PPG Clearcoat on CF pieces

[furinax]

Just wondering if anyone has used PPG Clearcoat for carbon fiber pieces before. Some of my pieces are starting to yellow and I was told the newer clearcoats are much more UV resistant and will not yellow. Is it worth it to get my parts re-cleared? I ask because my current installer has the option to re-clear my B-pillars and they use PPG.

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

Ppg clear is fine.

You’re painter may be in for a world of hurt trying to relcear parts. I would be hesitant to clear has gotten “that much better” but I’m not following it to know. I think there’s a a variety of factors in there also which determines if parts are yellowing. I’ll list the following

-Not automotive clearcoat “cheaper clears are used in China. I have a yellow wing that literally started to fade and yellow a year after I bought it while I have parts I’ve done and a df items that are like when they were installed. Although df items are tinted to help aid in detecting imperfections and yellowness”

-Not enough clear coat. Uv inhibitors are present but the layer may not be thick enough.

-Clearcoat as an industry may have had a revolutionary breakthrough?

Also to rid the yellowing you’ll need to strip the clear completely off exposing the carbon. This is tricky because if you just scuff and reclear on top it keeps the yellow. You can either chemically strip the clear or sand it. Chemically strippping is the easiest way. Since clearcoats are composed of different components then what the resin matrix is that made the part “mine are anyways” so it withstands chemical stripper more then clear costs do. The technique to make the part comes into play since companies use a technique called in mold coating and coat their mold with he clear coat before making the part. This helps the surface finish be smooth but parts are plagued with pin holes once that layer is stripped. You’ll also never see the pin holes because it’s common practice to hide the ooor quality by spray painting the parts matte black.

Once you chemically strip the clear it will reveal a ton of pin holes of this is the case and those pin holes will neeed to be filled and laying down clear will not go inside a pin hole that’s literally the size of a grain of small sand. There’s tricks to fill them but it takes forever.

You also can sand down part by hand. But that’s a ton of labor and then you also risk sanding through the thin layer of carbon on top.

All in all it’s doable, but it’s not as easy as some auto bodies think. And it really depends on who and how the parts were made.

What parts are they? I also know of customers clearing their parts because of others yellowing. That’s mostly wings and isn’t mentioned.

 

[furinax]

Thanks for the info. The b pillars (exterior) are from GruppeM in Japan. I haven’t approved the work yet because I didn’t get a quote, but I will certainly ask about their stripping technique. I would be very cautious before taking on this work... their paint guy would have to really convince me.

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

Yeah it’s doable. But from both ends customer and business there’s a lot of little things that could happen. Mainly the shopcould quote you $100 but it not be as simple as they claim and find themselves into more labor then expected or worse is they give you a $100 job when it’s taking 4x hours at $100 an hour. Or they keep it open and charge you at the end and you’re the one that’s forming the bill.

There’s a few things to address but you won’t know until that clear starts to get stripped.

On the subject of wings I had a few people contact me also that tried to refinish some type r wings from a company that won’t be mentioned and ended up with thousands of pin holes after the shop took the clear off and recleared. He didn’t
know what to do since it’s so much labor. I told him it’s better to just buy a new wing and reclear that since it’s not yellowing yet or to just fill the pin holes with high build primer and base then clear coat...

 

[furinax]

So what kind of questions should I ask the painter?

-What specific line of PPG are they using
-How they plan on stripping the existing clearcoat
-What thickness they are going to lay down the new clearcoat
-How prevent the pinhole bubbles
-Is it a fixed price or are they going to charge me as the labor increases
-Would they be willing to tint the clearcoat (would this hide errors?)

I could always just paint the pieces BB... but I do like seeing CF. If I had the choice, I would probably go the tinted option...

 

[95navin]

I would reclear it yes,however I'd find a better clear than the PPG. It's good. But from my experience the PPG doesn't hold up long

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

Honestly I would just ask them for a fixed price because at that point it’s not your issue. So if they run into trouble it’s been discussed and a fixed price. That’s not your fault if they agree to things. I’ve been in the same boat before putting extra time in repairing someone else’s garbage work but hey it’s the nature of the beast.

If you have a good relationship maybe let them know and point them to this thread to read. Sometimes touching carbon fiber parts you’re peeling back an onion one layer at a time and it keeps getting worse.

 

[Soundeffects]

I’ve had tons of carbon pieces Re-cleared surprisingly lots of OEM high end automotive pieces. Also cheap Chinese stuff and every time I’ve ever had them done, they came out great with different painters.

 

[furinax]

Did it fix the yellowing? Assuming there was.

 

[furinax]

I spoke to the shop. I am going to hold off on the re-clearing for now. They do a chemical strip and then 3 coats of clear-coat. If there are pinholes, they will sand it down by hand then re-clear it for no extra cost. They have done carbon parts before and guarantee a lifetime warranty on all their paint jobs. To their knowledge, hand sanding it has fixed remaining issues with bubbles. Also, they said there is no "tinted" clear coat, but they can do a mix of the black and clear which gives it a smoked look. I was not so sure about this, but I let it go since I was holding off anyway.

Thanks for the info. I'll repost on here if I ever decide to do it. Depending on the contrast between my old and new carbon parts, I may end up having to do it anyway.