Painting carbon forks

bikeit65

just noticed the paint on the inside of the forks where the brake caliper bolt passes through starting to peel and crack is it possible to get these forks sanded and resprayed. if so do i need any special primers and finish coats.

redvee

Carbon forks can only be sanded with fine wet n dry, no chemicals or blasting as this will damage the laquer in the weave of the carbon. This I learned from Gary at Argos after coating a leg of a pair of carbon legged forks in Nitromors :oops:

bikeit65

what sort of paint will i need to get for repainting them,

bikeit65

No painters in the house?

Monty Dog

There are a few low-temp bake finishes or even air drying finishes available suitable for composities - from rattle-cans in Halfords to proprietary finishes. Depends on whether you want to do it yourself, get someone else and how much you want to pay.

redvee

I used aerosol enamel matt black on the forks I repainted.

bikeit65

Thanks. Redvee how did you prepair the forks prior to painting them?

redvee

This was a few years back, close to 10 I think. Fine wet and dry to get a smooth finish on the forks, white spirit to clean the dust etc from the forks, taped a spoke tothe steerer tube to hang the forks whilst painting, cleaned the forks again then started spraying with the aerosols. Several light coats ratherthan one thick coat, didn't help I was spraying black onto black forks. Left to dry then think I apllied a coat of laquer or two.

Can't say about durability of the paint etc as I sold the forks soon after.

bikeit65

Update. so after some crazy quotes i deceided to try it myself, got some wet & dry paper done all the proper prep work and have so far give it one coat of paint, when that dries i will lightly rub it down and give it another coat of paint followed by two coats of clear lacquer or clear nail varnish as suggested in another post. does this sound ok to date?

redvee

When doing the final rub down get the finest w&d you can so smooth that newspaper will feel rougher 1200 grit I think or higher.

alfablue

Bikeit65 wrote:

Update. so after some crazy quotes i deceided to try it myself, got some wet & dry paper done all the proper prep work and have so far give it one coat of paint, when that dries i will lightly rub it down and give it another coat of paint followed by two coats of clear lacquer or clear nail varnish as suggested in another post. does this sound ok to date?

I think it might be better to do many coats of paint - spray on very light coats, just one pass, allow it to dry for 10 minutes, do again, and so on (no sanding in between). That is how to get a reasonable depth of paint without runs. Though maybe it is the laquer that needs to be deeper. I have done minor car body repairs this way, so I presume the same approach will work.

bikeit65

Cheers everyone.
Will i need to sand down with W&D between coats of laquer?

DavidBelcher

Bikeit65 wrote:

what sort of paint will i need to get for repainting them,

The Plastikote aerosol enamel range (Wilkinson sell them) are very good but most colours are only available in small cans. Main thing is, though, make sure you use the same type for the paint and the lacquer - if you mix enamel (Plastikote, Humbrol) with cellulose (most car touch-up paints e.g. Carplan) you get a horrible 'wrinkly' effect - I recently had this bother when touching up a steel frame and had to strip the chainstays right back and re-coat.

David

alfablue

Bikeit65 wrote:

Cheers everyone.
Will i need to sand down with W&D between coats of laquer?

I would say not, unless you get some horrid paint run or something.

bikeit65

Further update.
Well i got the paint from a guy i know who works for an auto paint specialist he took a while to get the colour match right but this i didnt mind, so far i have given it two coats of paint with a very light sanding with 1200 grade wet & dry between coats, and one coat of lacquer with a final coat of lacquer tomorrow.
Job done, total cost £2.50 as i got the paint free of charge.
Thanks to all who took the time to give me advise.

redvee

What's your address and you can do my frame and I'll give you a fiver