Around six years ago I decided to use Plasti-Dip to turn my 2004 Mazda RX-8 into a fan tribute to Star Wars BB-8 droid. This project titled RXBB8 was originally intended for a few months, but I loved it enough to keep it on my car for several years. Unfortunately, it has degraded enough I am ready to say goodbye.

No Cracks

Plasti-Dip sprays on as a liquid and dries to a rubbery layer that conforms to the sheetmetal curvature but does not adhere to the paint. That's the beauty of it: I can peel it off when I'm done. Due to its soft texture, I had expected Plasti-Dip to degrade like all soft texture materials do under relentless Southern California sunshine: turn brittle and crack apart. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had not done so after six years. It may be a little less stretchy than new, but it was still intact.

Minor Fade

Another failure point I had expected is color fading, another typical reaction for things under sunlight exposure. Plasti-Dip exceeded expectations here as well. I thought the silver parts would hold up but the bright orange to fade. While the color did fade over the years, it did so gradually. More importantly, it faded evenly so I didn't end up with blotches of different shades of color.

Sharpie Ink Faded

The same could not be said of Sharpie permanent marker ink. For smaller scale details like the emblem and a thumbs-up BB-8 on the trunk, that's what I used instead of Plasti-Dip. Marker art faded significantly and also faded unevenly so colors were blotchy. This is a lesson learned and I know not to rely on markers for this purpose in the future.

Embedded Dirt

And finally, the biggest reason I've decided to peel off RXBB8 is because it has become very difficult to keep clean. Because it is a relatively soft material exposed to road conditions, tiny grains of dirt could embed themselves into Plasti-Dip in a way I couldn't wash off. Over years this buildup accumulated to the point the car looks dirty even after a good scrub. It is especially noticeable on white! When I had to admit to myself the car looks dirty no matter what I did, it's time to say goodbye to RXBB8.

Administrative side note: This is the 2000th post of this blog. I learned a lot in my first 1000 posts and adapted my style accordingly. I haven't changed my format for the next thousand as it's been working pretty well for me.