Okay, I have heard it mentioned in at least one other thread that it is difficult to paint dry carbon parts. (CWest and ASM fenders I believe specifically)

I'm just posting up to see whether or not this is or not.

I guess I don't understand because it doesn't seem to be a problem painting wet carbon (look at the number of CF hoods that are painted just fine) and on top of that the RS*R drift S2000 uses all of the CWest dry carbon parts but they didn't seem to have any trouble painting it.

Is there any truth to this? I'd love to go wider front fenders to have a more favorable offset wheel for a BBK, but while I love the look of raw carbon hoods/hardtops/trunks/wings, I'm not a fan of the fenders unless the whole car is CF. I'm also not a fan of dry carbon with no clear next to wet carbon with a clear coat.

 

i believe if you have a clearcoat on the dry carbon, it isn't an issue. If there is no clear coat on the dry carbon, it is still paintable but prepare for it to be textured.

 

The RS*R s2000 paint work is not really paint. It is all vinyl graphics.

 

Surely at SOME level its paint. I can't believe they covered the entire car in white vinyl as a base layer. That would be asenine.

 

I don't plan to get into this debate to much, I've already said what I've had to say regarding this topic and I don't want to bring up old rivalries.

That being said, It's got me wondering what a F1 or P1 Le Mans car has in terms of paint work. I'm pretty sure they both use the lightest of CF available, and for some reason, I want to believe it's dry carbon. I'm assuming through a large budget, dry carbon can be painted, but it probably takes a lot of preparation and $$.

 

I think that its a different grade of composite material. Maybe something aircraftgrade? Automotive carbon fiber products, even the ones used on jdm tuner cars, tend to be pretty low in the pyramid of composites. I'd like to think that since those cars are on a whole different level in budget, reserach and production that they're using some pretty high end stuff.

 

from what i here you can paint the c-west/asm fenders...they will crack though because the material flexes due to it being so thin...

 

Cracking due to flex? I think there is some truth to the fenders and poor paint adhesion. Why can we paint urethane without problems then? Theres alot more flex in that then there is dry carbon I would think.

 

yeah but urethane is made to be painted...the flex additive adheres to the urethane and holds the paint in place...

the only down side to urethane, besides it flexing alot, is that over time due to temperature it will begin to sag

 

I didn't know there was an old debat and I certainly don't want to re-kindle the fires.

Could someone clear up where the idea that it won't adhere came from? I mean is there someone out there that has pictures and stated "I tried to paing my CWest/ASM dry carbon fenders and this happened..." with pcitures of the bad paint?

I am not aware of anyone that has tried to paint them (and this still doesn't explain the CWest fenders on the RS*R car, surely that entire car cannot be covered in vinyl).