can carbon fibre be painted!!

[R6RY D]

I was wondering if its poss to paint a carbon fibre bonnet, without having the weave showing through?
Before anyone asks, its only availble in carbon and i think they look w*nk.

[grahambell]

Never had any personal experience of painting carbon fibre, but the answer is yes.

Body on AC Cobra CRS is carbon fibre, as is Mclaren F1 and Ascari KZ1 among others, and they all have smooth paint finish.

Would guess it's just a question of getting enough primer/filler on to provide smooth finish for top coat.

[Frik]

grahambell said:

Would guess it's just a question of getting enough primer/filler on to provide smooth finish for top coat.

The top surface of the bonnet should already be pretty smooth as this will have been the inside surface of the mould. The weave will be seen but won't actually be adjacent to the top surface due to the layer of resin that was placed on the mould first.

You just need to sand with a fine paper and then paint as you would a glass fibre part.

[hot wheels]

yes it can but its not so simple it really depends if its real carbon fibre ie pre preg stuff thats been autoclaved or cheapie carbon cloth in a polyester resin. The latter is easiest as its really just the same as fiberglass (grp) but the former is a bit of a bugger its hard to get a chemical bond, and paint tends to chip easily due to the surface having a very poor ability to flex and absorb the energy of a stones impact