Thread: Protecting Carbon Fiber

Hmm,interesting
I dont know about the VIS CF ,but these Seibon Parts are like glass.Makes the other cf hood and trunk I have look like shit in comparison.
I seriously doubt you will see weave if these are painted.
I am sure that ShawnB will keep us posted.
Honestly.I am gonna hate painting them,since they are so damn beautiful and high quality.

to be able to see the weave the painter must make a specific paint mix that will be "see through". which is usually like 80%clear coat and 20% paint. ive seen it been done and it does look pretty cool.

like i said in some cases.



no, what i meant is you still see the weave as in even though its a solid color you still the bumps from the weave. it depends on teh quailty of the hood, the thickness of the gelcoat really.

stratton.

I tried to find a good close-up pic of a Ferrari F40 to show what you're talking about Stratton, but I couldn't find a good one. The pre-preg carbon fiber tends to do this. The wet lay-up stuff with thick (heavy) resin coats obviously don't suffer from this like you said.

A new layer of clear coat can make a big difference. My hood was from an original GB back in the day probably 8 yrs old and it looked almost new after I got it re-cleared.

Before:





After:

ahh i see what you mean. idk how good of quality that is if its leaving weave bumps though.

well it is what it is, the quality may be great but the gelcoat may not be thick.

generally cf isnt painted so im sure some companies arent to concerned with it.

stratton.

Personally when I get around to it mine will be painted... It's all about prep at that time.

One thing I was told by a CF guru is that the clear coat that comes from the manufacturer no matter who it is (exceptions..Corvette ZR1, high end exotics, etc.) has a tendency to evaporate especially when exposed to heat. He told me to cure my CF pieces in the sun for a brief period until the clearcoat (gelcoat) "sets", then reclear it with 2-3 coats from a quality paint & body shop. My 94 is somewhat of a garage queen, the CF hood rarely sees sun. The underhood heat has cured the gelcoat so that the weave of the CF is more pronounced but still looks brand new. Planning on clearcoating all the CF pieces x 2 when funds are available. Liking the idea of Kaotekxe with the clear paint blending, mixing a bit of KH3 black with the clear to transition the CF with the black car paint.

I can see the KH3 working really well even the Aztec red, but for those of us with the white cars, I don't see how it will look good Putting white paint on a dark base doesn't seem like the white will be....well white. My guess is the paint would have to be rediculously thick? So thick that the weave would probably disappear. I'd love to paint it because I think the different color panels would look tacky. Any thoughts white guys lol?