Carbon Fibre - How to bring back the shine.
 

Brief intro first.
I have several carbon fibre parts on my car (Running boards, rear remmelle style wing, headlamp rings, dashboard sections, airdam), some of these parts that are exposed to the weather didnt take kindly to our British climate and had gone very gray and washed out, with chalk rings where the rain had dried and they really looked terrible... I was almost at the point of binning all carbon as a bad job!

So I thought to myself, if its just gonna be chucked away, at least try and bring it back to life... Worst case scenario it still goes in the bin!

Started with 400 grit wet and dry paper, wet and with a dash of washing up liquid in the bucket. Then 1000 grit then 1500 grit (the higher the number, the finer the paper). Left the parts in the sun for a few hours to dry off, then sprayed the visible side with 2 pack Lacquer.

Results speak for themselves:
http://www.members.lycos.co.uk/vdubh...Refinished.JPG

Unfortunatly I dont have a before picture!

I am going to further work the results by using 2000 grit on the lacquer to knock the high spots off, then a second coat of lacquer... This time the parts will be hung up so we can do all the way around (in theory totally sealing them). Then a further rubbing with 2000 grit then polishing with an electric mop.... I want a REALLY tasty finish!

Cheers,
Sam C

Sounds like a tech article in the making... would love to see the after shots...
As always... Great work! :agree:

Err, Those ARE the after shots!

It was ruined before... All sorts of white marks, scuffs, it had gone various shades of light gray, the weave looked very 'odd'...


*** edit: Doh, I know what you mean now! Pays to read before posting... No worries, they will be posted!

Cya,
Sam C

I have a set of Carbon Joe's CF running boards that I haven't installed yet. Any issues with clearcoating them before installation? Joe?? Anyone??? :confused:

I shouldnt imagine so... But it really depends if they have been treated with anything like a wax... As that will totally screw the adhesion!

Cya,
Sam C

sounds like something i need to do to my carbon bits i have. the shine has dwindled so this could only help them shine again and save me some $$$. thanks for posting this sam. cant wait to see your car when its revamped too...mine is undergoing a revamp also. :agree:

:)


Give it a go. The results totally blew me away! I am not going to do the total refinish (the 2000 grit and second coat) immediatly as I am working to a deadline now (parents are moving away and its all in there garage!) so I am getting some of the reassembly done first).

If you do it, take some before AND after shots... I didnt think and only took after shots (doh!)

Cya,
Sam C

Try some 8600 grit and some plaxiglass polish to make it shine. We here at Metro Tech have some 12,000. Yes (12) thousand grit that we use to sand the windows in airplanes to make them clear. I can run a test piece on some carbon for you guys if you want me too. The polish is fairly cheap and you dont need alot.

Let me know,
Mike

where did ya get ur carbon
 

IM trying to get some carbon parts but Remmele r too priciey and a friend got some stuff from LA performace that was a complete rip off and I wouldnt put it on my car so if anyone has any reliable suppliers please let me know

i was thinking of getting a mate who works for a company who produce indy car bodies, amongst other things, to make me a set of door panels out of carbon fibre (or kevlar).

they do it properly there in an autoclave, not carbonfibre/fibreglass composite, but autoclaves are crazy expensive so no wonder theres a lot of fibreglass

the door panels wouldnt just be flat sheets of carbon mind, they would have rolled edges so they imitate the radius of the original panels, i was even thinking about have the pattern thats pressed into the vinyl ones formed into them, that way i would be hoping they could be fitted like the regular ones.

tell me what you lot think cos its not gonna happen unless a lot of people want them.

i would certainly be intred depends on how much they were of course

well the more people interested the more i can persuede him

he just sent me a 2 metres of carbon fibre fabric for a product (non car related) i'm doing, so it goes to show how much of a gent he is

but yeah if theres enough interest i could get a load done by him at the same time

heres hoping

I would be interested in a set of CF door panels, depending on the price.

Would they just be the sheets with NOTHING cut out (door handles/opener bits/window winders)? Would be better as it allows people the flexibility to do what they want with them... I have electric windows so dont really need the window winder holes...

Cheers,
Sam C

yeah that sounds about right

but at the moment its just an idea depends what interest is generated

Good stuff, keep us posted.

It wouldnt be a big deal to cut the holes for handles etc yourself as carbon fibre is very easy to work using a dremmel or some other brand of high speed rotary tool.... Just remember the dust mask and goggles (the dust is very bad for your lungs, and apparently is horrible if it gets in your eyes).

Sam C

arrrrrr another slag off of lap , sam why dont you tell him about your parts from me did you have to sand them down and bring them back up to a shine like you did on the other parts ???????, lee L.A.P

i saw some of your parts on a car at a show and am now saving to buy a few things off you, i was very impressed with it :)

These were not from LA Performance.. The airdam on the car was from LA Performance and is still perfect... Would more than happily buy more carbon from LAPerformance. :)

The parts with problems were from Carbon Joe, and were fine until I left them out in the UK weather (rain then sun cooked salty marks into them!)...
They are now sealed properly, so shouldnt suffer from this issue again... Dont believe they were waxed or lacquered!!! (so unprotected)


Sorry I didnt clarify this in the initial post, which wasnt posted as a slag off, more as a how to for others who may experience this issue.



**EDIT - I think I have (yet again) managed to get the wrong end of the stick.... BugFOOL was doing the slagging.

Cheers,
SAm C

sam mate was not directed at you, i just wanted you to tell everyone that my airdam didnt need the work , like the other c/f parts.
see what this fool has caused on here. :rolleyes: Lee.

Well I finally got around to re-clearing my C/F running boards and while I too didnt take any before pics they did come out really well for using rattle can clear coat.
I did pretty much what SAMCAT did but I haven't done the last step of lightly wet sanding them to get out any imperfections or orange peel.

The running boards got totally destroyed while the car sat at a shop OUTSIDE for nearly 2 years. Hot California sun oxidized and whitened them and no matter what i did they wouldnt stay shiny for long.

Now they look just like new and I am very pleased with the results.

Not bad for spending under $10 in materials to do it all!

Enjoy the pics

*note* these are are Carbon Joe running boards and I dont want people thinking that his parts aren't durable. This happened because of neglect on my part not craftsmanship. Just want everyone to know that because I have other parts from him that were on the car at the same time and they didnt oxidize. :laugh:
http://fototime.com/{C36D02A9-8914-4...E}/picture.JPG
http://fototime.com/{CF88FA16-1504-4...9}/picture.JPG
http://fototime.com/{9AFA649C-9439-4...D}/picture.JPG

sounds like a good, short tech article for someone willing to pull it together. (hint, hint) let me know if you are interested and i will give you some info on how to post.