Tomm Willians

I recently acquired a Ridley X-Fire that is a bit too big for me though that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it ! I’m on the verge of purchasing another X-Fire frame that is the same year but smaller. I’m considering having it painted before switching the parts over but wondering if painting carbon requires any specific technique or materials? I would have it done by a pro shop, no rattle cans in the garage on this one.

katyjcrow

It usually involves hand sanding the existing paint, which is a extra cost. You can’t sand blast or use chemical strippers on carbon.

rosefarts

I'm sure a custom motorcycle shop is well experienced in carbon fiber painting. A lot more elbow grease goes into it than your basic metal powder coating job.

So let's just ballpark. If powder coating is $100-$150 including the prep, and painting is easily twice the work, you're looking at $200-$300.

Too bad the schools are shut down right now. This would be a perfect job for a kid in an auto body class.

02Giant 

There isn't anything special about painting carbon fiber VS. aluminum, steel, etc.

As mentioned prior, no course abrasive blast or chemical prep.

rosefarts

So you end up getting elbow tendonitis with 400grit in hand. That was the point of my post.

If I got a new Motobecane or something like that, I would certainly paint it.

400 grit wet sand prep, rattle can primer, 400grit smooth, top coat X3 or 4. Dry a week. 2000 grit then 3000 grit then polishing compound. Clean with alcohol then apply decals. It won't be very durable for several months. It will look pretty good but won't be perfect.

I think it's only worth it if you have time and do it by hand. Or it's very important to you for a show quality frame.

blamester

Check out ETOE on YouTube.

TKJava

There is a YouTube channel called E to E designs that shows many custom paint jobs on carbon fiber frames. He has a few how to's in terms of body prep and priming and how to do it with spray cans. I highly recommend watching these first because 1) he's entertaining to watch and 2) there's a lot of good advice. For example he highly recommends you don't use any solvents to remove paint as it could damage the resin holding the carbon layup together. It seems from watching his videos that it's within the DIY'ers realm to be able to do a good job. If you have an air compressor and a spray gun (air-brush and a regular gun) you would be able to get better results than out of a can but honestly what he shows using spray cans is pretty impressive. Be patient and good luck.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-...2IbTmNComCIZtw

easyupbug 

Any pro shop will have their standard procedures which won't be anything special other than the care taken, you won't get a pro for $200 or $300. The least expensive is going to be slightly North of that, maybe $350 if you don't want anything special. Big time guys will start at twice that and go up very fast for anything special but they do amazing work.