Repainting Carbon FIber

[97GS-TSpyder]

Aight.....i might be getting a carbon fiber wing, but it is painted black. Im wondering what i would have to do to take off the paint and clear over the carbon fiber so it looks like a hood...any ideas..?

 

[LandoAWD]

Moved to the correct forum...where it should have been posted in the first damn place.

 

[9D9 MITSU RS]

sand it down until you see the cf. then clear it, buff it, etc. It will look better than ever.

 

[97GS-TSpyder]

have you ever done it?

 

[Morphius]

Originally posted by 97GS-TSpyder
Aight.....i might be getting a carbon fiber wing, but it is painted black. Im wondering what i would have to do to take off the paint and clear over the carbon fiber so it looks like a hood...any ideas..?

Ideas?

1. Get one that is already clear coated.
2. Call the company that paints them and see if they'd sell you one without the paint. Clear coat it yourself.


Believe me, it will NOT come out looking like a CF hood. You'll be potentially sanding away fiber. In the end, it may or may not look OK. Depends on how much fiber you sanded away. Once you've sanded some of the CF away you'll always be able to see it. It'll be noticable where it happened.

Think of it this way. Would you do the same with fiberglass and clearcoat it?

 

[igs]

Both fiberglass and carbon fiber parts have a gel coat. You will not be sanding away any fibers.

 

[beloden]

one of my friends got the hood that was painted, so he sand the pant down to carbon fiber, but not toched the fiber. so that part was ok. BUT when he put the new clear coat on, there was a problem. the hood had whole bunch of little tiny holes. even tho it look like it sopose to do (i mean cf look), but when you look close you can see all the little holes in the clear coat all over the hood. i wouldnt know if you will have that problem, but my friend had.

may be that info will help you decide if you want to get into that troble.
my friend did, cuz he got the hood for $100

denis

 

[Morphius]

Originally posted by igs
Both fiberglass and carbon fiber parts have a gel coat. You will not be sanding away any fibers.

So, I suppose he has a calibrated sander that takes EXACTLY 1mm of gel coat off?

He has the POTENTIAL to get by and have it look OK. Read the next post following yours to see what can happen.

 

[Morphius]

Originally posted by beloden
one of my friends got the hood that was painted, so he sand the pant down to carbon fiber, but not toched the fiber. so that part was ok. BUT when he put the new clear coat on, there was a problem. the hood had whole bunch of little tiny holes. even tho it look like it sopose to do (i mean cf look), but when you look close you can see all the little holes in the clear coat all over the hood. i wouldnt know if you will have that problem, but my friend had.

may be that info will help you decide if you want to get into that troble.
my friend did, cuz he got the hood for $100

denis

Beacause he sanded some of the base resin off. The binding material for the adhesion between the CR layers. There can be tiny pockets of air in the matrix.

 

[beloden]

yep, thats what it is...

 

[97GS-TSpyder]

ok its something a lil better than a wing but i dont wany anyone to steal my deal so believe me ill be saving about 1400 buxs if i can do it this way versus new

 

[igs]

Originally posted by Morphius
So, I suppose he has a calibrated sander that takes EXACTLY 1mm of gel coat off?

He has the POTENTIAL to get by and have it look OK. Read the next post following yours to see what can happen.

That's true, you can screw up any job. Some people have trouble putting on lug nuts.

 

[gixrman]

How do they remove paint from fiberglass body cars? Is there a chemical stripper for this type of application that will not harm the gel coat?