I’ll rebuild an engine if it needs it. I’ll tune a carburetor if it’s out of tune. I’ll even weld in a rust hole if there’s something that needs patching. Why, then, is removing the plastic-dip from these Foxbody Ford Mustang split-tri-spoke wheels bothering me so much? Why is this such a pain in the rear?
The Autopian’s partnership with XPEL has us installing an amazing wheel/tire combo onto our 2014 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet: Foxbody split tri-spoke wheels with incredible Vredestein all-terrain tires. I cannot wait to show you.
But I’m going to have to wait, because none of it is installed yet due to a small issue that has ruined many a car-person’s week: Plasti-Dip.
If you’re not familiar, Plasti-Dip is “an air-dry, specialty …. peelable, flexible, insulating, non-slip, durable rubber coating.” You spray it on a wheel/body panel/fence post or whatever, and before you know it, you’ve got a thin coating of rubber clinging to your object.
And boy does it cling. Really, really hard.
I didn’t even realize these Mustang tri-spoke wheels that I bought even had a coating on them until I started cleaning them in preparation for paint. Then I saw a little peeling, and figured I’d peel the rest off. It’s not happening. No matter what I try, I just can’t get this stuff off without risking damage to the rather minty tri-spoke underneath.
And this isn’t just a “me” issue (though I’ll admit I’m a Plasti-Dip amateur), it’s a problem many others are facing. Check it out:
“It. Will. Not. Come. Off.” with the horrified face is my favorite, though “Took me 2 1/2 hours to peel one wheel any faster way to get it off” is up there, too. The latter feature a few recommendations, like this one from RussianInAmerika:
Goo gone let it sit for 10 minutes; spray it again and let it sit another 10 min; right after go to local car wash with the rim brush and let it do its thing; goo gone after that again and let it sit for 10 min and then a pressure washer/scrub for minimal work/best outcome.
Goo Gone, WD-40, Tire Shine, Mineral Oil, all work good to remove stubborn dip. Tools like a toothbrush, a plastic Bondo spreader, an old credit card, I’ve used duct tape, all to get the peeling started. Once you have it started, I’ve used a heat gun or a hair dryer on lowest setting to help loosen dip too. Power washers and coin op car washes work well to spray clean dip.
For now, this whole Plasti-Dip removal process remains the bane of my existence.
I PlastiDipped my 911’s wheels because they were so. damn, shiny and I hate shiny. Sprayed them satin charcoal metallic and they look terrific. I was aware of this problem so I sprayed on four solid coats. I won’t ever remove it unless I have to, but if I do I hope my due diligence gets me something.
The MyMechanics guy on Youtube used dry ice to remove old sound deadening from the floors of the car he is restoring, it made the material crack off in sheets. Might work here?
Just plastidip the desired color you want over the existing stuff if you want the cheap route.
Otherwise with that much effort I’d just have them professionally refurbished (though admittedly I have a buddy who does wheels so it’s only like $75-100/wheel for me).
…Doesn’t Galpin have a program for that? Surely you could get some sort of discounted rate for such a thing? Or are you using your suffering for article fodder (which is understandable)?
Pasti-Dip was one of the most cursed trends in the automotive hobby.
WTF?
Send them to a machine shop and have them media blasted. If you’re too cheap for that, rent a big air compressor and blaster gun, do it yourself in the driveway, have fun cleaning up.
Stop wasting time doing things the dumb way, you’re an adult with shit to do and a family to tend to. Time is precious and you’re wasting it on stupid crap. They’ll look brand new when you get ’em back and then you can finish them to your liking.
Walnut blasting should get the coating off without damaging the finish underneath. Alternatively, we have had good success with dry ice blasting – advantage is there is no media to clean up when you are done. Never had it damage a surface that we were blasting.
Sometimes I feel like David’s stalwart insistence on wasting as much of his own precious, finite lifetime as possible on unpleasant and unproductive tasks is rage-baiting to make folks like me comment on these articles. Other times, I suspect it’s a serious financial trauma that he needs to talk to a therapist about.
Spend another day scrubbing wheels to save $40 or spend your day writing popular articles that drive upwards of $41 worth of views and eating canapés with Elise (NHRN) and Delmar (NHRN). Seems like an easy choice. I know David’s suffering generates engagement, but I have a feeling that it’ll dry up unless it’s directed at something more satisfying.
So here are some of my suggestions to productively milk the last bucket of David’s misery before turning a new page for Mr. Hollywood:
Set a budget and some on-the-clock time during the day to properly document the repair/build of one of your many shitboxes. See how that goes and maybe do one every other year. Call it a Five-Year-Plan.
Set a budget and a deadline, make it your full-time job and fix them all, any cars that can’t be registered and driven in California by the deadline (some number of weeks or months) get sold. Call it a Great Leap Forward.
Set a budget and just pay someone to fix one of your cars, while you work on another, with the aid of a punch-card for time spent on it, including going to buy parts, doing research and a per-diem for every day that the vehicle doesn’t work. Figure out how much your time actually costs, and whether that’s a fair price to you. Call it a Labor Theory of Value.
In my teens, I spent an entire week sandblasting, polishing, and clear coating the wheels on my brother’s ’86 Acura Integra. A month later he totaled it. Someone at a wrecking yard got a really nice set of wheels.
DT, maybe paint stripper? It’s nasty stuff but it would definitely work.
My son bought a VW GTI that was in great shape, except the previous owner had plasti-dipped the stock wheels and then had damaged the wheels horribly trying to get it off. There was no solution but to trash the wheels and put on a new set of Enkeis.
My uncle taught me this trick-
But a cheap can of Plasti-Dip and reapply a thick coat over the existing areas that still have the dip on it. Think of the old dry erase board trick, when you go over the older applied dip, it needs the chemicals to convert it back to a liquid, which the new spray will apply to the old dip. IMPORTANT- Wipe quickly before the new dip loses the chemicals in the air.
I’ve never tried it, and just made that up, but it should work YMMV.
My uncle taught me a different trick-
Apply a thick coating of Plasti-Dip on top of the existing thin layer, let it set and it’ll incorporate the thin layer, making it peel as advertised.
I’ve also never tried it, and also just made that up, but it also should work YMMV.
This is actually the recommended removal technique listed on the can for multiple brands.