Hi,
I was wondering what the best method would be for preparing the surface of a painted metal car panel for skinning with carbon fibre cloth?
I have done one panel using the following method but would appreciate some feedback or advise on if you think there is a better way of doing this.
1. I keyed the painted surface with 400 grit wet and dry.
2. Applied a coat of epoxy primer to panel. I used black epoxy primer because the panel was white and I did not want any of the white to show through the carbon fibre. I used epoxy primer because I was using epoxy resin for the skinning and I believed this would give me the best bond between the panel and the resin, would you agree with my thinking on this one? or could I have used ordinary primer(automotive) and achieved the same level of bonding?
3.I then laid the carbon fibre cloth over the panel and laid on 2 coats or epoxy resin, sanded, clearcoated, sanded, clearcoated, sanded clearcoated... you get the picture :-) I did not apply a layer of epoxy resin to the panel prior to laying down the cloth because the panel had some curves that could have easily distorted the weave, so I thought I would lay the cloth down dry to ensure the weave would be perfect and then wet the cloth out on the panel(hoping it would penetrate thoroughly and bond well to the surface, it seems to have done the trick)
So, your thoughts on the above please
Also, I have been wondering is it really necessary to use epoxy resin? could I get away with a polyester resin? and if so what would be the best way to prepare the painted metal panel for the maximum amount of adhesion?