Hi,

I've recently come on to a problem  of which I'd like to know the exact cause, so what better place to ask than here..

I've skinned a few  plastic parts in CF  using the black basecoat & EL epoxy (fast hardener) and everything went as usual .. perfect

I applied an automotive UV resistant clearcoat (by spraygun) and the parts all looked stunning.

Now after a couple of days on the car, we're starting to see and feel  "ribbels" form  that run along exactly with the carbon fibre weave.
I've spoken to a few other people here that are into skinning and all have had the same problem with some parts but cannot explain the cause. They all say  that sanding & re-clearing the part solves the problem, but I'd like to know what causes it.

Some parts were installed on cars that were in the sun, others were  in a garage and have seen no sun .. yet both suffer the same issue

Epoxy resins, although hard to touch after the initial cure, tend to have a slow tail end to the cure which could explain this.

Even on only a moderately warm day, a garage could easily get quite warm into the 30s or higher which may be enough for it to begin to slightly soften in relatively fresh parts.  A post cure will stabilise the material and resin up to the materials HDT which certainly helps with this.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant