Kevlar decal problem

[GT-Alex]

I started CF-ing my GT-one and the SMS kevlar looks crap, some areas are darker and some others lighter:
[IMG][/IMG]

Can anyone tell me what caused that ? I used microset and microsol (2 times) but it still don t look fine. Can i fix it or should i redo it ?

Thanks in advance.

[iceblend]

Maybe some air bubbles are trapped underneath? Cant be too sure. Never seen this prob before.

[mike@af]

IMO SMS Carbon Kevlar isnt very good. Hey Chris where are you, you should be getting hints from people that arent pleased with SMS. I always see people pleased with SAS Carbon Fiber now SAS needs Carbon Kevlar.

[RallyRaider]

Did you apply it over black? I've found to work properly you need to first paint the area yellow. That not only gets rid of the blotchyness, but also makes overlaps less visible and gives a brighter finish.
SMS Kevlar is the best.

[GT-Alex]

Thx for the tip phil ! I'll do that for the rear wheels arches.
But as the underside takes almost one complete sheet of decal i'll leave it that way (it's the underside after all).
And yes SMS kevlar pattern looks great.

[Ferrari TR]

A really smooth surface is important as well. I was surprised that the kevlar was transparent too.

[GT-Alex]

I asked SMS about this problem and matthew said that microsol can darken the decals. Good to know !

[935k3]

SMS patterns are great but the decal film itself is not really that good quality and is somewhat brittle. I used som Slixx carbon fibre on my Evo 7 seat backs because the SMS i was going to use cracked up. The Slixx decal conformed and layed down perfectly using the hot cloth treatment. SMS decals are some of the worst I have ever used IMHO and I have done allot of decalling over 30 yrs. I wish he wouuld use a better film because the patterns are really good. The Kevlar is somewhat translucent and should be placed over a lighter color. The irregular color is airpockets under the decal, lighter where the decal isn't touching the surface and darker where it does.

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by 935k3

The Kevlar is somewhat translucent and should be placed over a lighter color. The irregular color is airpockets under the decal, lighter where the decal isn't touching the surface and darker where it does.

'Zactly! SMS kevlar needs to be applied over a light color (yellow most preferably), but even more important is that it must be applied on a good quality gloss surface. The blotchy appearence is due to air bubbles under part of it and not under others. You gotta have a good gloss surface to put this stuff down, especially in large pieces.

When I've put SMS kevlar on gloss black, I find that it it turns slightly greenish- but then, if you want to mix olive green paint, you mix equal parts of black and yellow!

[bvia]

That is freaky as h*ll!

From the little pic I'm going to go with what the others said and say you've got "silvering" (or air trapped under the decal surface).

Also as stated above, all the SMS stuff is semi-transparent.

I'm almost through with the '96 Warsteiner Porsche GT1 Test Mule (I'll be adding pics to the Porsche Meet thread on the "other" forum) and the thing that really helpd me through it was to use the travel hair dryer on high along with cleaning the surface with microset before applying the decal and microsol after.

As long as you're not heavy handed, you can get the SMS decals to literally adhere to almost ridiculous compound curves.

Bill