The Great D-Ring Experiment -- Spray Paint vs. Plasti Dip September 08 2014, 16 Comments

As a owner of a Jeep Wrangler most of us want our Jeep to be unique -- transforming our Jeep to fit our personalities. Some transformations are time consuming and costly while others can be quick and cost little money. My first transformation was the replacement of my front stock bumper -- a big transformation. So I decided I would make a much smaller transformation for my next one. But, before I made this permanent change, I wanted to test it out to see if I would like the look.  

As many of you know my favorite color is purple. So I thought I would add some purple to my all black Wrangler Unlimited. I planned on turning the silver D-Rings purple. Before I made it permanent I decided to test the color out on some smaller D-rings to see what it would look like. I was given two different suggestions on how to change the color. 


Spray Paint vs. Plasti Dip

I started with the spray paint first. Now I've never done anything like this before. Well -- okay, I've spray painted some old wood tables but -- it's just not the same as painting "guy" stuff. Or so I thought. So I went off the advice of some fellow Jeep friends. First, I went out and bought Dupli-Color Automotive Primer, Self Etching spray paint and a can of purple Valspar Premium Finish spray paint.  




I sanded down the D-ring...
...washed it off
...let it dry 
 and proceeded to use the self-etching paint.  

After a couple of coats and letting it dry thoroughly I was ready for the purple. 








I broke out the purple spray paint. Now, this process took me a couple of days in between cooking dinner, soccer practice, laundry, vacuuming out the Jeep, filling out school forms, and more school forms.










The second D-Ring I used Performix Plastic Dip - purple. This did not take as long. I just hung up the d-ring and sprayed. I used about 4 coats per the suggestion on the can. I also did this on one NFL football Sunday during time outs and half time. It was a pretty quick process.









So after letting them both dry completely, I put them on my Jeep just to see how the purple would look. Now I know these D-rings are smaller than the ones that came with the Barricade Trail Force HD bumper. But I just wanted to get a feel of how the purple would look. 




I felt the spray painted d-ring had a better more professional look then the plasti dip D-ring. I know the plasti dip can be peeled off and it's right back to silver -- the original look. The plastic dip process was a lot less time consuming but that could have been because I painted it on Football Sunday when there weren't any commitments. 

The plasti dip D-ring also feels sticky and looks like it will get marked up quicker. 


All in all I like the look of the spray painted D-ring vs the plasti dip D-ring. But now the question is do I like the purple.  I love the purple D-ring. But... I think it clashes with the red and blue of my Jeep Mom license plate. What do you think?

For now I'm going to leave the D-rings the shiny silver color.  For now. -- Remember, I have the right to change my mind anytime I want!


                             -- Simple Living! -- Enjoying Life! -- The Jeep Momma Way --