Painting a Carbon Frame...

[Crystal]

Hi all... I have a 10 year old Look KG 96 Team Replica Carbon bike which I would like to Paint. The
bike is in its original non-painted state, the finish is "Carbon" with a thin plastic clear coat
with several LOOK decals.

Is painting such a frame possible or not recommended? Has anyone had a Carbon bike painted? Thanks
in advance for your reply.

Sincerely, Antonio Paventi

 

[Arnie Berger]

I'm speaking as a Materials Scientist, not a bike painting expert.

I don't think there is a problem as far as the adhesion of the paint to the carbon fibre/resin is
concerned. I think that the problem will be dealing with the existing clear coat. You can either
chemically remove it, sand it off or try to paint over it and the decals. If you try to chemically
remove it you will get it off but the stripper may attack the resin that is used to bond the fibers
together. If you sand it off, you may introduce microgrooves which can lead to failure of the frame
because stress cracks can nucleate at the cracks. If you try to paint over the clear coat, you'll
still need to sand it or prep it some way so the paint will adhere to it. In summary, I don't know
if you can do it or not.

arnie

"Crystal" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi all... I have a 10 year old Look KG 96 Team Replica Carbon bike which I would like to Paint.
> The bike is in its original non-painted state, the finish is "Carbon" with a thin plastic clear
> coat with several LOOK decals.
>
> Is painting such a frame possible or not recommended? Has anyone had a Carbon bike painted? Thanks
> in advance for your reply.
>
> Sincerely, Antonio Paventi

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>, Crystal <[email protected]> wrote:
>Hi all... I have a 10 year old Look KG 96 Team Replica Carbon bike which I would like to Paint. The
>bike is in its original non-painted state, the finish is "Carbon" with a thin plastic clear coat
>with several LOOK decals.
>
>Is painting such a frame possible or not recommended? Has anyone had a Carbon bike painted?

Most painters who make their living painting bikes know how to paint a carbon frame - ask around.

Generally you sand them to prepare for paint.

--Paul