Zomggg harbor freight racing delivers! The tap worked. Haven't tested it with the bolt yet, but I went super slowly, used lubricant, and cleaned the tap out multiple times. Goes in and out smoothly now.

If only fixing this was as easy...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c832ad451b.jpg

Ugh plasti-dip :(

plasti dip comes of real easy with a pressure washer

I put clear coat on it though. I've been trying to strip atleast the clear off it. I was going to call a few car washes tomorrow afternoon to see if any of them had one available for use.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm definitely going to try that.

Also, this bar has clear coat over a thick layer of black plastidip over a layer of white rattle can paint over the original HD black paint. Soooo.... I'm going to have to strip the white paint off one way or the other, but that shouldn't be too hard.

Paint stripper? I've taken multiple layers off at once if you glop it on, let it sit for 20 minutes and then use a green scrubber pad.

Aircraft paint stripper works wonders. But bundle up. That shit will take your skin off.

Jasco 1 qt. Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover-QJBP00202 - The Home Depot

Stuff in the spray bottle is purple power. Got some of that on my hands last night by mistake and it was not fun. Double gloved today haha.

I'll give that stuff a try if the pressure washer doesn't work. The white paint comes off pretty easily with goof off. I'd have to use the harsher stripper in the drive way.

If you think purple power isn't fun I wouldn't even go near the aircraft stripper. I wash shit with bare hands in purple power. Its just slimey. The stripper will leave burns.

Oh I absolutely don't doubt that about aircraft stripper. I'm just saying that I'd definitely use gloves haha.

I'm also trying to avoid taking off the stock paint job. I bet aircraft stripper would be equally adept at removing everything!

It would. It would go to bare metal. And you need more than normal rubber gloves.

If it comes to it I'll get heavy duty gloves. I can always re-spray the bar.

I wonder if it would discolor the driveway... (rented apt)

Why didn't you take it to a powder coater? They'd blast it before coating. Or are you too frugal?

That last one. I can't see that process being less than 200-300 from what I've seen. I can't say for sure that's what the local price would be.

I could have lived with the plastidip but decided to go the paint and clear route instead. I could have just touched up the areas that got chipped during the test fitting process. Having the white coat of paint left on shouldn't negatively affect the black paint I'm going to throw over it. I think that should be pretty easy to get off though.

I'm honestly just super happy that this one actually fits in my car haha. It's also rainy here and I won't be getting the hardware from hard dog till Thursday. Figured i could waste some time and do it DIY.

Spent a silly amount of money and time standing outside in 32 degree weather using a pressure washer to no avail.

I'm starting to really regret deciding not to just touch up the few nicked spots lol.

Might try going back and spraying or soaking goo off or something into the bar at the car wash and seeing if that helps. I think whatever I had applied was pretty dry. It was really hard to take off most areas.

Try Citristrip. If that doesn't work, most hardware stores have at least 2 grades of Jasco paint stripper below aircraft strength. One of those should work. Keep in mind that HD bars are powder coated from the factory, which makes paint removal a little tougher, if you are going down to bare metal.

Plastidip is a disease. Illest to the extreme.

Tried the goof off that doesn't come in a spray can. Bought three small containers of it. It took two to get most of the plastidip off. I put it on a towel and just scrubbed away and it lifted right off. I got down to the powdercoat in some places but it was taking too long to strip the white paint off this way. Some of the dip was probably left on, but I ran out of time and needed to finish this today... so this is what it looks like now!

Krylon rust tough enamel flat black followed by semi flat/semi gloss whatever it's called.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fcedf4220c.jpg