jamisFan

I had a long ride yesterday and rode through several puddles. So this morning I cleaned my frame using baby wipes and then washed the chain with dish soap, then brushed it WD40 and relubed it using Blaster's chain and cable lube.

While the bike was upside down some of the WD40 dripped onto the seat stay, and come to think of it, some of the lubricant did also.
Only hours later I noticed a small peel off on the paint (attached pic) which I have no idea if it's related to the wd40 or the lube. I don't remember seeing it before, but I can't tell for sure that it wasn't there, it might as well be a chip off because of a pebble.

Should I be worried that the integrity of my frame is compromised? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but over-worrying is my second favorite thing.

Thanks.

Andrew R Stewart 

Don't confuse what bothers paint as also bothering the structural carbon. To my understanding WD40 is OK on carbon. Andy.

jamisFan

Thanks, I've been reading about it and that seems to be the case.

Best,
D.

gsa103

That looks like a scrape from leaning the bike against something.

_ediri

ok, thanks! good to know as i used WD40 also and had the same question in mind!

cyccommute 

There's not a lot of chemicals that you would normally use in the course of bicycle maintenance that are going to have much any effect on the carbon fiber itself and very few that are going to have much effect on the epoxy resin that holds the carbon fiber together. The effect on the epoxy resin is what you should be most worried about, by the way, since you'd have to dissolve away a lot of epoxy to get at the fiber.

WD40 is a mixture of mineral spirits and mineral oil (similar materials with slightly different molecular weights) and should do nothing to the epoxy, carbon fiber nor even the paint. I'm not sure that your paint problem is even related to the WD40. It may be a manufacturing defect were the frame member wasn't cleaned properly and the paint didn't stick to the frame. It's appearance with your use of WD40 is likely just coincidental.

jamisFan

Yes, but if I slide my finger across I can't feel a difference between the painted and unpainted portions. That's why I was worried maybe the paint dissolved rather than scraped.

jamisFan

Thanks!

Crankycrank

And just to add.... Usually if a chemical is damaging paint or epoxy etc., it will tend to bubble or tear around the remaining edges of the missing paint so I agree with the others that this is more of a scrape of some kind.

fietsbob

The Carbon fabric should be bound up in the Epoxy..

RoadLight

Hi jamisFan,

I think you don't need to worry about WD40 harming your carbon frame. But if you want to be sure, you could mix up a little epoxy and let it dry 48 hours. Then soak it with WD40 and see what happens. As others have explained, the carbon fiber of your bike is suspended in epoxy. Epoxy is what the hard plastic-like surface of your bike frame is made of. The WD40 should contact only the epoxy---not the carbon. If you don't observe any problem with your epoxy test after a week or more, then you should be okay.

However, there is another approach to chain cleaning that you might consider for the future: Add a removable link to your chain so you can easily take it off your bike when it needs this kind of cleaning. I use a citrus-based degreaser followed by some liquid dish soap to remove all traces of the degreaser. If I don't have time to wait for the chain to dry (or it is cold, overcast or raining) then I pop the chain in the oven on an old metal baking sheet. With the oven on its lowest setting, it takes only 10-15 minutes (after preheating) for the chain to be fully dry.

The benefits of this method are: (1) You don't have to worry about getting degreaser on other parts of your bike. (2) It's possible to do a better chain cleaning. (3) With the chain off the bike, it can be quickly dried in an oven (as long as you did NOT use a flammable degreaser like WD40). Another benefit of avoiding WD40 is that you won't have any residue of it on your chain. You see, WD40, in addition to being a water displacer (WD), also has a mild degreaser and mild lubricant. The water displacement agent and degreaser are supposed to evaporate away, leaving behind just the mild lubricant. But it's not a very good lubricant. Your chain will do better if it is really clean (no residue of any kind) before you apply a proper chain lubricant (I use Park Tool CL-1). A citrus degreaser followed by a dish soap scrub should only leave water behind which you evaporate in the wind, sun or in an oven.

I care for four bikes in my family and that's how I keep all of their chains clean. It can be done very fast.

Kind regards, RoadLight

Tim_Iowa

To add: Wippermann Connex removable links are the easiest to use, can be re-used any number of times, and are available for all 8, 9, 10, and 11 speed chains.

Chief

what is is your first favorite thing?

Indyracer

WD40 does not affect cured carbon fiber. Also never seen it bother paint.

jamisFan

Cycling of course.