A Long Time Coming

So Jenna can't take all the credit for the work on the blog to date (j/k), I'm adding a post about one of my DIY projects I recently completed.  My writing won't be nearly as good as Jenna's, but more to the point and factual. :)  The title of the post I used, "A Long Time Coming" is applicable because it's taken me so long to write one blog post on "our" blog and this is something I've wanted for my car since I got it.

My project I'm going to post about is a recent product we came across while one of our frequent trips to the home improvement store.  We were picking up a few items at Home Depot for the various projects we currently have ongoing at our house right now.  We were in the paint section and we walked by a display for a new product by Rustoleum called Flexidip.  The first thing that caught my eye was the picture of the wheel on the front of the can.  I picked up a can and started reading the description on what the product was.  It basically is a plastic like coating in the form a spray paint.  They say that this is a temporary paint product that you can spray like spray paint, then after a few months you can peel it off like a sheet of plastic wrap.  I was intrigued by the idea and the fact that this could be temporary so that if it didn't turn out or I got sick of it, I could remove it.

The colors available at the store were black, red, and white.  The finish is more of a mat finish which is the current trend now in automotive customization.  My car is factory Subaru San Remo Red and I have always wanted to get white wheels for it but didn't want to drop around $2k for new wheels and tires.  This seemed like it'd be worth a shot for little commitment in both money and look of the car.  I still wasn't sold so I wanted to do some online research before I committed to the $30 or so and the time it'd take to do it.  We left the store with the items we originally intended to buy and went back home.  

Once we got home I was able to watch a few youtube videos of the product and found similar products already out on the market.  There were some forum discussions about a similar product that has been on the market for longer with good reviews.  They also mentioned that this Rustoleum product would be very similar.  I decided to take the plunge and give it a shot so I went back to the store to pick up a few cans of white Flexidip.  I bought 5 cans for about $6 per can.  The product website estimates about 1 can per wheel so I got 5 to be sure I had enough.

Prior view of stock wheels

Supplies - 

Flexidip Paint

Painters Tape

Index Cards

Plastic bags

Tire Shine 

Step 1 - Clean and Dry the Wheels

I washed my wheels with normal car wash soap and water with a sponge.  They recommended also using a degreaser to help the cleaning process, but I decided my wheels were pretty clean without it.  Then I dried them with a microfiber cloth.

Step 2 - Prep the Area for Paint

Since I was leaving my wheels on the car while painting ("Aint nobody got time for that!"), I used large leaf bags to tuck behind the wheel to protect the brakes from over spray. I also tucked a plastic bag between the top of the tire and the fender in the wheel well.  I taped off the valve stem and sides of the lug nuts with the painters tape.  The tape didn't stick together as well as I expected but it was good enough to stay on for the duration I needed.  On one of the youtube videos I watched during my initial research they mentioned spraying some tire shine on the tire sidewall to make it easier to remove any over-spray that ended up on the sidewall of the tire.  I took the index cards and tuck them between the wheel rim and the tire.  This was to protect the tire sidewall from over-spray.  Once the prep work was done, it was onto the point.

Spot where one of the rims is scraped from a curb

Step 3 - Apply 1st Coat - Light Coverage

This was the point of no turning back now.  The first application was supposed to be a light application of paint with the goal of about 50% coverage.  The directions said you are supposed to spray about 8-10 inches away from the wheel to allow for light even coverage.  This was nerve racking because it didn't look good at this point.  I knew it wasn't supposed to, but still was hard to look at in this in-between stage.  Once I finished spraying one wheel at about 50% coverage, I moved on to the next one, then the next, and then the final wheel.

Step 4 - Continue to Apply Light Coats

The directions indicated to allow for about 5 minutes between coats.  I waited a bit longer between because I lost track of time and didn't account for time it took on working on the other wheels while one would be drying.  When doing this again I would continue to rotate between the wheels instead of waiting so long after a round of painting.  This was more time consuming than I thought, partially because I put more time than needed between coats, and partially because I did lighter coats than I probably needed to after a base was established.  My arm and hand became very tired after spraying so much continuously so if I do it again, I would probably purchase an ergonomic sprayer to assist.  It was also hard getting at some of the angles with the wheels on the car, so another thing I would do differently would be to move the car a bit to allow for better angles on some parts of the wheel that are hard to see.  For example, being able to hit part of the wheel from the top when it was previously facing down.  The more coats I applied, the more it really started to come together.  Looked better and better after each coat of paint.  The paint seemed to cover quite well and had a nice clean mat finish.  Even the detail of the Subaru symbol on the center cap of the wheel seemed to cover well.

Step 5 - Remove Prep Materials

The directions said to remove any tape or prep material touching the painted area before the paint completely dries.  I believe this is recommended because if left too long, removing tape touching the painted area would lift away the part you want painted.  This was because it would act like a sheet of plastic if left to harden.  I did pretty well only get a few spots of over-spray on the side wall of 2 of the wheels.  This was easily rubbed off because of the tire shine I applied previously.


 

Step 6 - Allow Paint to Fully Cure

Directions said to leave an hour to dry before light use and 24 hours to fully cure.  The product is intended to last about 3 months.  I let my car remain in the garage a full day before taking it out.  They say it's supposed to hold up well to weather and even car washes.  So far so good.

 Results

Overall I am very satisfied with the product and how it turned out on my car.  Looking back there are a few things I'd do differently, but still am happy with the results.  I've always wanted white wheels so this was a more attractive option to save money and be able to remove it later.  The other similar product has more color choices but seem to be harder to find and are more expensive.  Maybe Rustoleum will come out with more color choices down the road if the product is successful.  I'd be willing to try some other colors in the future.

Boom, 1st ever blog post done!