[Newbie2subie]

Hi All!
This morning I plasti-dipped my badges. I have the ice silver metallic limited and the black badges really pop! I watched a bunch of how-to videos on you tube, and also read the posts on this site to learn how to do it. It didn't come out perfect ( there are lots of touch ups to be made ) but at least I got the idea of how to do it. I also am interested in doing the chrome on the grill... but I'm a bit intimidated by that. Not sure how to go about that. Any suggestions??? Thanks everyone for all of your input, what a great site to learn & share ideas!

 

[Pat1usmc]

Nice. I like the look of the black badges. A tweezers came in very handy when I did mine, especially the ones with the very pointy ends.

 

[Andrazy86]

Looks good 8)

 

[CrossTrekFan]

Hi All!
This morning I plasti-dipped my badges. I have the ice silver metallic limited and the black badges really pop! I watched a bunch of how-to videos on you tube, and also read the posts on this site to learn how to do it. It didn't come out perfect ( there are lots of touch ups to be made ) but at least I got the idea of how to do it. I also am interested in doing the chrome on the grill... but I'm a bit intimidated by that. Not sure how to go about that. Any suggestions??? Thanks everyone for all of your input, what a great site to learn & share ideas!

Looks awesome. The grille is easy but I definitely recommend taking it off the car. You don't even have to worry about taping over the logo. The plastidip will peel off easily as long as you spray a few coats. Take your time, shoot six or seven good coats, let it dry for at least a couple of hours (overnight is better), then carefully re-install it.

See - http://www.subaruxvforum.com/forum/subaru-xv-diy-how-tos-tsb/2055-how-fit-sports-grill-without-removing-bumper.html

 

[Newbie2subie]

Hi All!
This morning I plasti-dipped my badges. I have the ice silver metallic limited and the black badges really pop! I watched a bunch of how-to videos on you tube, and also read the posts on this site to learn how to do it. It didn't come out perfect ( there are lots of touch ups to be made ) but at least I got the idea of how to do it. I also am interested in doing the chrome on the grill... but I'm a bit intimidated by that. Not sure how to go about that. Any suggestions??? Thanks everyone for all of your input, what a great site to learn & share ideas!

Thanks for the great advice.. I love your crosstrek with all of your improvements. Does the chrome part come off with the grill ? Or does the chrome stay on the car and you just remove the grill part? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm not mechanically inclined so it's all foreign to me! Thanks for your help Amy
Looks awesome. The grille is easy but I definitely recommend taking it off the car. You don't even have to worry about taping over the logo. The plastidip will peel off easily as long as you spray a few coats. Take your time, shoot six or seven good coats, let it dry for at least a couple of hours (overnight is better), then carefully re-install it.

See - http://www.subaruxvforum.com/forum/subaru-xv-diy-how-tos-tsb/2055-how-fit-sports-grill-without-removing-bumper.html

 

[chasem]

That looks absolutely fantastic. Black badges definitely pop far better against the lighter-colored vehicles than the chrome. Good choice.

What I learned in doing the grille - and which you've probably already learned, having done the badges - is that you don't want to tape off very close to the lines you want to leave. I left 1/4" to 1/2" of exposed-vehicle between my tape and the line I wanted to leave.

Specific to the XV grille, I taped off the interior sections and all the way around the grille, leaving the Subaru logo exposed. If or when I do it again, I'll put a piece of tape on the Subaru logo, but only to make it easier to start peeling the Plasti-dip off it, and to make it easier to focus on one part of the oval at a time.

 

[CrossTrekFan]

Thanks for the great advice.. I love your crosstrek with all of your improvements. Does the chrome part come off with the grill ? Or does the chrome stay on the car and you just remove the grill part? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm not mechanically inclined so it's all foreign to me! Thanks for your help Amy

The entire piece comes out together. You can disassemble that if you want but it really isn't necessary. It's normal to want to mask everything off with tape but I've found that it's easier just to give everything a few coats and peel off the plastidip covering the emblem.

 

[Newbie2subie]

That looks absolutely fantastic. Black badges definitely pop far better against the lighter-colored vehicles than the chrome. Good choice.

What I learned in doing the grille - and which you've probably already learned, having done the badges - is that you don't want to tape off very close to the lines you want to leave. I left 1/4" to 1/2" of exposed-vehicle between my tape and the line I wanted to leave.

Specific to the XV grille, I taped off the interior sections and all the way around the grille, leaving the Subaru logo exposed. If or when I do it again, I'll put a piece of tape on the Subaru logo, but only to make it easier to start peeling the Plasti-dip off it, and to make it easier to focus on one part of the oval at a time.

Thanks for the compliments! There are flaws but you have to look closely to see them. For my first time I thought it looked okay. So you didn't take the grill off? You just taped it off? I think that's what I saw in your other thread. Your crosstrek looks awesome! Thanks for the help.. Amy

 

[Newbie2subie]

Thanks for the great advice.. I love your crosstrek with all of your improvements. Does the chrome part come off with the grill ? Or does the chrome stay on the car and you just remove the grill part? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm not mechanically inclined so it's all foreign to me! Thanks for your help Amy

The entire piece comes out together. You can disassemble that if you want but it really isn't necessary. It's normal to want to mask everything off with tape but I've found that it's easier just to give everything a few coats and peel off the plastidip covering the emblem.

Thanks! I think I'm going to attempt it tomorrow. I guess that's the beauty part of plasti-dip that you can just peel it off if you make a mistake. With the badges I do have to go over a few letters because when I peeled them in between the letters with a toothpick some of it came off the lettering. Thankfully it can be fixed.

 

[chasem]

Thanks for the compliments! There are flaws but you have to look closely to see them. For my first time I thought it looked okay. So you didn't take the grill off? You just taped it off? I think that's what I saw in your other thread. Your crosstrek looks awesome! Thanks for the help.. Amy

No problem. Be proud of the job you did!

That's correct, just taped it off on the XV. I just realized I never posted the picture of how I taped it off on the second try. Don't follow what I did in the first post This is how I taped it off the second time. (I did add newspaper beyond the tape to protect from overspray, but this shows the lines I taped off). You can see where I left plenty of khaki inside the tape and plenty of black inside the chrome.

Good luck with yours!

 

[tmorgan66030]

Looks great Good luck with your grille. We plastidipped our side body molding & loved it! It was 1st for also on the the whole plastidipping!

 

[Newbie2subie]

Looks great Good luck with your grille. We plastidipped our side body molding & loved it! It was 1st for also on the the whole plastidipping!

That looks awesome! I'm afraid I'm going to get addicted to plasti-dipping! It was pretty easy, and I think the more you do it the better you get!

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

Looks awesome! I am thinking about doing mine in black, even though I have the crystal black silica exterior. I feel like it will either be too much black, or it will give it a stealthy look. I might as well try since it's cheap and I can peel it right off.

 

[Newbie2subie]

Looks awesome! I am thinking about doing mine in black, even though I have the crystal black silica exterior. I feel like it will either be too much black, or it will give it a stealthy look. I might as well try since it's cheap and I can peel it right off.

Thanks! One of the videos I watched on you tube they did a very dark gray/blue toyota tundra truck in black badges. It looked great. That's the beauty part of plasti-dipping, if you don't like it you can take it right off.

 

[andthereyouare]

I'm Plasti-dipping all kinds of things around the house and I got my co-workers dipping too.

 

[Newbie2subie]

I'm Plasti-dipping all kinds of things around the house and I got my co-workers dipping too.

It's very addictive!

 

[chasem]

Looks awesome! I am thinking about doing mine in black, even though I have the crystal black silica exterior. I feel like it will either be too much black, or it will give it a stealthy look. I might as well try since it's cheap and I can peel it right off.

I've seen an XV that was either black or dark grey that had black dipped badges. It looked fantastic with the stealthy look. I say give it a shot, compare the before and afters, and go from there. I'll admit I liked it more largely because I'm not a big fan of shiny things.