SprayDip & Dipsolve Liquid Wrap Review

Cost:

A can of various colours of this costs around the £10.00 mark Additional cost for the Dipsolve – see their Face book page or website (under development) for some details: http://www.spraydip.co.uk/Index.html

Background:

These products are becoming the norm in the market place now and they are all similar in price. Are they different or are they the same?

In The Box:

In the box as normal comes the can the of spray. There is a huge range for choice of colours, and the chemicals to clean the panel, remove tar, remove the SprayDip and clean the SprayDip. I had the spray in black and the Dipsolve as well.

SprayDip can front

DipSolve

Application:

The surface has to be clean, dust and grease free. Pretty much as if you were going to spray a car panel. The can says spray the usual six to eight inches away and apply six to seven thin wet coats maybe more. The spray can has a variable nozzle which is a nice touch and the force of the spray is quite strong giving a good clean mist. The nozzle remained clean and effective throughout the process without clogging.

The coats applied evenly and showed no signs of run even after I was a little heavy on the first coat as I was not expecting such a force of spray. The liquid base which smells like cellulose evaporated and left the rubberised particles to stick to what you are spraying.

I wasn’t to sure of the process of the application of the spray being “wet coats” whether this means wet on wet or wet on dry layers. I came to the conclusion that the coats should be slightly tacky when spraying the next layer. This allowed the base to evaporate and the particles to build up the layers and bond to form the slightly thickening coating. The process is repeated a number of times until you get the full colour or the coating becomes opaque.

The spray sticks very well indeed and I got some good results from the application of the SprayDip. I sprayed the inner metal hinge of the glove box, a bracket and a fresh air vent cable. The cable was what I more interested in, as this part originally had a plastic shroud around the sprung steel guide which the cable moves inside on. The cable was caught in a small fire and ruined the outside case so it had to be cut away. I wanted to use the SprayDip to remake the outside sleeve. Obviously this is a small area and not very good to review a product on or even show the process. The amount I used in total was three-quarters of a can on the hinge, bracket and the cable. I do admit there would be a little waste for the cable being such a small area to spray. I applied a good eight coats to the hinge and bracket and only six to the cable as I have no intention of removing the rubber coating. I used some tiny extra little sprays in some places where I wanted to get right into a crease so around eight applications would be a fair amount.

Removal:

Peel method

This has me in a little dilemma. If the coating is applied and left there then you do not want it to come off. But, when you do want it off you expect it to peel of easily. When I tried to peel from the bracket it was difficult and tended to brake and tear leaving smaller pieces in your hand. Now I suspect that on a larger panel, as on their Facebook video it would be easier, but if you watch carefully you can see it tearing quite easily on that video too.

I wanted to give the product the benefit of the doubt and so I used the plastic container that I had sprayed both sides of the hinge and bracket on. This had many, many coats of the spray, and when I peeled those heavier coats off, it was much stronger and peeled as I expected it too, but again the rubber soon broke away when the layers were less substantial.

Dipsolve Method

This method was by far the more successful method but it was a lot more messy to be honest. The trigger spray is squirted directly onto the coating and it immediately gets to work with a little agitation of the mixture. The coating breaks down straight away and goes to a soft goo like substance. Wipe it away and it left a small film or residue on the sprayed surface, but the second application of the spray removed that film completely and I was back to where I was with the painted metal. The remover did wipe up easily enough, but I am not to sure I would like to have this on my paintwork on any plastic moulding in case it stained them. The way to remove this stuff on small surfaces I would use the Dipsolve, on larger areas I suspect the peel method would be fine as there would be more to get hold off.

Do NOT put the Dipsolve on vehicle rubbers or it will damage it.

Results:

The good side

I was impressed with the way this stuff sticks to the applied surface. On the air vent cable it made a great job and looks brilliant and the satin finish looks like a stock part. The hinge doesn’t look too much different from the satin black paint that was already on there, but it has covered a lot of blemishes and uneven parts of the metal due to the rust pitting, so in that respect I am pleased as well. The bracket had a smooth finish again and looked good before I removed it.

The finishes were even and consistent across each spray layer. The coating was tolerant of heavier spraying when overdone.

To remove this stuff could be a pain on smaller parts, but should be OK where plenty of coats are applied to a larger area. The protection looks to be very good as well due to the adhesion of the product to the surface. The adhesion is obviously critical as you do not want it to come of with a slightest of knocks. I am willing to bet this will hold up for a considerable time. The light-fastness of the new product is yet to be proven with all the different colours. With such a large selection of colours making a choice and a change of mind very easy.

The down side?

This was nothing to really do with the item it was sprayed on or the product once applied. Where the spray had gone into the atmosphere and dried, it had left the flooring where I sprayed the product in a very fine powder and was everywhere. I had to clean the floor as a result of their being so much of it. The old towel I had used had not caught the collateral damage as it were. I would recommend wearing a face mask to avoid inhaling any airbourne particles.

The Dipsolve is messy to remove the coating and will damage standard vehicle rubber parts. Two coats are required to completely remove the Dipsolve from the sprayed surface.

Rating: 8 – 10

The product sticks well, finishes well and looks good, but the removal could be a pain. Hence the lower score as it didn’t peel as well as I had hoped it would.

Comment:

I was impressed with the finish and how well this stuff stuck to the item it was sprayed onto. The can didn’t last too long and I suspect you will need to use a fair amount to get the thickness of coverage required. For a slightly more permanent finish this is a good bet as it didn’t seem to scuff very much either.

Would I recommend it? Yes, for a more permanent coating.

Would I buy it again? I suspect I might if it was for a longer term covering. But I would probably use another brand for the smaller areas.

If this was to peel as well as it sticks then the Dipsolve wouldn’t be required and would achieve a higher score from me.