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      05-21-2013, 12:53 AM   #16
PMW_F10
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Drives: 2013 Alpine White F10
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Westlake Village, CA

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDeep1 View Post
Amazing job guys! Did you just tape off the whole rear with paper and painters tape and spray away? Can you post which exact Plastidip spray you used? Did you prep the bumper at all?
BigDeep1, I used regular black PlastiDip spray and I got mine at Home Depot for only about $6. Sorry, I don't have a pic but you can find a pic or order the spray at dipyourcar.com.


As for the process... it turned out to be a bit more complicated than I thought and that's because the bottom section of the 528i rear bumper (the part I plasti dipped) isn't actually a separate piece. From a distance it looks like it's a diffuser that you can take off of the car but you actually can't and the line we all see is really just an indented crack.

Here's a pic of that section to illustrate what I mean:


NOW, if you haven't plasti dipped anything, I know what you're thinking, "umm so, just tape it off to that line"... Well, you can't, because when you pull the tape off, the edge of your plasti dipped line will start peeling up as well, it's impossible to prevent.

IF you've gone the extra step and watched a bunch of plasti dip videos on youtube (like I did) you're probably saying "So, just tape it off further up and the plasti dip will cut the perfect line when you peel the excess off"....
HOWEVER, since the "line" we're referring to is really just an indented crack, the plasti dip will NOT make it's own perfect line (like on moldings and rims).

I didn't find all of this out the hard way, I did a test run on a small portion of the bumper before moving on with the whole thing... and since you can just peel it off, it wasn't too big of a deal.

SO, my solution to the problem was pretty simple... here's what I did:

1. I taped off the section about an inch and a half above the line with blue painters tape and painters paper. also covering the exhaust tips and undercarriage as best as I could.


2. Then covered the rest of my car's butt with a sheet.

3. Then put about 7-8 coats of plasti dip on the section. Letting it dry for 10-20 minutes between each coat. (make your coasts light, don't rush it... it's a luxury car, give her time to accept the make-up)

4. Once the last coast was dry (here's the solution to the problem above) I used a razor blade to lightly score a line in the middle of the "crack".

5. Then, when peeling away the excess plasti dip from above, it pulled away perfectly and the line was flawless.


I know you're thinking that I just put a huge scratch in my bumper, and I probably did, but that line is supposed to look like a crack anyway, so I don't really care. Just make sure you don't slip with the razor blade and do any collateral damage to other sections of the bumper or your hands. haha

UPDATE: Mine is holding up great so far and it's been washed twice since I first plasti dipped it. I didn't use the glossifier that you can get from dipyourcar.com simply because I was too impatient to wait to order it and home depot didn't have it. But I like the matte/satin look that it has because it looks like it's supposed to be that way... like factory black plastic trim.
Here's the most recent pic of the whip (yes, I added a performance spoiler since my last post)
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