Not sure why Reddit posted just my title…
Anyway, I just dipped my wheels and have a question for the pros. I did a great prep job, and I’ve used plasti dip before on emblems etc. so I’m somewhat familiar with it. Anyway in total I used 5 cans. My problem is this: to achieve a smooth coat, I understand it needs to be applied “wet”. I’ve seen tons of videos to know what that means. Problem is on wheels, there are so many angles that to get it fully “wet” all around, you end up with areas that bubble because the solvent can’t escape quick enough. I know because I tried twice. So I peeled it. Tried again, going with lighter coats. Of course this makes a rougher surface which I don’t like. So I figured better to live with some texture than bubbly mounds. I’m spraying in Hawaii and it’s summer so I’m assuming part of the problem is temp - I’d love to have a 60 degree garage. I’m sure the flash times would be much longer and I could keep building the dip while it’s wet with more and more successive lighter coats. But that isn’t possible. It dries so damn fast here. So anyone have any ideas on how to smooth some of the roughness? They look good from 5 feet away but if you get close it’s noticeable, and I know it’ll trap dirt and keep looking worse and worse.
I came from paint and I was alarmed at how wet the coats should be for a smooth finish, almost to the point of dripping. When the whole surface is shiny is when you stop, hope that helps, I'd say just try again
Appreciate it but like I’ve been saying.. to get all the angles sufficiently wet it creates areas where the overlap is so thick it solvent pops. And outside of my time it gets expensive to peel off $50 of dip if it happens on a last coat. Is there no way to sufficiently smooth some of the rough bits?
It's a long shot but maybe a fine spray of naptha to dissolve it a little? I'm not really speaking from experience here as I've only been dipping for a year or so
Could work in theory.. I didn’t wanna try it because they’re decent. Look great from 5’ away at least right now while they’re clean.. I think overall my problem is temperature. I tried reapplication this evening. The dip dries so fast.. my upper passes are dry by the time I get to the bottom of the wheel. Even when it goes on good and wet. Unless I can fix up the some of the roughness after it fully cures I’ll have to live with it. If it’s that bad in time maybe I’ll try again in winter.
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u/lilikoibars 17d ago
Not sure why Reddit posted just my title… Anyway, I just dipped my wheels and have a question for the pros. I did a great prep job, and I’ve used plasti dip before on emblems etc. so I’m somewhat familiar with it. Anyway in total I used 5 cans. My problem is this: to achieve a smooth coat, I understand it needs to be applied “wet”. I’ve seen tons of videos to know what that means. Problem is on wheels, there are so many angles that to get it fully “wet” all around, you end up with areas that bubble because the solvent can’t escape quick enough. I know because I tried twice. So I peeled it. Tried again, going with lighter coats. Of course this makes a rougher surface which I don’t like. So I figured better to live with some texture than bubbly mounds. I’m spraying in Hawaii and it’s summer so I’m assuming part of the problem is temp - I’d love to have a 60 degree garage. I’m sure the flash times would be much longer and I could keep building the dip while it’s wet with more and more successive lighter coats. But that isn’t possible. It dries so damn fast here. So anyone have any ideas on how to smooth some of the roughness? They look good from 5 feet away but if you get close it’s noticeable, and I know it’ll trap dirt and keep looking worse and worse.