Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Plastidip Removal: 991 C4S Rear Wheel

I posted a (lame...) DIY video over on my GTSilver YouTube page:


The Background:

Short story is that I have had my '14 Carrera Classic wheels painted with matte black Plastidip for about a year now.  I just had new tires installed, and the process of doing so pulled some of the 'dip off.  The drivers side rear was in the worst shape and I decided to strip the whole wheel face and reapply.  The other three just needed minor touch-ups and a respray.

I am loving this stuff...  Even with harsh weather of all kinds, and many washings, the Plastidip on the wheels has held-up extremely well.  I had one small instance months back where I had a "chip" in the "dip", and that was easy to fix without refinishing or painting the whole wheel.

I'll post another vid and more on the touch-up process later....

I have never removed Plastidip before, so went into this project with my fingers-crossed.  I found tons of videos and online descriptions about painting wheels with dip, but very little on removing.  So I decided at the last second to record my work on video, using my iPhone 4S.  I know, the quality is crappy, and editing is very poor.  I'll work on improving as I do more videos.

Removing Plastidip from Wheel:

The video is self-explanatory.  I start-out peeling by hand, then try a heat gun, then WD-40.  All worked, with the WD-40 being very effective without any harm to the underlying wheel finish whatsoever.  While the peeling by hand method works, and applying heat made peeling a bit easier, the WD-40 method was super effective and I probably should have started there.

Totaling the time I spent stripping, cleaning, and respraying this one wheel I realize it is not a "quick" process.  I believe I spent several hours just getting to a point where I was applying new dip.  But this was my first time, and I was experimenting (and trying to video with one hand and work with the other), so I don't think next time it will take me nearly as long.


As I was starting the respray, my phone memory hit a wall, so the video abruptly cuts off...  but you aren't missing much.  I applied something like 7 coats, going heavy as I want the next time I have to strip the dip to be easier.

Happy to answer questions, provide more details if it would help you!  Just reply / comment on the video or this post.

Thanks!


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