BF'ers:

I've used Finish Line Speed Degreaser ("contains acetone and petroleum distillates") and straight acetone to clean my 2006 Fuji Roubaix RC drive train. I'm a little concerned that I may have gotten some of these degreasers on the carbon fiber seat stays.

Can anyone advise me whether acetone will attack the finish (e.g., a clear coat) or the internal material of carbon fiber components?

Thanks, Rick

Acetone is a pretty powerful organic solvent that will dissolve many types of plastics/resins/paints. Pure acetone could not only dissolve the clear coat and paint but also, possibly, the carbon fiber/epoxy frame itself. If it is fairly dilute there maybe no damage. Nonetheless, keep that sh*t away from the frame!

I have no experience with carbon frames or components. zI have built several canoes using epoxy resins and glass, carbon, and kevlar laminates.

Acetone will eat right thru epoxy resin and cause delamination in the composite. I would not recommend using it around your bike.

On their website, FL claims that their products are all carbon friendly. I used the EcoTech-2 to clean the glue from the braking surface of several tubular carbon wheels all season and had no problems. I even talked to the guys from FL and asked them directly about this and they assured me that their products would not harm carbon.

As for acetone itself, I have no experience here and personally, I would follow the advice of previous posts and avoid it altogether.

Acetone will wreck the carbon if you soak it for several days. Maybe.
It may however, dull the surface of the clearcoat that's usually applied to carbon.
But a little rubbing with some Meguires will fix that.
And the percentage of acetone in the FL degreasers is probaly not enought to worry about.

How about Jasco paint remover?
Just ask any of the "oldtimers" at Kestrel. They may remember when I did that to my MXZ frame!
They did fix it for me though.
And then that paintjob is how I met the StickFace sculptor. Which led to...

Sorry, derailed AGAIN!

Don't use paint remover on carbon and keep the acetone to a bare minimum.

Depends upon the type of resin used in the CF. The 2-part epoxy resins will not dissolve since it's cured into a stable compound. Heat will minimally soften it, but it won't melt and will end up burning before deforming. If you've got cheapo polyester resin, then the pure acetone might hurt it if you soak it long enough.

For painted finishes, enamels and lacquers may be softened by acetone, but not as easily as with lacquer thinner. Acetone shouldn't hurt polyurethane or synthetic 2-part catalyzed paints.

But for general cleaning, a little acetone is a great degreaser. OxyClean also works wonders as well without needing the solvent action.

Very useful info regarding the resins Danno. Thanks.

ProGold Bike Wash is safe for CF and a good all around cleaner.

Read the last article:
https://www.velonews.com/tech/report/...es/9053.0.html

I e-mailed Finish Line on their Eco-2 Degreaser and they replied that it was safe for all CF parts.

"No issues at all with Carbon Fiber – use it with confidence. EcoTech2 Multi-Degreaser is 100% safe for use on carbon fiber frames and parts.

David / Finish Line"

Citrus cleaner works really well on the drive train.

Just FYI: Citrus cleaners are acidic. Click on the link in my other post...:

Old topic, reviving. I have old carbon repair kits I'm playing with, for fun. Not on a bike, not something that will be ridden. Question is, has any one actually ever softened carbon with acetone or another solvent?

I'm hearing other places, no. If decent epoxy, it won't work to soften it.

I'm just playing around with stuff and have some pretty thin pieces, was wanting to soften a crease and bend it over.

please don't revive 15 year old threads..... just start you own new thread

Why do you say this?

because is it not good forum etiquette.... much better to start your own thread than open up a 15 year old zombie thread where most the people are no longer active. you in general will get better responses

I can't speak to it being good forum etiquette, but there is a functional purpose to starting your own thread. By doing so, you'll get a black box under your name that marks you as the "Thread Starter." I like that function as it allows me to skim through threads and see updates/replies from the OP about how they have or haven't addressed a problem.

I generally agree with your point, but sometimes past discussions on a topic can be useful. Maybe starting a new thread and including a link to an old thread would be acceptable.

I understand reviving an old thread with a non-bike application. In this day and age, it is hard to start a thread on a bike forum that is not bicycle related without getting flamed.

That said, acetone is pretty nasty and I’ve used it on polyester surfboards without adverse effects, but I wouldn’t soak it.

I’ve also used carbon fiber cloth with polyester resin. I believe it is the bonding vehicle, resin/epoxy, that gets impacted.

As for epoxy, I’m not sure if the variables used in bikes vs marine, but I would think getting info on West System epoxy might help.

I’m positive there are others who can offer better/correct info than I can.

John

When someone takes the time to research a topic and revives an old thread with a new, on-point post, that's a plus. It gives their post context, and some of us may not have read the prior comments in the thread but now have an interest in the topic.

My understanding is, the Moderators prefer that posters add to an existing thread as opposed to starting a new one. Maybe I'm wrong on this. Mods, care to weigh in? cb400bill ? <- the Bat Signal

I agree. I mostly use the forum when I encounter a specific issue and prefer not to have to read through multiple threads on the same topic, because the multiple threads are mostly noise rather than signal (e.g., reintroducing the issue at hand, then a bunch of replies making the low hanging fruit joke, then eventually Andrew Stewart saying something useful). OTOH when one reawakens a dead thread, there are often a number of replies from people who only read the original post and feel like they immediately have to make their thoughts known. So IDK, maybe there is an interface solution here to keep the best of both worlds?