[AndyR83]

One of the first mods I did to my E92 was swapping out the stock grills (the ones with chrome rings) for a matte black set. This prompted me to paint my lower grills flat black to match, and I continued to swap everything to either body color or flat black. Eventually, the only thing I had left that didn't match was my window trim.

First, I looked into purchasing the actual black trim pieces from BMW. Turns out they cost a boatload and they're somewhat of a pain to install. Next, I looked into vinyl wrapping the trim. I attempted to do this, but unfortunately I am awful at arts & crafts and all I managed to do was ruin a bunch of vinyl and give my neighbors a good laugh. I was going to get some quotes from paint shops to have the trim painted, when someone suggested Plastidip.

Plastidip is spoken about quite a bit by auto modder types. I have read of people Plastidipping wheels, trim, even entire cars. I never knew exactly what plastidip was, but I assumed it was just a paint that dried to a rubbery texture. I was totally unaware of how awesome this stuff really is. The number one thing you should know about Plastidip is that it's 100% removable. It honestly would just come right off with minimal effort, and would leave the surface underneath perfectly clean like it was never there. I didn't believe that part at first either, but I will show you some pics later that demonstrate how easily it comes off.

This DIY will show you how to use Plastidip to coat your window trim and your badges. I used matte black, but this stuff comes in lots of colors and this technique will work no matter which color you choose.

STEP ONE: Prep the car. Wash the car so that all the surface debris is off of the chrome. I used 2" painter's tape (that blue papery tape) and paper to cover everything around my chrome. I still had some overspray, which you will see later isn't all that big a deal. Cleanup is a little easier if you mask everything off well from the start, so take the time and do it right.

NOTE WELL: Like I said above, I suck at arts & crafts. I've never "masked anything off" before in my life. If I can do it, you can do it guaranteed.



So, you're probably looking at that and saying "Hey, wait a minute! You taped off all around the window but the paint is still exposed!"

Yes, I did! That's intentional! You are going to want to do the same. You might think the goal is to tape off everything except the chrome. The problem is, if you were to do so, the Plastidip would possibly come off of the edges of the trim when you pull the tape. Also, it's very difficult to tape it so very perfectly. Our intent here is to purposefully overspray onto the paint. I know, you probably think I'm crazy. Keep reading, and you will see that this is by far the best method. When you go to remove your tape later, you'll see why this is a good idea.

The "inside" of the window (where the glass is) obviously doesn't have any paint. What it does have is a rubber gasket going all around. Put the tape about halfway up onto this rubber. When you're actually doing it, you'll see what I mean. I tried to get a good picture here to demonstrate.








Since I'm doing my badges too, I masked off an area around them too, like so.

STEP TWO: Apply the first coat of Plastidip. Now, as I have said repeatedly throughout this post, I suck at arts & crafts. I'm going to be honest with you guys... before today, I never spray painted anything, ever. Yes, really. My technique sucked and I made some mistakes. They don't really show in these pics, but I'm going to tell you what I did wrong so you can avoid the same mistakes I made.

First and foremost, make sure you're holding the can of Plastidip about 6-8 inches away from the surface. I was holding it too close, and this resulted in a few drips. I'm probably going to redo that section just because I'm super picky (as I imagine most of you probably are too.) Don't let this put you off on the project. Just be mindful of it.

Next, don't put too much of the Plastidip on at a time. The first coat should be a very thing dusting. I put way too much on. This probably lead to my drip problem as well. When you first start spraying, the black spots on the chrome trim are going to look "kind of funny." I know, that isn't exactly a technical term. I guess the best thing I could say is that it looked like it was "beading up" on the chrome and not covering. This caused me to apply too much on the first coat, like I said. In retrospect, I would have applied a much thinnner/lighter first coat and that probably would have eliminated my issue.

Make sure to keep your hand moving back and forth whenever you're spraying and don't hold the can in one place for too long. This will cause drips too.

Finally, remember to hit the chrome from all angles. The window trim is "raised" a little bit off the car, so you're going to want to shoot "down" at it a little bit on a few of your passes to make sure the top is covered. If you're doing your badges too (like I did) you'll want to hold the can at a few different angles as well, to make sure there aren't any "bald spots" when you view the badges from another angle (i.e. from the side or from below.)




See the drips? That's because I held the can too close. Don't do that!

I only posted a few of my pics, but you need to apply at least 4 coats of Plastidip. You should wait 10-20 minutes between coats! I waited about 10, but remember I had some drips in mine. Again, learn from my mistakes. 20 minutes probably would have been a better idea, and that's what I'll do next time.

STEP THREE: Removing the tape. OK, the moment of truth is nearly upon us. The key words here are "slow, even pressure." Take off your masking very slowly and very carefully. Leave the little lip of plastidip around the edge of the chrome. We'll be removing it next.

Once you have most of your masking materials removed, you'll be left with some ragged edges of plastidip all around the window that will need to be fixed up. We're going to do that next!


Remember how we taped about halfway up this rubber gasket? When you take the tape off, you'll probably have these little raggedy edges of plastidip on the half of the gasket that wasn't taped. That's normal! We'll get it in a few minutes.


You're going to have Plastidip all around the painted surface where we intentionally oversprayed it. This is a good thing!



STEP FOUR: Cleanup and removal of excess Plastidip. Ok, it's time to get that oversprayed Plastidip off your paint. Find an edge and "roll it" with your finger to make it lift off the car. This is very easy to do. Now, again, remeber those key words "Slow, even pressure." As you lift the Plastidip, it will tear itself perfectly along the edge of the trim, leaving you a far better line than you ever could have achieved by taping. The paint under the plastidip is perfectly fine, and you'll never know there was Plastidip on it.


Just roll the edge under your finger, it'll lift right up and you can pull it.




It's very stretchy. This stuff is pretty much spray on rubber.


It pulls off perfectly leaving a clean edge.


The best way I can describe this stuff is by saying it's a little bit like stretching the tape in an old audio cassette, though it's far more fragile and snaps much more easily.

WAYS YOU CAN MESS THIS PART UP: If you pull the material too fast or too hard, you'll pull it off of the chrome trim. This is somewhat difficult to do when removing the excess around the top and sides of the window, but it's pretty easy to do along the flat bottom edge. That edge is not raised like the others, so the Plastidip doesn't cut along there as easily. You need to use extreme caution when removing that excess from the bottom of the windows!

Also, that little corner where the flat chrome meets the curved chrome (behind your mirrors) is a bit of an awkward spot and you need to be really careful with it. Again, it's easy to pull too much off and expose the chrome underneath by accident. Go very slowly and be careful. If you pull to much off it's not the end of the world. Just retape that area and respray that part. It's no big deal really. You can pull this stuff off and reapply it a hundred times. It won't do any harm, it just takes up some of your time.

STEP FIVE: Cleaning up the leftovers. You will undoubtedly have some little raggedy bits of Plastidip hanging around. One place you'll have them for sure is on that rubber gasket around the window seal. You'll need a small, thin, flat instrument to finesse those last little bits of of there. I used a guitar pick, but a toothpick would work too. You need to be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when you do this part! If you aren't, you're going to accidentally take off some Plastidip from an area where you want it, exposing a little bit of chrome underneath. Again, it's not the end of the world if that happens, but you'll have to respray it and that's a pain in the butt. Like I said, slow and steady. It comes off the rubber gasket just as easily as it came off the paint, but it's much thinner there (which is why I left such a wide strip of exposed paint, to make a big enough piece of Plastidrip to tug when it was dry.


Slowly but surely. That's the key. A toothpick will probably do just as well.


Same goes for the badges. It's very easy to screw this up, and nick the side of one of the numbers leaving a shiny chrome spot. Go extremely slowly and your patience will be rewarded.

STEP SIX: Cleanup. Unless you did an amazing job masking off your car (and probably even if you did) you're going to have at least a little bit of overspray. This is no big deal. If you rub it, it'll bead up and come right off. You can also put a little bit of GooGone on a cloth and clean the car in these areas to make sure there's no leftover adhesive. (GooGone is just a chemical that removes glues and adhesives and road tar and stuff. You can buy it wherever you buy car washing stuff.)


Now you see it...


Now you don't!


REMEMBER:
Don't spray too much per coat!

Keep the can 6-8" away from the surface and keep it in motion when spraying!

Remove the tape/excess Plastidip slowly and you'll have better results!

Apply AT LEAST 4 COATS! If it's too thin it won't cover well, and you'll probably tear it when you're removing

If you screw it up just tear it all off and start over! This stuff is only like 6 bucks for a can. That and the time you spend working on it are pretty much all this will cost you.


Finally, for those who wonder how well this stuff holds up to normal use, I can't answer that question. This was my first experiment with Plastidip, and I have no idea how well it will hold up. The website states: It protects coated items against moisture, acids, abrasion, corrosion, and skidding/slipping, and provides a comfortable, controlled grip. Plasti Dip remains flexible and stretchy over time, and will not crack or become brittle in extreme weather conditions. It has been tested and proven in temperatures from -30°F I know people Plastidip their wheels to protect them from road salt and brake dust, so that leads me to believe it's pretty resiliant. If anybody wants to comment on this, please feel free!

Good luck with your dipping!


UPDATE 1/6/2013
It has been almost a year since I posted this DIY. A few months ago I ended up removing the plastidip from my window trim and having a shop vinyl wrap it, but that was only because I decided I wanted the trim to be gloss black instead of flat black. I had my roof wrapped in gloss black, and decided I wanted the trim to match it. The plastidip window trim held up 100% perfectly right up till the day I peeled it off, quite a long time after posting this thread. The trim and paint underneath was still perfect, and you would never know there had been plastidip there.

The badges on the back of my car are still dipped from the day I made this DIY. They still look just as good as the day I did it. This is a car that has been washed countless times, usually with a high pressure sprayer at least once per week. It has also been subjected to snow, road salt, low temperatures, high temperatures, you name it. Despite all of that, it still looks like it came black from the factory!

[TitanLH8]

Awesome write-up! I bought some shadowline trim vinyl and I haven't tried to put it on yet but I've read it was a pain in the ass. I might consider Plastidip now for my chrome trim. Let me know how it holds up.

[AndyR83]

Will do. Like I mentioned in the writeup, this was a learning experience for me and I didn't do it perfectly. It was more due to my poor technique/lack of experience than anything, and I have to redo a couple of spots where I got drips. Anybody who has experience with painting things will likely be able to do this in one shot. It looks excellent, except for the little drips I need to fix. Plastidip seems to be a high quality product. I was doing the trim to test the waters, and since it went well I'm considering doing my roof in black next.

[DrAmazing]

How many cans did you use?
Was 1 enough? I used a can to paint my grills and they turned out great. Have most of the can left. Window trim is next.

[AndyR83]

One full can will do the trick for sure.

[CUTigers]

I have the Montego Blue also. Only thing left chrome on mine is the trim. I have the gloss black grill, blacked out windows, blacklines,black spoiler and black badge. Iv been debating on doing the plastidip for awhile now. Yours came out pretty good. I think I want to try the glossifier they make that goes over it after spraying it black. How long did it take total?

[AndyR83]

I started around 11am and finished up around 2pm, so about 3 hours. Give yourself a half hour for prep, 30 minutes per coat including time spent applying and then letting it dry, and about a half hour for removal of masking and cleaning up around the edges.

[CUTigers]

That's not bad. Looks good

[CUTigers]

What did you do about the part of the trim on top that has chrome showing once you open your car door that isn't visible from the outside?

[import36]

absolutely fantastic write-up sir! i never would've thought to mask around the trim leaving the paint exposed like that...but i knew that the plastidip could just be peeled up once dry. i laughed at your bit about trying to do the vinyl....because it was 100% dead-on with my experience when i tried it. i've been debating trying the plastidip for a few months now...but this write-up has convinced me that i've waited a few months too long! hopefully i'll have time to attempt this in the next few weeks.

the only thing i would do differently is with regard to the overspray on the rest of the car. i'm planning on picking up a few of those cheap plastic drop clothes used for painting and just covering the entire car....that way the only mess i'm cleaning up is around the trim pieces themselves.

but again... for a great write-up!

[dwells]

Great guide and very well written. Nice work.

[ElJefe615]

I'm a newbie and have probably less experience than you!! Lol
According to the product reviews, How does the plasticDip hold up to your normal washing and detailing of the car?

[Tucker020]

Originally Posted by ElJefe615

I'm a newbie and have probably less experience than you!! Lol
According to the product reviews, How does the plasticDip hold up to your normal washing and detailing of the car?

+1 Great write up!

[TheTal0n]

Just for some Reliability info, I plast dipped my badges quite some time ago, It really does hold up well. as lond as your not intentianlly trying to peel it off.

and even if it does scratch its only a spray can away from being touched up.

[mochi]

win! gj i did the same a while ago. still holding up great!

[impactplayer]

Great tutorial! I actually got 4 cans of Plastidip myself last week. I started with the grilles and finishing rods on my E90. After a few trials where I learned from the same mistakes as you (holding the spray too close, drips, etc), I got it figured out and it came out super smooth and looking good.

I am going to try and tackle the trim this weekend. I just need to block off some time to actually get it done. To others reading this, I can't recommend the stuff enough. It is easy, straightforward and cheap.

[Kruz]

Hmmmm...interesting.

[AndyR83]

Since this seems to be a popular topic, I'll also mention another Plastidip project I'm preparing. I'm going to plastidip my roof black, then put the clear glossy plastidip finish over it. I'll post pics whenever I do it.

[CUTigers]

E90 window trim is stupid lol... But I figured it out. I'll check out your roof. How are you going to get up there? Drive it under a lift and the Get on the lift above and spray down? Lol

[revmybimmer]

Very good write up. Nice pictures. I wanna try it out. Thanks.

[Tucker020]

I got a buddy on the forum I used to got to when I had my SRT; he PD'd his wheels 6 months ago. He said they are holding up nicely. He did recommend not using a power washer to clean any areas with the PD on it tho.

[import36]

welp...took the plunge and bought a couple cans....going to paint the trim tomorrow! i'm excited and nervous at the same time...