painting carbon fiber?

what's the best type of paint for a carbon fiber bike frame? and how deep should you sand? just rough up the clearcoat?

 

All you should do is remove the gloss with a scotchbrite pad. To use sandpaper can be more risk/trouble than it is worth. Gloss is the enemy, but the gelcoat should be left as intact as it can be.
As far as paints are concerned, you can use any paint that suits other than possibly laquer. Laquer's volatile solvent is strong enough to damage some composite coats, not to mention the results are not worth it.
Acrylic urethane is my personal favorite. It does not damage undercoatings and is the most durable and glossy. This and other comparable finishes can be found at automotive supply shops such as NAPA. Observe all precautions and procedures and you will have a truly hot lookin ride

 

Interesting thread. My old OCLV has more nicks than I care to count, and I've often thought of having it repainted. Probably wouldn't do it myself though, as I'd prolly trainwreck it. Not sure if the Ice Purple could be easily duplicated though, but the thought of an unbadged OCLV is kinda appealing.

 

If you still like the carbon look you can even strip it down and get a special type of paint and its thin layers so you can still look through to carbon with a clear cote on top.....some teammates have done blue and you can still see carbon underneath. Adds a nice effect to it and everone stares at it.

 

everything conniebiker says is right on. i repainted part of my frame to cover some butt ugly decals. used acrylic urethane spray cans and clearcoat spray cans from an auto supply store. make sure you do it outside on a calm day and don't breath in the fumes. nasty toxic stuff. use a respirator if you can. be advised that the tough, hard paintjobs require drying by controlled oven. air dry pain jobs won't be as nice. that bein said, i matched up the silver color on my frame with the spray can color and just did the top and down tube. i read up on repainting article on the web and just took my time. lots of thin coats are preferrable and prevents runs and drips. unless you're inspecting my bike's paint job the difference is unoticable. no one has ever commented negatively that it looks like i repainted.

my frame wasn't worth a factory or third party repaint. YMMV.

good luck

bob