Carbon fibre clear or polish?

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davidf57

New member
With all the carbon fibre bits around you'd think some bright company would market a polish/restorer for all those dull carbon finishes I see a lot.



Seems carbon hates heat and sunlight and goes dull way too soon. I mean, look at those 10-15 year old lovely bikes with all these go-faster carbon guards, clutch covers, etc., and look at the condition of them comparted to the rest of the bike. Paint, fine, carbon daggy. It may be light and strong, but give me a paint finish anytime.



Now, to my point, does any one know a restoring product for dull carbon. I've tried a light car polish Kitten N01, it brings up the finish a bit, but it's starting to go grey as all carbon does.
 
It's oxidation. Just buff it out, and hope it doesn't go too deep.



The problem is the UV agent in the gel coat fails pretty quickly on cheap carbon fiber. I always tell friends to get their carbon fiber parts cleared.
 
vecdran said:
It's oxidation. Just buff it out, and hope it doesn't go too deep.



The problem is the UV agent in the gel coat fails pretty quickly on cheap carbon fiber. I always tell friends to get their carbon fiber parts cleared.
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:werd: Cf parts are made with almost the same processes and products as boats and pwc's. The gel coats dont have enough UV protection to prevent their oxidation so a a coat of automotive urethane clear is needed to protect its appearance.
 
Carbon has no problem with heat...its the resin they are impregnated with that is the problem. If its cheap CF...they use a cheap polyester resin and that stuff hates heat and will yellow quickly in the sun and UV. Good carbon uses an epoxy resin to saturate the cf during the molding process. It has alot higher tolerance for heat and other abuse and will stay looking better..longer.



You do get what you pay for when it comes time to buy cf bits. I learned the hard way...I bought videos, researched , etc. on how to mold cf doing wet lay up and vacuum bagging. Used polyester resin at first because its way cheaper than epoxy resin during the learning curve. But, soon learned how inferior it is to epoxy in every way...except price!!



And as stated above....its best to use auto clear over a cf part...the resins they are impregnated with are not designed to be a uv protectant.
 
Great, think I'll just junk the cf clutch cover and get a new one. Auto clear over may do it, but in this throw it world, i'll join the ranks. Thanks for the lesson,chao tik!
 
If a person is too concerned about their carbon fiber components going oxidized, then carbon fiber is not for this person. Do you see UFC fighers worrying about their manicured fingernails getting ruined during a fight???



Carbon fiber resins reinforced gel coat are extremely hard, yet easily overheated. They are extremely hard to be polished, and are actually not intended to be polished. They can often be polished with any paint polish though. I have tried using a regular polish with some decent result. But they oxidize at a rate quicker than you would want to polish them.





Many carbon fiber parts are painted from the factory. Many high quality, expensive aftermarket CF body pieces are also intended to be painted; their weavings are not perfectly symmetrical or straight, but they are strong and durable.
 
the_invisible said:
If a person is too concerned about their carbon fiber components going oxidized, then carbon fiber is not for this person. Do you see UFC fighers worrying about their manicured fingernails getting ruined during a fight???

.
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That's silly logic. Do you know how retarded my spoiler would look if it weren't cleared and started to yellow/oxidize? But wait, carbon fiber isn't for me; instead of a 9lb, 8 1/2ft long carbon fiber spoiler, I should have a 40lb 8 1/2ft long fiberglass/gelcoat spoiler :nervous2:



more1.jpg
 
davidf57 said:
Wit.



Now, to my point, does any one know a restoring product for dull carbon. I've tried a light car polish Kitten N01, it brings up the finish a bit, but it's starting to go grey as all carbon does.
Click to expand...



I'm having the same issue with the exhaust from my GSXR 750. It's a Yoshimura Japan EEC TRC, for the Japanese market only....very hard to find here and very expensive. My point in stating that is that I would think that they wouldn't use a cheap resin in the CF...but it has yellowed nonetheless. The exhaust can attains high temps and I'm thinking of sanding the old clear off and re-clearing it but I'm wondering if a rubbing compound buff would acheive the same results?



 
The dulling of ghe carbon on your exhaust can is from the heat. Not sure if Yoshi uses prepreg carbon or does some sort of resin infusion to create the carbon sleeves for their cans. There isn't a clear on top of that can, you would be sanding the resin that is impregnating the carbon and you don't want to sand thru that and hit the carbon itself.
 
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