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Grande Punto DlightSwitch's Blue T-Jet.

Introduction

Hi all,

After reading these forums for a while and posting the odd silly question here and there, I'm proud to say I finally own a T-Jet :D:D



Standard for now but I do have plans for it:

Looks

  • Tinted tail lights
  • Tinted/Abarth headlights
  • Black Mirrors
  • Black Alloys
Handling

  • Coilovers (Either JOM or FK AK)

Performance

  • Forge Induction
  • Forge Intercooler
  • Abarth Turbo
  • Some sort of custom exhaust

I'm open to suggestions though, if any of you have any ideas on what else/different to do to my car then feel free to let me know :)

Thanks for looking!
Wow great job! How many litres of plastidip did it take? How much thinners did you use?

For best results its recommended to use 1/1 ratio and for a small car like Punto and again I'm quoting "for best result" here, you'll need about 7.5 liters of the stuff. So if you buy 5 liters of plastidip you'll need 5 liters of thinner. 10 liters will give you 6 coats for best result. 4 coats normally just about to cover you stock paint 100% but sometimes u need 5th when you spray light dip over dark stock paint. Thinner gives you more smoother finish and helps dip to set and react better. Takes couple of weeks to fully set where you wouldn't worry about using pressure washer on it (y).
 
Thanks for the nice comments everyone, I knew some of you would prefer the blue, but I'm really happy with the matte white :D

Some of you hit the nail on the head as well, I forgot to mention that it was mainly to give the paint some nice protection over the winter! I will be keeping it for a while though.

Now what colour should I do my wheels? :devil:



I feel like you've beaten me haha was not expecting that! (y)

Looks sick! Was so surprised to see a white car, was like, hang on...
Kinda like the way it's not perfect everywhere and showing some blue through, gives it a more artic white look, keep your blue paint protected for quite a while over winter!

Have fun washing it non stop ;)

and the ice already, I had 0 degrees displayed earlier today :( not looking forward to winter much, the SS has a huge ice symbol that comes up it's like its shouting 'DONT DRIVE FAST!' find it pretty funny lol

Haha if I've beaten you then you know what you can do.. Plasti Dip the SS!

It's good that it has a big ice symbol, wouldn't want to see an Abarth written off because of ice :eek:

Hey Dlight,

Am I right to say its only 3 coats of plasti-dip? I think it didnt cover 100% of the blue. Did u use thinner? Whats the finish too, is it smoove or is it grainy in places?

It's around 6 or 7 coats, I lost count. I used thinner, but I found that the 1:1 ratio made the paint too watery, so I went with around 60% paint 40% thinner. It is a bit grainy in places, but that was mostly because of the wind blowing drips around

Have to agree with "MISC" was not expecting Plasti-Dip, was thinking more along the lines of new interior or even more performance mods BUT im glad it wasn't.

First time we have seen a proper Plasti-Dip attempt that didn't go bad, colour looks great aswell not sure if I like it more than the blue but its not as if its irreversible and change is always good.;)

Looks great anyway and well worth the update(y)

Thanks! I think it's pretty safe to say I won't be squeezing any more performance out of this car, anything I could buy now is just way too expensive, cams, injectors, pistons. So not worth it in my opinion.

Great work with the plastidip mate you did a fantastic job, I do however, prefer the blue mate but your GP looks great in both blue and white!

Cheers, considering it was my first time spraying with a spray gun I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!


That look INSANE dude! Youve done a good job with that! Good for keeping your paint nice and protected over the winter months!
Even looks good with the wheels too!

What spray gun did you use? Any problems with debris or dust?

Tom

I used the Wagner W550, the only problems I encountered were wind blowing drips of paint around as I said to Demi. Also, bugs kept landing on the car and I had to pick them off and carefully respray the small area!

Wow great job! How many litres of plastidip did it take? How much thinners did you use?

I bought 7.5L of plastidip and used almost all of it. I've got a bit left now, I was planning to do the door shuts but I might just leave them as they are, and save the rest for touch ups

that is f*** amazing!!! would love to see some closer pics! how much is this stuff? good job mate

All in all it cost me less than £200 to do the whole car, including buying the spray gun. I'm sure you'll see plenty more pics soon :D

That's looks like the stuff, Glow in the dark orange would be cool :slayer:

I did toy around with the idea of going for a crazy colour, but I thought the car wasn't really crazy enough to live up to it!
 
That's a mission of a quote to delete ill just give a mention DlightSwitch haha

With a white car its going to have to be a mental colour! I'd say a lime green or more of a acid green/yellow but that's cause i've always wanted some crazy rims that colour! Better get back on Photoshop and try some colours out eh (y)

Thank's for not helping with my confidence over winter ;) hahaha i'm going to be taking it super carefully! The funnier thing I think is every time you put the key in/out or open/close a door the display put's up a huge 'ABARTH' I don't think I quite need to be reminded every single time! lol

Would be interesting one day to see the differences between a GP with 180bhp and a SS with 180bhp, wonder how different it would be!? I'm sure your figures are a fraction over the standard SS figures though, would love to have done all that to the T-Jet but the miles were racking up fast (n)
 
You defensively got urself a winner with the matte white mate. I wanted to do mine in white too but missus said "No!". So now its matte black project. There I was thinking I'm the one wearing trousers....:confused:

Wheels, maybe black? U'll just need to get 4 cans, dont have to be matte if u use glossifier on top. I love new audi's in white with black rims and tinted windows...:slayer:.
 
It's around 6 or 7 coats, I lost count. I used thinner, but I found that the 1:1 ratio made the paint too watery, so I went with around 60% paint 40% thinner. It is a bit grainy in places, but that was mostly because of the wind blowing drips around

Yeah, wind is no no when it comes to spraying. I'm googled PBH (Paint Booth Hire) near me near Datford, £90 for half a day. Gonna book it in December. wanted to dip the car in the summer but black dip was out of stock for like 5-6 months :bang:. Then I could have get away with just erecting gazibo outside my garage to keep the wind and bugs to a minimum. Now thou its too late, the weather is not spay friendly so have to use PBH to get best result.
 
Just read this whole thread from start to finish. The level of detail is amazing and I can't actually believe you plastic-dipped the whole freaking car!

It actually looks awesome in white cause of all the black accents you've made over the time.

Top notch work though mate, really interested in doing my alloys but no confidence to try it.(n)
 
Plasti-dip on the whole car.

..

Just

..

Wow

..

That is all. Unbelievable. Amazing, but unbelievable haha. Kudos to you for having the gumption to attempt that on a car that isn't atleast 10 years old and has 0 value :slayer: Epic!
 
MISC1691 Plasti Dip do have some glow in the dark colours, so I was thinking of giving one of them a shot just for the fun of it!

The SS sounds like it's got some great features, would be quite different I imagine! As for the power differences, I got faster 1/4 times than standard SS at Santa Pod, but I think that's something to do with the gear ratios between the 5 and the 6 speed. Anyway, all you need is a panel filter and a map and you will be miles ahead of me, I'm at my limit ;)
Demi I currently don't have a missus to dictate anything about my car, so I think I should enjoy it whilst I can. Another reason I'm tempted to go for a crazy colour for the wheels! Glossifier is just like lacquer right? Can I use lacquer instead as I already have some of that.

I didn't want to hire a paint booth as my number one thing was keeping the cost down :) But I'm sure a booth will be a great idea and make the job even more professional
grantm616 Cheers, glad you enjoyed the thread :) Every time I peeled a bit of the plasti dip off a black piece of trim like a side repeater it put a smile on my face. It's quite good because it does highlight the other nice features and draw focus to different parts of the car!

Alloys should be simple enough, just get some cans, don't even have to worry about spray guns or thinner. And if you don't like it just peel it off!
 
@Demi I currently don't have a missus to dictate anything about my car, so I think I should enjoy it whilst I can. Another reason I'm tempted to go for a crazy colour for the wheels! Glossifier is just like lacquer right? Can I use lacquer instead as I already have some of that.

I didn't want to hire a paint booth as my number one thing was keeping the cost down :) But I'm sure a booth will be a great idea and make the job even more professional
U dont know how lucky u r mate, every time I work on the car I get the "eyesroll" from her and every time we r out with friends or family she has to mention how much I "love" the car... to make me feel embarrassed.

If you lacquer over the dip u wont pill it off later, glossifier gives same effect as lacquer but allows u to pill the whole thing later. U also need only 2-3 coat of it over the dip to make it shine.

I'm trying to keep costs down too but still maintain the quallity, but I do have spray gun so 135 quid for dip + 90 quid for booth brings it close to ur budget for me. Cant complain about that (y).
 
loved it in blue (same as mine :p)

but i must admit i love it more in white now.

and the wheels !! they are just perfect imo !! (y)
 
U dont know how lucky u r mate, every time I work on the car I get the "eyesroll" from her and every time we r out with friends or family she has to mention how much I "love" the car... to make me feel embarrassed.

If you lacquer over the dip u wont pill it off later, glossifier gives same effect as lacquer but allows u to pill the whole thing later. U also need only 2-3 coat of it over the dip to make it shine.

I'm trying to keep costs down too but still maintain the quallity, but I do have spray gun so 135 quid for dip + 90 quid for booth brings it close to ur budget for me. Cant complain about that (y).

Haha, sounds like a bit of a pain! I would lacquer but I want to keep the Matte finish, it was one of my main images so I'd like to leave it that way. Makes sense if you already have the spray gun, our costs will be the same then!



loved it in blue (same as mine :p)

but i must admit i love it more in white now.

and the wheels !! they are just perfect imo !! (y)


First person to be on my side :D Thanks man!
 
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