Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist
How did you do the air dam? Why did you choose Elastid̶i̶p̶wrap?
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The air dam was fabbed from heavy-duty agricultural plastic. It's bamboo root barrier. The angled bottom strip is garage door gasket. It scrapes (and gives) every time I drive in or out of my driveway. =) If it doesn't scrape, it ain't low enough ...
The whole thing was held together by 3M VHB tape for months ... until the day I left it out in direct sunlight in a hot parking lot. I squished it back together, stopped at the hardware store to buy a pop rivet tool, drove home, peeled the dip off the plastic and butchered it Frankenstein-style.
It's very much work in process.
My ultimate goal is to design a set of
truly aerodynamic wind-tunnel-tested front and rear bumpers that can be reproduced by an aftermarket "aero" kit manufacturer. Yes, it's a crazy idea, but I'll be knocking on doors next month at the SEMA Show. If I find a manufacturer that's game, we might go the Kickstarter route.
I went with Elastiwrap over Plastidip because it was easier to pick up. (I'm within driving distance of the Eastwood store.) I experimented with a whole bunch of Plastidip rattle cans (and colors) before going the Elastiwrap route. The color isn't exactly what I intended, but it's close. I wanted something that looked like the paint on a battleship or old fighter plane ... very similar to the color used on the Jeep Renegade prototype. (I missed that mark.)
We've nicknamed the current iteration Blueberry Haze. It'll likely see a color change before winter. This being October, I was momentarily tempted to spray it Orange with a Pearl topcoat ... until I Photoshlopped it and considered the fact that I'd be out $200 or thereabouts for something truly hideous.
The original paint is in fairly good condition. I went with a dip product because it's fast and easy to change (as well as remove) and it will protect the original paint until (and if) I decide to go whole hog with real paint. I don't want to put a $5000 paint job on a $2500 car. I have roughly $125 in Elastiwrap on the car now ... just over a gallon (that's about as thin coverage as you'd want to go), but this is just a base coat. It's all a big experiment, and I have no idea how it will react to additional paint. We'll find out soon, though. If it's messed up, I'll just peel it off.
We shot video on the Elastiwrap process and should have it posted in the coming weeks.