My First Attempts At Hydrodipping

[Brigante]

As the title says, I've decided to give hydro dipping a go.

This will be an ongoing project over the next few days as I gradually dip everything I currently have carbon wrapped with carbon print instead.

Here's my very first attempt

You can see where a little bit of the print didn't take to it, think it had a small air bubble. If I was doing it professionally I'd have touched it up, but as Its my own I'm not that fussed and I'm quite pleased with it for my first attempt so I'll leave it as is.

Here's my second attempt

This one went even better I think so I'm really pleased with it.

Both have been clear coated so I'll leave to dry completely over night before fitting back in the car. I'll take some better photos tomorrow as well when I've got better lighting conditions.

This thread will gradually grow over the next few days when I get round to dipping everything else.

On the to dip list are:

Head unit surround

Demister switch surround

Steering wheel inserts

battery cover

Fuse cover

Filter cover

Then I'll also be carbon dipping a pair of pre facelift mk2 wing mirror covers and a tdci engine cover, both of these will then be up for sale if anyone's interested.

Any comments/criticism are welcome :)

[Stoney871]

Looking very nice indeed mate.

!Removed! good effort.

Are you doing your engine fuse box and battery cover too?

[Brigante]

It's hard to tell about the colour in these photos cause the lighting here is crap, will take some better photos tomorrow when I get some day light.

Gonna try n get round to dipping my head unit surround tomorrow at least

I know it's hard to tell but what you think about how the colour turned out? It's easier to tell from the garage door.

[Brigante]

Are you doing your engine fuse box and battery cover too?

Oh crap yeah lol, I knew there was something else I wanted to do, thought me to dip list looked a bit short.

Yup I'll also be doing the fuse board cover and probably the filter cover too. I've also just purchased a battery cover (after the trader nicked mine) so soon as it comes it'll be getting dipped too.

[Stoney871]

So I'd assume that the film is semi transparrent and the colour underneath shows through? Therefore you get whatever colour of carbon print you choose to spray the part before dipping?

[Brigante]

That's correct mate. So the colour combinations are endless so you can have whatever contrasting colour you want.

Here's some kind of better shots:

Actually these are worse lol but you can kind of get the idea

[Stoney871]

Looks top notch to me.

Right little cottage industry in the making.

Maybe for a reasonable fee and postage to and from you, some of the other members here may be interested in your services?

Got me thinking now- I've a spare fascia and gear surround sitting at home. :D.....

[Brigante]

Looks top notch to me.

Right little cottage industry in the making.

Maybe for a reasonable fee and postage to and from you, some of the other members here may be interested in your services?

Got me thinking now- I've a spare fascia and gear surround sitting at home. :D.....

Lol by all means mate if you actually fancied it. There's that many sellers on eBay charging silly rates like 200quid for a bonnet lip.

I could do owners club members rates lol, fee would include return postage, my costs to buy the required materials and a reasonable fee for my labour lol cause it is actually quite time consuming and it is an art form in itself to get it right. Still wouldn't be anywhere near as much as what you'd pay elsewhere.

If any members fancied it I'd be more than happy to.

[Brigante]

Here's a few of them fitted taken on the Missus's camera. Some reason the flash made em look a lot lighter than they are:

And tomorrow I want to get at least these dipped:

Might even dip the actual heater switches but stick a little tape over the light and picture on them.

Then I'll start under the bonnet and do my steering wheel inserts

[Mike77]

Very nice looking work fella. I'm new to this hydro stuff, what does it consist of, how does it work etc ??? Oh and by the way, I have carbon wrapped all the usual stuff inside, and I also got round to doing the wing mirror covers too, and they really make a difference, stands out from the crowd :-)

[Brigante]

Nice one mate. It's work in progress so my next few attempts will be better.

If you look at the above photos of them fitted in my car, you will see I used to have everything inside carbon wrapped, or if you have a mooch through the first page of my thread found in my signature you'll see it all in there.

But I've now decided to remove the carbon wrap, and carbon dip instead. You get a way better finish and looks more quality and it's permanent too.

Hydro dipping is basically using water to physically transfer the design onto the said item, so you get a smooth even finish with no tatty edges like you may get with carbon wrapping, and it'll look like it came from the factory like it.

[Mike77]

Is it something that can be done at home ? If so, do you need expensive kit to start doing it, I only ask, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist myself, and can turn my hand to most things, and this looks very interesting :-)

[StanH]

This looks interesting on this subject - http://tinyurl.com/cb6lxwb

Dozens of videos showing how

[Lenny]

looks excellent Brigante mate,

What is envolved with the kit?

Do you need a large bath full of chemicals

Or some sort of magnetic electric charge in the water to make it bond?

Really looks spot on mate. Skulls on the engine cover would look cool.

[moy24]

that looks really good bro you should be happy with the result how did you do it you should give rought idea how to do it so i can have ago too lol

[Preee]

Great job , looks really well done.

[Brigante]

A bit more hydro dipping:

Once fitted:

Can see where a bit of the print didn't take to one of the corners but it'll do for now. If it starts bothering me that much I'll touch irt up.

[moy24]

how do you take it off if you wanted to also is it durable or will it scratch easily

[salsheikh]

good job Charlie

[ZetecSmitch]

looking good mate, done a bit of this myself! found the best colour for the base is fords charcoal grey, or sea grey! is difficult to get right so i know the effort you have put into it!

Well done!

[ZetecSmitch]

Edit- see my thread on another forum!

http://www.focusowners-social.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=12870&hilit=hydrodipping

[Brigante]

I tried sea grey mate and it seemed too dark and couldn't really see the contrast. Was already planning on getting a can of charcoal grey tomorrow and giving that a go so nice one for the confirmation.

Most likely gonna redip it all anyway that's why I wasn't fussed about touching up the imperfections.