water transfer...

so looking at all these carbon fiber parts and what company's are charging to have parts dipped I'm looking into doing this myself... I'm gonna try to do my trucks rims in black carbon fiber.....

basically anything you want can have an image transfered onto it by dipping it into the film in water. company's charge an arm and a leg for this. like 200 per wheel or part.

here is a vid.



basically you prep the part for paint or base coat it. then you put the film in water (any thing big enough to hold the film and enough warm water to dip your par in will do you don't need the fancy tank) let it sit a about 30 seconds. then you spray the activator on it and dip the part in. shake it, and pull it out. then you rinse off the gummy crap from the transfer paper and clear coat it.

you can get the materials cheap on ebay...

activator 40bux - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160385719980&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

36in square of black carbon fiber film 10 bux each - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160383347381&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

then automotive clear coat at the parts store or have the parts professionally clear coated...

I'm thinking id order about 6 yards of film. 1 yard for each 20in wheel on my truck and 2 extra yards for interior pieces and random shit.

should be able to a bunch of parts for like 100 bux instead of 1 wheel for 200 bux....

does anyone want to try this with me? Joe?

think of the possibilities.... carbon grills, hood scoop bezels, coolant tanks, shifter bezels, guage rings, ect....

So this is a carbon fiber look? you are not using real carbon fiber right.

crazy933 wrote:

So this is a carbon fiber look? you are not using real carbon fiber right.

the way the water waps it around the piece it looks like its real if you clear coat it right. its the way they make the carbon interor pieces for the superbees. my dash bezel is from a superbee and is done in this finish.

Good luck bro! I'm sure there is little tricks and other shit they dont tell you about. Maybe you can practice on some small things first.

My buddy did something like that to his goalie helmet back in the day. It looked like it was made out of marble. It was pretty damn cool.

And yeah give me a call when you are going to try this. Ill give you a hand for sure.

I wonder how that would hold up on a rim like that.

HiPwr wrote:

I wonder how that would hold up on a rim like that.

I think if it had a good clear coat over it, it would hold up pretty good.

Anyone know who makes that rim?

HiPwr wrote:

Anyone know who makes that rim?

Im sure Jon would know.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

HiPwr wrote:

Anyone know who makes that rim?

Im sure Jon would know.

lol. i have no idea if it has no center cap. there are billions of wheels out there. every year hundreds get discontinued. i know most. that one i don't but it looks like a factory style, maybe some kind of Nissan.

in this process it looks like it would come out fine. if you watch the other videos on youtube its all the same process and real simple. the important step is the final clear coat. it does look like flat dark base coat with silver/clear carbon film is the way most of them are doing it, and not the full black/silver carbon print.

thats pretty cool jt. id like to get a few things done!