Getting paint off of carbon fiber

[WeiserBucks]

Need to strip the paint off a CF stock. Denatured alcohol won't touch it and I've heard acetone will bone the CF. Any suggestions other than good ol sandpaper?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Milwaukee makes a little m12 orbital detail sander. I use that little tool for tons of random stuff. Start with 400ish grit and work your way up to very fine.

 

[Wrench]

I've never tried brake fluid on cf, but it sure is hell on paint.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Brake fluid is definitely out of consideration! I've seen what a drop of that stuff does when it lands where it doesn't belong.

 

[Weldor]

Are you going to re-paint? or leave CF exposed?

 

[Legend]

I doubt there is a chemical made that would select to dissolve paint and not the resin in carbon fiber.

Sand is likely your only chance.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Are you going to re-paint? or leave CF exposed?

I'm going to paint it, the current paint has some texture that I'd like to get rid of.

 

[Weldor]

Maybe just sand it smooth,primer and repaint with compatible paint?

 

[WeiserBucks]

Maybe just sand it smooth,primer and repaint with compatible paint?

That's where I'm headed at this point.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Easy off oven cleaner seem to be a medium strength paint remover.

But I got go idea what it will to to CF

 

[WeiserBucks]

Easy off oven cleaner seem to be a medium strength paint remover.

But I got go idea what it will to to CF

Try it on one of your stocks and report back here

 

[BRTreedogs]

Try it on one of your stocks and report back here

You know my experience with paint/ceracoat
I don’t need any help getting it to come off.

Garbage just disappears

 

[darrenk75b]

Acetone on a rag or brillo pad. Don't stay in 1 place too long. It will work, just take some elbow grease.

I've removed paint from a LOT of cf stocks over the years. A lot.

 

[elkguide]

After painting/refinishing composite stocks for many years, I haven't found any products that works other than sandpaper. The chemical quick fixes end up making a lot of work to repair what happens.

 

[Eluder]

I’m not aware of a chemical but google “carbon frame paint removal” Bike nerds do it quite frequently and have found the fastest methods… I’m pretty sure that wet sanding is the most straight forward and accessible.

 

[StupidLightweight]

Would Simple Green remove the paint but not impact the carbon fiber resins? Might be worth checking.

 

[Kurts86]

I spent a long time deep in the bike racing/mechanic world, took graduate engineering classes in composites and sanding then painting over was the only viable option to get rid of existing paint on carbon fiber. On metal frames you could use chemical strips like aircraft remover but not carbon fiber.

Most of the time sanding was just light enough to get the next layer of paint to adhere unless you wanted to removed decals under clear coat or save 40 grams of weight. Sanding into the outer layer of carbon can cause issues as well and you have to recognize sanding carbon fiber sheet vs body filler. In general there are no short cuts and it’s a laborious task to sand carbon fiber.

Sanding carbon fiber is all any freshman on a student design team (formula SAE, human powered vehicle, etc) does their first year as a right of passage.