Refurbishing Carbon Fiber

[Rainman]

I bought a carbon fiber fender off of eBay.
It was scratched, the clearcoat was hazed, and it was ugly.
It was just plain, no graphics.
I wet sanded the clearcoat with first 320 grit paper, then 600 paper.
Here is what the fender looked like.
I didn't think to take before pic, but you see how ugly it was.



I taped off for the Corse stripe.
I painted the primer, and then white. I added the pinstripes and painted the red. This is what it looked like at that stage.




Now I peeled off the pinstripe tape, took off the paper.
It looked like this.



So I scuff sanded it all with 600 grit paper. Wet sanding is critical for the final clearcoat. I sanded both the painted and unpainted surfaces.
I put on my "Signature Make it mine" decal.
Then I clearcoated it.
I did two light layers. Sanded it, and then two medium layers.

Here is the finished product.





Here are the materials I used.

320 and 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper.
3M painters tape.
Wagner HVLP Fine Finish Paint rig.
Sherwin Williams Auto primer in white
House of Colors Apple Red
Sherwin Williams Auto Polyurethane Clearcoat

[NCRick]

Nice work! Did you tape off the same stripes on your forehead or are all the colors sort of mixed? :-)

[eljeffe]

So between this and you neon yellow, you really are an attention whore.

LOL!!!

Hey man, good job!

[migz123]

....nice job man, and thanks for posting-up how you did it.

[brianmdavis]

Looks great...Boy, I wish I had that talent! I don't have the patience ADDHD!!

[gitarman]

Another good tip for refurbing the stock carbon fiber: Make sure you clearcoat the underside of the carbon as well. The stock carbon (at least on my '95 SP) is so thin, in some places you can see right through it. Water gets through these spaces and actually lifts the clearcoat on top.

[akducati]

Great job! And good timing too as I was just think of doin some myself! MH

[number9]

How effective is the sanding at restoring the look of the CF?

[dharhay]

I got my carbon fiber clear coated by a painter through a local shop. Boy, am I sorry. Thick areas, fish eyes, runs, I was amazed at how crappy the work. Unfortunately, it was not that expensive and I am paying for that now. I thought that I was paying for an average clearcoat job.

Oh well, be aware of the quality you are expecting.

[yotaman88210]

Looks great! Good work!