By jameslawson - 1/2/2025 3:19:55 AM
Recently I imported a few completely carbon car trims, these are not the typical cheaper carbon/fiber glass pieces that you see the Asia market often exporting.
One thing I spotted however is that nearly all their pieces no matter which supplier you use has a faint blue'ish hue, almost like a cloudy appearance when you view it under direct sunlight and from acute angles. I have tried sanding this all the way back to the fabric however what I typically find is the fabric layer is exactly the same due to it soaking up the resin.
Is this a reaction from post curing, or generally poor grade resin? I can't quite understand why 90% of the manufacturers I have come across have this ''issue'' yet the odd one or two don't. Frustratingly the suppliers who have this cloudy resin often produce much higher quality cosmetic items than the ones with absolutely clear resin.
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By Warren (Staff) - 12/22/2025 10:16:40 AM
I am not surprised it is polyester resin. Most of such products are deliberately built to a budget - hence the lower cost. Lower temperature resistance is also likely to be down to using cheaper resins and possibly a complete lack of elevated temperature post cure. Without a post cure, even a resin with a good temperature resistance will likely soften on first exposure to heat, causing the sinking and print through you have experienced.
Also commonly the cheap items tend to be only a single cosmetic layer of carbon, the rest being cheaper glass fibre.
Also, be careful not to sand into the carbon itself as otherwise the appearance will loose the weave pattern when recoated.
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