Wasted 50 dollars on Plasti dip for modded grille.. should I give up?

I have been working of modded grille. I feel like I should just either give up and buy a pro grille or hire a professional to finish my project for me.

I sprayed the grille after finishing the mods and got all kinds of weird bubble textures, so I peeled all the Plasti dip off and started over.

I followed all YouTube directions a second time and still got weird textures, and now, since I sprayed on 12 heavy coats, there a noticeable paint runs. Even though I sprayed very close and made sure it looked wet with every coat, I still got funky textures... is there anything I can do?

 

Plasti dip spray is no automotive paint. its not going to lay down in a perfect coat like out of a top notch spray gun. its rattle can work. i did the inside of my rear bumper and it is similar.

I think the grille looks pretty good from here. hard to tell in the photos.

when i used plasti i did many many many super thin layers to avoid any runs or drips. it took a lot longer but it built up smoother maybe?

 

I've plastidip'd a lot of stuff. To me it looks like you were too close and way too thick of coats.

For a smooth look I'd stick around ten inches away and do a bunch of medium coats. I've usually done 4-5 coats and mine has always peeled fine.

 

Stand further back as you spray,
The first couple base coats I always do light misting spray
Also make sure the can is shaken up very well along with making sure the can is not cold.
Tried dipping some wheels once in my garage during winter when the cans were cold, & they turned out similar to how your grill is looking. Not bad just not that nice textured look we all go for.

 

One of the reasons I chose bedliner, the textured finish being blemished by design. Hope you get it worked out.

 

I personally despise plasti dip
I painted the grille on my 2016 sport with it and hated it so I took it off and actually painted the grill a flat black. I love it and that’s all that matters lol. I also went with painting the entire area around the grille sooooooo yeah. Just popped the thing out and put a nice layer of primer as if I was painting a chair and let it set for 20 minutes or so and layered on the black.

 

On a side note, where did you get the TOYOTA lettering from, that look great! And honestly, I doubt anyone will be able to see any of that texture in the dip unless they’re walking way too close, think it looks just fine.

 

Spray light coats, I´m talking barely even cover the part on each coat for the first two coats. After that you can go a little heavier. A total of 6 coats should be enough.
Shake the can really well before and during the spraying.
After each coat, turn can upside down and spray a little to clear the nozzle, if you don´t, the next spray will have dried plasti-dip dots in it.
Keep the can in a bucket of warm water between coats.

 

You need to follow my "10-10" rule for everything cosmetic on a vehicle. What does that mean?

It needs to look good from 10 feet away or going past you at 10 mph. That's it. If you get close enough to ANYTHING you will see imperfections.

Your pics are too close so no wonder we see imperfections! Take a pic of your grille from 10 ft away. I bet it looks good.

 

This rule also works in dating.

 

10mph is pretty fast to judge, unless your one of those "beauties on the inside" people.

 

In addition to spraying lighter coats at first from farther away, I always warm up the cans in a bowl of warm water. I've noticed the spray is much more even once the can is warmed up.

 

I was only only 2-3 inches away...ugh...

Plasti-dip is counterintuitive to work with especially because I used to krylon and acrylic airbrush.

Thanks everyone for all the great replies. I think I will just mount it, and see how I feel.about for a week.

 

I think it was a from Land cruiser. I got the idea from two members on this site. Sexytacoma and rs9si

Unlike those two guys, After removing the center emblem on the SR5 grille, I filled in the top center of the SR5 grille to give it a more streamlined look

 

This. I learnt the hard way the first time around with plastic dip. Patience and thin even coats!

 

Yep, you were to close and sprayed it on to thick. Did it myself the first time I derped anything, luckily it'll peel off and you can re-do it. Several light coats looks way better than a few heavy coats, plus it won't run when you do it light.

I also use one of these, it helps a lot.

$6 Rust-Oleum 243546 Standard Spray Grip , Black

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-2...1508220289&sr=8-7&keywords=spray+paint+nozzle

 

^^^^^^^ For the win; makes a huge difference in control and fatigue IMO

 

not sure why you would plastidip an already black grille, just clean it off and spray the thing with proper paint.

 

spray with proper paint. Wet sand between dry coats to get rid of orange peel

 

I think you sprayed it to close .
I just put 5 cans of Plasti dip on my camper.
I held the can about a foot away and just went over the whole thing until I used all the cans. No runs or drips or weird texture for me. It was about 80degrees outside at the time I was painting.