Clear coat touch up over CF

AF4iK

AF4iK

Well-known member
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Hey GTAM, I'm looking for suggestions on a minor repair job for a Jardine RT-1 carbon fiber slip on.

I bought this exhaust used and there's a small chip on the tip that I've been meaning to fix. The clear coat is gone and the fiber is roughed up a bit underneath but overall intact. Only talking about a dime sized area here but it's noticeable.
The rest of the clear coat on the tip has also gotten pretty foggy so I'd like to clean this up too. Finishing/detailing is a bit of a weak area for me so my question is twofold:

1. What kind of clear coat is safe for CF that is economical for such a tiny area? I've heard that clear nail polish can be used but have also heard that it might be bad for the CF epoxy.

2. Whether I use nail polish or some other product, can the entire tip be wet sanded to bring back the shine without the repair job being noticeable?

Muchos gracias in advance
 
Thats not clear. Its the resin that bonds the fibres together. Any touch up will be visible I dont know how big of a piece we are talking about here it may be better to leave it alone.
 
there are epoxy resins that dry essentially clear, if your tip is foggy its from the resin being heated, you cant really fix that since the clear top coat would show the foggy underneath.
Do not use nail polish, the often used solvent in nail polish is acetone, thats the stuff that eats resin.
if you have a chip to repair, get a small amount of epoxy and mix it up and brush it on. Polyester resin will not stick to the epoxy thats there and doesnt like to stick to carbon.
 
I got my carbon fibre and epoxies associated with it in bulk at an aircraft building shop.
It isn't cheap.
 
Thanks a lot for the advice guys. I'll stay away from nail polish to play it safe.

crankcall said:
...if your tip is foggy its from the resin being heated, you cant really fix that since the clear top coat would show the foggy underneath.
Click to expand...

Do you know whether the fogginess is only on the top layer or if the entire depth of the clear coat is affected? I was thinking of just wet sanding the surface a bit like you would a foggy headlamp lens.

carboncat said:
Bring it to me, I used to build cf parts and have all the material to fix it propperly
Click to expand...

Thanks carboncat, very generous! I may give you a shout in the spring or earlier if I get the tip off the bike (it's parked in my friend's garage out in ajax for the winter).
 
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