Plasti dip on bumpers and grills?

Anybody have experience using Plasti Dip on bumpers or grill bulges/surrounds?

Not a huge fan of chrome so I’m thinking of spraying some matte black until I get color keyed parts.

Pros/cons? I have zero experience with the stuff.

 

Doesn't last long on bumpers, even when applied correctly and with many coats. Same for wheels. It's a temporary visual solution while you're figuring out a permanent solution.

 

That’s pretty much what I’m looking for, but I don’t want to waste my time if it won’t last for long. I’ve read when properly applied it will last from 1-3 years depending on conditions. Does that sound like BS or pretty spot on?

 

I did an xterra 2006 and it improved it and lasted a couple years.
The bumpers were a grey and dipping them made a huge improvement.

The only issue is it will catch a lot of stuff. It gets pitted etc with tiny particles.

The nice part is with a power washer with the deck cleaning nozzle it comes right off.

 

Expect about a year at most. My neighbors have had the same experience and one of them used to apply it professionally to kids vehicles that liked to change their looks a lot.

 

I love plastidip! Did my old tundras bumpers, grill and badges. Lasted about two years in extreme conditions.

Use the pre dip cleaner, about 6 coats of color, 3 coats of clear or glossifier and then use the dip protection. Dont use any type of degreaser or bug cleaner on the plastidip.

 

I will likely try it out due solely to the fact that I despise chrome.

 

My buddy did it to his sr5 bumpers. 3 years and it looks like new but it’s basically a pavement princess.

 

I painted my grille surround and hood bulge for about $50 in primer, paint and clear coat. It took some elbow grease but the finished product is way better than I expected at that price point.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-3rd-gen-tundra-today.713/page-984

I had originally plastidipped it, but it just didn’t hold up as well as I had hoped. Pro tip, don’t plastidip the honeycomb insert on 2018+ grilles. That shit is a pain in the ass to clean off with all those angles and nooks.

 

I've had extremely mixed results. It's holding up great on my mirrors but been so-so on everything else.

Just make sure you do 5-6 light coats, not 1-2 heavy ones. Hold the can 8 or so inches from the surface. Also, it helps if you heat up the can in a bucket of warm water.

 

Holy smokes that looks amazing. How is it holding up so far?

 

Always need touch up good for short term

 

Did my grill and front and rear bumper caps.

Ended up pulling the grill off today, looked great just want to go with colour match

 

just my opinion, on a sub 15k vehicle plasti-dip is fine but it looks like shit too quickly to put it on a brand new vehicle.

 

Sprayed my rear bumper ends two summers ago. Still looks great. Prep and application is everything.

 

I disagree completely. For me it wasnt only about changing the appearance but it was cheap insurance to protect the chrome. When I removed the original dip the chrome looked brand new! You would have never guessed the bumpers were dipped.

 

that's terrific to hear and I'm glad that it works for some but unfortunately for every person it works for there are 2 that will agree that it is definitely not permanent in every application and it takes only a very small area to peel for the entire thing to start looking suspect.
either way, I'd rather have options out there as not everybody wants to pay for paint, use bedliner, etc.

 

I can agree with that statement. Definitely not a permanent solution but it is a cheap an easy solution! I have even done coats of clear plastidip as a temporary "clear bra". Painting is obviously the better route to go if you want a permanent solution.

 

Did it on the middle part of my grille, looked like hammered dog shit after 1 year, let it go 2. Then I did it again without taking off the old coat. I figure nobody cares.

 

So far so good. It’s only been a couple months, but haven’t had any issues cleaning bug guts and stuff off of it. I think I might need to do another good coat of polish on it just to help the clear coat, though.

 

What color did you use to match with the MGM? Was it the dark shadow grey?

 

I just used the Duplicolor MGM and it was a pretty damn good match.
Dupli-Color BTY1619 Magnetic Gray Metallic Toyota Exact-Match Automotive Paint - 8 oz. Aerosol https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00407RRTG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_95DlDbP8FBV69

 

Awesome. I’m definitely going to do this instead of the PlastiDip. Thanks man!

 

So here is my before..



And this is after 4 cans of plasti dip front bumper (chrome ends and center plate to match)
and a <$100 3in tubular bull bar i got on ebay (plasti the bumper before you add the bull bar)

I plan to do the grill surround, hood buldge, and rear bumper also, i hate chrome and 4 cans of plasti dip at home depot is like $20
I will also most likely pull the bedliner out and spray it to give me the extra 3 inches of bed space for my Crew max

 

I did the front grill and aftermarket bumper two years ago. this summer I touched up the front insert because it had taken a little bit of a beating off roading. Also did the rear bumper ends last year and it still looks like I just painted it. Prep and proper application is key. You can't put it on like regular spray paint, long and slow swipes to put down a even coat.

 

I 120% agree. Plastic dip is junk. I’d rather have chrome than dip