It’s in the detail: Murdering out your badges without removing them

Before we begin, let’s get this straight. Yes, we’ve previously run an article about using Plasti Dip to coat a set of wheels, and it worked damn well, proving to be easy to apply and durable. We ran the product on the wheels for a few years without drama. And when it came time to remove the coating, it was done so without too much distress. However, we’ve recently been seeing more and more people using it for simple detail changes like your badges, so we decided to give it a go ourselves. 

Essentially, the easiest way to describe the product is that it is like a rubberized spray paint, which can be removed if and when required. The can promotes it as being flexible, durable, peelable, and an insulator, perhaps making it almost too good to be true. Like most spray paints you find at a hardware store, there’s a decent range of colours. At most automotive supply stores, such as Supercheap Auto and Repco, a can will set you back around $30.

But does it work? Is it that easy to apply, and, more importantly, does it come off as it says it does? What sets the product apart from traditional spray paint is that, in theory, you don’t need to mask, as it’s removable. However, because the thicker the coating is the easier it peels off, having a hard line left from masking will make it super easy to remove. The process was simple: ensure that the surface is cleaned with a wax and grease remover first, then spray three even wet coats waiting approximately 15 minutes between coats, and making sure to give the can a damn good shake before starting.

While you can simply use the can as you would to tag a fence, we decided to get a bit more pro and added a ‘can gun’ to the top, which saved us from the inevitable black fingers — and a sore trigger finger had we been doing a larger area. 

We found the Plasti Dip to spray out well — nice and smooth — and any lumps we were concerned about while the product was wet soon disappeared, as it dried perfectly smooth. 

Then, with the final coat dry, came the real test. Would the overspray peel back as stated? The answer is yes. In fact, it peeled back far better than we imagined, and seemed to ‘cut’ itself around the badges without any intervention. For the interior areas of the badges, which we couldn’t get to with our fingers, we used a small screw driver wrapped in masking tape to scrape the unwanted product away. Even these small areas came off with minimal fuss, leaving exactly the look we were hoping to achieve.

If you were to chip the coating, a touch up is as easy as wiping the affected area with thinners to smooth the edges and then coating over top. Would we use the product again? For sure, we’ve just been trying to work out what to use it on next — maybe some under-bonnet detailing?