proven – stick to good ‘ol fashion foiling. Why wouldn’t you when you’ve got kickass designers like this in town.