Scratch repair on matte finish carbon

[John H.]

I just put a small scratch in my matte finish carbon frame (Specialized S-works).
Any way to buff it out (my myself)?

[ultraman6970]

With a picture would be better.

But since it is matte you can't buff it out. No idea how deep is too... (picture please)

Depending on the manufacturer, they put a clear with matte agent over the top, some manufacturers just leave the carbon nude with no protection, so no idea what do you have right there you know.

This is the deal, if they put clear the scratch has to be sanded a tiny bit and then buffed out, the problem here is that any buffing will shine the paint big time, then you have to sand it back to matte.

Personally I dont have a bike with the finish you have right there ok? I'm telling you how can be fixed but no idea how well will work.

My advice? just leave it.

[eippo1]

I had the Tarmac pro with the finish you mention and there really is nothing you can do to fix that up that won't change the finish on the bike. Try to smooth it out a bit with your fingernail, but anything else will just make it worse

[eddief]

how bad is the scratch? maybe a thin rectangle of masking tape all around it...and then fill in the center of the rectangle with something as simple as a Sharpie. On the other hand, if it is a deep scratch not so sure about the suggestion.

I just googled and found the perfect solution:

matte or gloss

http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/ProductSearchResults/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=59279d6c-0bd0-467e-9c92-9c6654bb60b0

[Ken Robb]

Gee, I thought the reason for having a matte finish was so we didn't have to worry about scratches in the finish.

[enr1co]

I picked up a small bottle of Tamiya brand model paint "Interior Black" color from a hobby/craft shop.

Its a matte, really dark grey color and use it to touch up any small scratches, wear around the alum dropouts, on my matte black/dark grey Santa Cruz Highball and Colnago C 59.

Seems to blend in very well to hide the "white" of small scratches/nicks.