Plasti-dip/flex seal clear

[wintermte]

Has anyone tried  sealing their project with either Plasti Dip clear or Flex Seal clear?

I'm making a set of floor board inserts for my motorcycle and thinking of sealing them with this stuff as they will get a lot of contact and rubbing, etc from my feet.  

I sprayed a couple of coats of the Flex Seal on a leftover piece of leather that was using to test die colors, and it looks okay, but I'm wondering how well it will hold up.

[olfart]

My experience with Flex Seal is not on leather, but where I sealed around our metal chimney on the roof, it cracked and peeled in just a few months.  I was not amused.

[Rockoboy]

8 hours ago, olfart said:

metal chimney on the roof, it cracked and peeled in just a few months

Was there any heat consideration on the section of the chimney? or maybe it was the sun and cold causing the surface to flex that made the product harden and crack?

On a different surface and under different climatic conditions, I would expect a different results to what you experienced.

[garypl]

I just started experimenting with Giardini Gloss Topcoat.  I painted a bit onto a piece of scrap veg tan and it left a nice glossy finish.  Just finished coating a strip of leather with the topcoat and tomorrow I will do some testing on flexibility, water resistance and abrasion.  Looks promising so far and it is made for leather!

Gary

[olfart]

1 hour ago, Rockoboy said:

Was there any heat consideration on the section of the chimney? or maybe it was the sun and cold causing the surface to flex that made the product harden and crack?

On a different surface and under different climatic conditions, I would expect a different results to what you experienced.

It's a triple-insulated chimney, so no heat other than direct sunlight.  Yes, being exposed to the weather 24/7/365 may have had a bearing on it, but their advertising leads us to believe it can handle anything.

[Rockoboy]

3 hours ago, olfart said:

their advertising leads us to believe it can handle anything

That would make it a defective product, but I guess they would have all sorts of reasons why it was customer error that caused the failure.

[wintermte]

12 hours ago, garypl said:

I just started experimenting with Giardini Gloss Topcoat.  I painted a bit onto a piece of scrap veg tan and it left a nice glossy finish.  Just finished coating a strip of leather with the topcoat and tomorrow I will do some testing on flexibility, water resistance and abrasion.  Looks promising so far and it is made for leather!

Gary

I'll be interested in how this works for you.  Leather stuff on a motorcycle is really abused especially when it is in places like the floor boards so I keep looking for ways to increase the longevity of the leather and the finish.

[wintermte]

On 6/6/2018 at 9:01 AM, wintermte said:

Has anyone tried  sealing their project with either Plasti Dip clear or Flex Seal clear?

I'm making a set of floor board inserts for my motorcycle and thinking of sealing them with this stuff as they will get a lot of contact and rubbing, etc from my feet.  

I sprayed a couple of coats of the Flex Seal on a leftover piece of leather that was using to test die colors, and it looks okay, but I'm wondering how well it will hold up.

I did some more experimenting last night with the piece I covered with Flex-Seal clear.  The piece has 2 coats of the Flex-Seal.  The spray is pretty heavy right out of the can.

So far:

• I sprayed a lot of water on it.
• rolled the leather up and flattened it over and over.
• Drug it around the drive way.
• walked on it.
• Stood on it while working on another project

It has endured without any cracks or flaking.  The water just rolled right off.  I had it sitting on the ground under the bike while I washed the bike with S100 degreaser/wash spray, and it didn't do anything to the coating.

I'll keep abusing it, but since I'm probably going to end up remaking the inserts again, I'm likely to apply and ride with it for a while.  I will be using a small amount of angelus paint on some lettering for the insert, so it will be great if this fully protects that from rubbing/wearing off.

[olfart]

I suspect my problem with the Flex Seal is extended exposure to UV. 

[plinkercases]

In Ontario some folks dedicated (one word for it) ride well into the shoulder season and we use salt and brine on the roads which even if the roads are clear it is picked up on boots getting to and from the bike. May want to see what salt does to it if you salt the road in WI.

You should post some pics of your destructive testing program and results if you have them.

[wintermte]

10 minutes ago, plinkercases said:

In Ontario some folks dedicated (one word for it) ride well into the shoulder season and we use salt and brine on the roads which even if the roads are clear it is picked up on boots getting to and from the bike. May want to see what salt does to it if you salt the road in WI.

You should post some pics of your destructive testing program and results if you have them.

I hadn't thought about salt and whatnot.  I'll try that out as well.  I have a bucket of salt from the winter left over still (I'm in Wisconsin so use this as well).

[wintermte]

More testing updates.

I beat up on the Flex-Seal pretty well, and it seems to be holding up.  I ground some wet side walk salt into and let sit for a while like that, walked on it (a lot) with it sitting in my gravel driveway, and while the thin piece of leather I'm using isn't fairing so well (there are lots of dents from being wet on the gravel and drying that way), the Flex-Seal is still intact.  It has lost some of the glossiness to the finish however.

I also have now tried the Rustoleum Leak Seal clear spray on rubber and Plasti-Dip clear spray as well, but haven't torture tested them yet.  The Rustoleum is already not great as it has a white-ish buildup in a couple of spots - so I likely won't continue to test it.  The Plasti-Dip is fantastic thus far because it is easily removable from died leather.  I even was able to peal  a small part off and respray that spot alone.    I'll be roughing it up hopefully tonight.