[MaxMoon]

Hey all! Just got a new escape and am happy to join the forums

I'm planning on doing a two tone plastidip paintjob in a couple of weeks and wanted to run some 'rudimentary' photoshop designs past the experts. I'm by no means a photoshop pro, but these demonstrate the general idea. Both different hood pics run along the natural curves of the car and are meant to accentuate the base design. The back seemed like it would be best to just run flush with the bottom of the rear window. For what it's worth, I was leaning towards the partial hood since that central area is raised the most and has some great curves separating it from the rest of the hood that you can't see super well in the pics I posted.

I'm also going to be getting these air curtains that I think will make the front pop and tie the design together. Also planning on blacking out the logos, but didn't have the patience to do that in photoshop haha.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this. Any additions or modifications you think would look good would be great, since I'm new to this kind of thing. Even if they are 'I hate that you are painting your E because the original design is nicer' since any feedback helps!

 

[weebee]

Undecided on the front. But I do like the back.

 

[MaxMoon]

View attachment 2184

Undecided on the front. But I do like the back.

Agreed, the back is much more natural of a transition. If I end up not liking the hood, I can just peel it off at least haha.

 

[Mountain Escape]

I will agree with Weebs on the backside, but I will suggest the center stripe up the hood… Otherwise it just likes like a car that has been crashed with a replaced hood of another color

I drive where there are many multicolored cars, due to salvage yard replacement parts of another color.

it is kind of handy, you know which drivers to look out for… lol

The way the backside has the angles/curves that wrap around the rear window, I wonder if you could do an extended front stripe which came across underneath the headlight line, I think the front end can be cooler than just a stripe going down the hood, it needs to carry into the front bumper area somehow.

maybe the whole front bit below the hoodline… or below the headlight line
If it peels off, you can use it as a rock/bug screen?

for the center stripe going up the hood, could you do like a giant lightning bolt? lol

that's cool if you've got the ability to design whatever you want ( :

 

[MaxMoon]

I will agree with Weebs on the backside, but I will suggest the center stripe up the hood… Otherwise it just likes like a car that has been crashed with a replaced hood of another color

I drive where there are many multicolored cars, due to salvage yard replacement parts of another color.

it is kind of handy, you know which drivers to look out for… lol

The way the backside has the angles/curves that wrap around the rear window, I wonder if you could do an extended front stripe which came across underneath the headlight line, I think the front end can be cooler than just a stripe going down the hood, it needs to carry into the front bumper area somehow.

maybe the whole front bit below the hoodline… or below the headlight line
If it peels off, you can use it as a rock/bug screen?

for the center stripe going up the hood, could you do like a giant lightning bolt? lol

that's cool if you've got the ability to design whatever you want ( :

Haha thanks for the feedback! I totally agree that the full hood would be hard to make look 'intentional' and I'm leaning towards the center stripe more and more now. Idk about a lightning bolt since I'm trying to go for a more low key look, but I do like the idea of bringing it further down potentially past the grill. I'll have to play around with that and see how it looks!

 

[Mountain Escape]

lol
I have never tried that before, yours looks much more professional ( :

 

[Mountain Escape]

lol

I have never tried that before, yours looks much more professional ( :

go crazy! I bet you will come up with something awesome!
I wonder if you could have a white X9 showing on the hood in the middle of the stripe

 

[Mountain Escape]

sorry to be having fun with your car… But it is ( :

 

[RazoE]

Take it to a shop and use vinyl. I shudder at the thought of plastidipping a brand new car

 

[MaxMoon]

View attachment 2196
sorry to be having fun with your car… But it is ( :

Haha no prob, cool ideas! The weather is taking a turn towards freezing so I have to wait to paint until it's a bit warmer hopefully only a week or so.

 

[MaxMoon]

Take it to a shop and use vinyl. I shudder at the thought of plastidipping a brand new car

Plastidip is already bought from dipyourcar.com, but I also have quotes from some vinyl shops so that's always an option if it ends up sucking and I have to peel off the dip.

I figured it'd be better to do it new, since any imperfections in paint or body that could come with wear and tear would mess up either a dip or vinyl job. But I'm new to all of this so could be wrong.

 

[RazoE]

Oh okay. I thought you were using actual plastidip from home depot. Dipyourcar is definitely the way to go then 👍🏼

 

[MaxMoon]

Ended up painting it yesterday! Was way harder and more time consuming than I thought (especially in the winter) but I learned a ton and I think it will turn out even better next time. I'm going to do wheels and door handles and back emblems sometime next week and probably do a different post once everything is finished!

Big takeaways were: don't paint in the winter (drying takes forever), two tone is much harder than doing the whole car (creating hard lines without a natural panel break is tough, plus a ton of masking), and the spraygun takes a while to figure out.

Had to line the black/white separation with black 1/4 inch pinstripe tape because I didn't get a clean rip in the PDS. But doesn't look bad and should last me til summer when I'll redo things with my new knowledge. The paint for this job was only 180$ total (spraygun costs another 140$ or so), so way better and more fun than paying 5k+ for a paint job or 2k+ for a wrap. When I nail the process I should get a couple years out of a PDS job.

 

[AREscape]

Great job! I've been contemplating changing up the looks of my '20. You've inspired me. I really like the back, and plan on dipping my emblems as well. I've been looking at various hood vinyl, but may go the dip route.

 

[MaxMoon]

Great job! I've been contemplating changing up the looks of my '20. You've inspired me. I really like the back, and plan on dipping my emblems as well. I've been looking at various hood vinyl, but may go the dip route.

Thanks! And yeah you should it's pretty fun! Weather finally let me finish stuff up today. Will probably do a separate post, but here's the final product! Added white wheels, black handles and emblems, and grabbed air curtains for the front!

 

[Mountain Escape]

thank you for the follow up, Max!

It really looks awesome!

tape twice, spray once…???

lol

I will bet you $500 you could make a living doing that to peoples cars. ( :

(I would be willing to pay you that amount to do something that cool)(I am sure that application is currently the best bug and rock deflector around)

The details really make it… I hope you continue to share images… Major kudos my friend

 

[AREscape]

Great results! I did manage to blackout my emblems and have air curtains on order.

 

[MaxMoon]

Great results! I did manage to blackout my emblems and have air curtains on order.

Right on looking forward to seeing it! How was blacking out the lettering for you? Definitely wasn't the easiest thing for me, I need some sort of nylon/rubber tool to grab the paint inside the letters for the future.

 

[AREscape]

It wasn't too bad. I used toothpicks to get in the tight spots.