Primer on carbon fiber

J

jlwdvm

Member
I have a friend that wants his carbon fiber bike frame painted and he's cheap. I told him I would shoot it with white epoxy while I was priming parts for my 69 firebird. Anyway, if we are going to have the epoxy as the top coat, what grit finish should the bare carbon fiber have so it is smooth and so the epoxy will stick? What about clear over the epoxy? I'm really worried about fisheyes because he started to sand the frame without degreasing first and they use all kinds of funky chain lubricants on those bikes. Thanks.
 
I paint bicycles for a living and by default cyclist=cheap so that is a given:p

I use SPI epoxy all the time on carbon. As you are doing you have to sand every nook and cranny with 320 making sure not to bust through and hit carbon. Most of the time there is just a hefty layer of clear on there sometimes it is a gel coat, which totally sucks.

Two coats of epoxy and then paint as you normally would. Clean with waterborne multple times and you will be fine. Get back to me after you have done it. The hardest part is getting even coverage around all the tubes and tight spots. Choke down the gun and follow the same spraying pass procedure every time to make sure you got it where you think you got it. Most car guys want to pull their hair out after attempting these things.
 
Thanks. He is too cheap to buy paint for a top coat, so we will be leaving it in primer and he is going to put decals over that. I told him it would probably dull with time.
 
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