My Stealth Raider Progress - Updated 21/05/12 Plasti Dipped Front End
- Thread starter Raider_Lew
- Start date
Thanks for the invite Paul. I am currently sorting out my days free over the next 2 weeks so i should have an answer for you either today or by Monday
I think its great. Not popping enough when warm but hopefully a few hundred miles will sort that out :thumbup1:
One of the clios also had an lsd which cost £800 to fit iirc
I didn't get to speak to the lad to ask how it was though.
I didn't get to speak to the lad to ask how it was though.
N0ddie
Platinum Member
I was talking to JT about the 200 & trophy and was saying how much better I thought the 200 would be with an lsd when he said one there had one.
Looks great Lewis, would love to have the money for one of these.
Do you know theres a RS Tuning remap group buy? Just that you mentioned a Ktec remap
Do you know theres a RS Tuning remap group buy? Just that you mentioned a Ktec remap
I cant view the thread because im not a full member, lol. How much will it be for a certain amount of people mate?
Cheers Noddie :thumbup1: Be good if there ends up being 20. With my car only being so young with 1k miles on the clock, do you think it can be still done?
N0ddie
Platinum Member
Dont see why not.
Tbh, I dont see 20 members signing up to the discount. I'd be happy with 5 really as your still saving £60.
With the Akrapovic, you should see significant gains with a remap, thats what I'm hoping for anyway lol.
******UPDATE********
I decided that i wanted to try and get the whole car matt with little expense as possible and obviously to be different. If i didn't like the outcome then i would be screwed and i'd need another hefty chunk of cash to reverse the work. So, ive been following tutorials for the past few months on youtube about Plasti Dipping. Basically plastidip is like spray paint in a can but the texture is matt and has a rubbery/plastic texture to it. Not many colours are available in the UK as of yet but a few of your usual matt colours are available atm (Black, Baby Blue, Red, Green & Clear) Because the plastidip adheres so well to almost any finish, the durability can last a very long time and if you dont like it, with enough coats on you can peel it off without disturbing and maintain the finish of what ever is underneath.
With my gloss wheels on my Raider starting to acquire a few chips and a nightmare to keep defect free, this was now the perfect opportunity to have a go myself after a few months of watching vid after vid and get a new look whilst keeping the alloys in pristine condition underneath.
There are certain ways of spraying items and they end up with different textures I.E distance and speed of passes. To start with, i have got myself used to the spraying pattern of the can and covered my steering wheel insert and the roof aerial. 4 coats will be the MINIMUM i will be putting on anything as the more coats you put on, the easier it is to get off.
This will now also give me the option to get a sticker made to replace the hidden one underneath the insert
Next up were the mirror caps. I haven't got pics of removal etc or coat by coat but i wanted to try and achieve a textured finish like some standard plastics so these were sprayed quite close and with a medium passing speed. Again, 4 coats were applied to ease the removal if necessary.
Next up was the biggest job of all, the wheels. I will try and give as much info as possible but again, a few pictures are missing due to the amount of time on my hands.
I wanted to get all 4 wheels done at the same time due to the prep work that was needed so i decided to leave the wheels on the car and follow the tutorial this way. Whatever wax/sealant that was present on the wheels, it needed to be stripped in order for the plastidip to adhere to its max potential so i just used the good old fairy liquid. Once they were all washed, they were all dried using a silverline blower to make sure every drip of water was gone and doesn't interfere with the coating. The wheels were then wiped down using a mix of IPA and water to remove any present oils and grease.
Next up was to cover the components behind the wheel so i didn't get anything on the discs, pads, hubs and calipers. Using tape would consume too much time and would be an effort getting it all out afterwards so large bin bags were used. Each bag was cut down the middle (creating a hotdog bun effect) and then one end was passed through the wheel right round and back on its self. One half was put over the calipers and disks and the other half covered the hub, remembering not to let the bag touch the wheel for paint coverage. A few bits of tape was placed to strengthen the sitting of the bags so they wouldn't blow out of the way when spraying. The front wheels were a little harder as the clearance from the caliper to the wheel was very minimal. Took just over an hr to wrap all 4 insides but this had to be done properly.
Front
Rear
Just as an extra precaution, i decided to bag up the outer arches in case any over spray blew on to the closest areas and save me a job getting it off the matt paint afterwards!!
The tires didn't need covering and i will show why later but the plastidip will get into any nook and cranny with minimal effort. The first coat was applied very thinly (seeing 50% transparency) at a distance of say half a foot with quick passes, ensuring it would be texture less as possible. I sprayed roughly 3 cm over into the tire to ensure the pastidip would get down the back of the rim. Building thin coats are the key here. No picks of the 1st coat unfortunately.
10 mins waiting time and the second coat was next. Again quick passes and same distance used, seeing the wheel more or less covered. Up close you can still see the gloss underneath but again, building up thin coats will get the best results out of a can. The piece of tape on the wheel is to tell me where the bottom is when i push the car back to check coverage of the hard areas. Waited 10 mins and back to inspect.
]
Same process for the third coat with the gloss completely gone underneath. Pic of the wheel just coated.
Another 10 mins wait and the fourth coat was done. I waited until this dried and then had a good look around all wheels to see for any tiny bubbles etc and noticed a few. Not bad for a first try but i wanted these gone so i slightly touched everyone of them with my finger. Yes it left a slight fingerprint where i had been but then decided to do a very light fifth coating to cover these over which turned out great.
The spray work was now finished and the waiting time was half an hour to make sure it was touch dry in order to get the bags out from behind the wheels without disturbing the finish.
Half an hour was up so i took the bags off the outer arches
As you can see, the wheel nuts and the center caps were painted but i will be etching out the RS logo in the center caps tomorrow with a cocktail stick once it has had time to fully dry and retain a little detail and colour. Trying to do this whilst its still wet will only interfere with the plastidip around the logo and possible ruin them.
Now it was onto the tyres. With the over lap of 3cm onto the tyre, it enabled me to get the outer wheel lip covered. The overlap had formed its own coating so whilst its touch dry, you can roll the lip up and simply peel away from the tyre. If its thick enough, it will be an easy job to remove. Doing an overlap on everything you do will enable the excess to cut away itself, not worrying about the painted part.
Once all 4 tyres were done, it was time to remove the inner bags. The trick here is to work the bag through one spoke of the wheel by compacting the bag inside the wheel with one hand and the other to push it in the hand. This way will save you dragging the bag out and damaging the surface whilst its still not fully dry.
I drove home and here are a few close up pics so you can decide for yourself what you think :thumbup1: Please excuse a little break dust as it shouldn't be there :lol:
Next up will be the etchings out of the center caps (hopefully tomorrow) but then i will be moving on to the front gloss bumper area and splitter, with the fog surrounds a possibility. See how i feel next weekend.
Overall i am very happy with the outcome. Hope you enjoyed the read so far
I decided that i wanted to try and get the whole car matt with little expense as possible and obviously to be different. If i didn't like the outcome then i would be screwed and i'd need another hefty chunk of cash to reverse the work. So, ive been following tutorials for the past few months on youtube about Plasti Dipping. Basically plastidip is like spray paint in a can but the texture is matt and has a rubbery/plastic texture to it. Not many colours are available in the UK as of yet but a few of your usual matt colours are available atm (Black, Baby Blue, Red, Green & Clear) Because the plastidip adheres so well to almost any finish, the durability can last a very long time and if you dont like it, with enough coats on you can peel it off without disturbing and maintain the finish of what ever is underneath.
With my gloss wheels on my Raider starting to acquire a few chips and a nightmare to keep defect free, this was now the perfect opportunity to have a go myself after a few months of watching vid after vid and get a new look whilst keeping the alloys in pristine condition underneath.
There are certain ways of spraying items and they end up with different textures I.E distance and speed of passes. To start with, i have got myself used to the spraying pattern of the can and covered my steering wheel insert and the roof aerial. 4 coats will be the MINIMUM i will be putting on anything as the more coats you put on, the easier it is to get off.
This will now also give me the option to get a sticker made to replace the hidden one underneath the insert
Next up were the mirror caps. I haven't got pics of removal etc or coat by coat but i wanted to try and achieve a textured finish like some standard plastics so these were sprayed quite close and with a medium passing speed. Again, 4 coats were applied to ease the removal if necessary.
Next up was the biggest job of all, the wheels. I will try and give as much info as possible but again, a few pictures are missing due to the amount of time on my hands.
I wanted to get all 4 wheels done at the same time due to the prep work that was needed so i decided to leave the wheels on the car and follow the tutorial this way. Whatever wax/sealant that was present on the wheels, it needed to be stripped in order for the plastidip to adhere to its max potential so i just used the good old fairy liquid. Once they were all washed, they were all dried using a silverline blower to make sure every drip of water was gone and doesn't interfere with the coating. The wheels were then wiped down using a mix of IPA and water to remove any present oils and grease.
Next up was to cover the components behind the wheel so i didn't get anything on the discs, pads, hubs and calipers. Using tape would consume too much time and would be an effort getting it all out afterwards so large bin bags were used. Each bag was cut down the middle (creating a hotdog bun effect) and then one end was passed through the wheel right round and back on its self. One half was put over the calipers and disks and the other half covered the hub, remembering not to let the bag touch the wheel for paint coverage. A few bits of tape was placed to strengthen the sitting of the bags so they wouldn't blow out of the way when spraying. The front wheels were a little harder as the clearance from the caliper to the wheel was very minimal. Took just over an hr to wrap all 4 insides but this had to be done properly.
Front
Rear
Just as an extra precaution, i decided to bag up the outer arches in case any over spray blew on to the closest areas and save me a job getting it off the matt paint afterwards!!
The tires didn't need covering and i will show why later but the plastidip will get into any nook and cranny with minimal effort. The first coat was applied very thinly (seeing 50% transparency) at a distance of say half a foot with quick passes, ensuring it would be texture less as possible. I sprayed roughly 3 cm over into the tire to ensure the pastidip would get down the back of the rim. Building thin coats are the key here. No picks of the 1st coat unfortunately.
10 mins waiting time and the second coat was next. Again quick passes and same distance used, seeing the wheel more or less covered. Up close you can still see the gloss underneath but again, building up thin coats will get the best results out of a can. The piece of tape on the wheel is to tell me where the bottom is when i push the car back to check coverage of the hard areas. Waited 10 mins and back to inspect.
] Same process for the third coat with the gloss completely gone underneath. Pic of the wheel just coated.
Another 10 mins wait and the fourth coat was done. I waited until this dried and then had a good look around all wheels to see for any tiny bubbles etc and noticed a few. Not bad for a first try but i wanted these gone so i slightly touched everyone of them with my finger. Yes it left a slight fingerprint where i had been but then decided to do a very light fifth coating to cover these over which turned out great.
The spray work was now finished and the waiting time was half an hour to make sure it was touch dry in order to get the bags out from behind the wheels without disturbing the finish.
Half an hour was up so i took the bags off the outer arches
As you can see, the wheel nuts and the center caps were painted but i will be etching out the RS logo in the center caps tomorrow with a cocktail stick once it has had time to fully dry and retain a little detail and colour. Trying to do this whilst its still wet will only interfere with the plastidip around the logo and possible ruin them.
Now it was onto the tyres. With the over lap of 3cm onto the tyre, it enabled me to get the outer wheel lip covered. The overlap had formed its own coating so whilst its touch dry, you can roll the lip up and simply peel away from the tyre. If its thick enough, it will be an easy job to remove. Doing an overlap on everything you do will enable the excess to cut away itself, not worrying about the painted part.
Once all 4 tyres were done, it was time to remove the inner bags. The trick here is to work the bag through one spoke of the wheel by compacting the bag inside the wheel with one hand and the other to push it in the hand. This way will save you dragging the bag out and damaging the surface whilst its still not fully dry.
I drove home and here are a few close up pics so you can decide for yourself what you think :thumbup1: Please excuse a little break dust as it shouldn't be there :lol:
Next up will be the etchings out of the center caps (hopefully tomorrow) but then i will be moving on to the front gloss bumper area and splitter, with the fog surrounds a possibility. See how i feel next weekend.
Overall i am very happy with the outcome. Hope you enjoyed the read so far
Last edited:
I suppose satin has always looked dirty but i wanted to try and have the best of both worlds. Get a good satin finish and also keep the alloys looking like new underneath because im sick to death of polishing them!
