Alright my carbon fiber hood is starting to look like complete ****. Car has been hand waxed, detailed many times- it looks like new even after all the miles. Zaino FTMFW.

My hood is about 4 years old, and it looks like garbage. There are spots in the clear coat that appear to be coming through from the bottom- under the clear coat. They look like nasty water stains, and the hood started to look more and more greenish lately. Its a VIS OEM hood.....

Can I sand off the clear coat and have it re-cleared, is there any way to fix it ? I really don't wanna spend another 500 on a new hood. Its there for light weight but the look of it pisses me off ever time I have my car clean.

Any advice ?

 

Hey Mike. Issues with CF are common. (getting cloudy/discolored, bubbling) I'm figuring Hector has used polish etc. on it and it hasn't improved. Other than that, having it stripped and re-coated is about the only thing that will work. Or painting it, but I'm figuring you'd rather keep the CF look.

I wound up painting my CF eyelids because they became a cloudy grey color.

 

Sounds like UV damage... Nothing you can really do about that.

If it is only for weight savings... I would have it painted for around $200-250 and call it a day.

 

how can one re-clearcoat CF?? is there some kind of liquid i can put on??

 

Not sure if you can re-clear coat it on your own.

Basically that clear you see isn't paint, it's an epoxy resin. I believe anyway...it may depend on the company and how they manufacture the product. Like someone else has said it's mostly from UV damage.

If you would rather go the route of doing it yourself...

Then I would try "wet" sanding it down with 600 grit. Careful not to go all the way through to the carbon fiber. After apply the mixture of epoxy resin+hardener with a brush. Let dry and sand from 600 > 800 > 1000 > 1200 > 1500 > 2000 grit. Use rubbing compound and polishing compound.

Go to a West Marine store or order online at http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...atalogId=10001

You'll need...

Brushes
Latex or Vinyl Gloves
West System Pump Kit (these help measure the needed hardener/resin)
West System Epoxy Resin 501
West System Epoxy Hardener 207 (slow drying hardener)
Assorted 3M wet/dry sandpaper
3M Rubbing Compound
3M Hand Glaze/Polish

It may cost less than painting it over. Just take a weekend to do it.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks Jess !

I am going to let the guys get a crack at the hood soon. I might be able to put a stock hood on the car, I know someone who has a black one.

I don't have the room or patience to deal with painting, I wrench on cars for a living- not paint em.

 

Even if you re-clear it... It will not fix the problem. The UV damage has changed the color of the CF from black to a crappy greenish color.

Your options are:

1. Buy a new CF hood and keep on doing this.
2. Have your current CF hood painted black and never look back.
3. Put a stock hood back on.

Don't you know any bodywork people? Do what my brother does and barter the paint work; he hooks them up with some mechanical work and they take care of whatever he needs done.

 

I noticed the hood looks more and more greenish color nowa days...

I think in like 3-4 weeks I will spring for a CF hood, maybe keep this one for "race days". Who knows I might finally turn this thing into a full blown track car.

Painting it black is not an option- hood has ALOT of waves and stuff in it, when I look at it I can see its not smooth. So the black paint will look pretty bad on it.

Maybe its because I had it buffed too many times ? I was told to buff it 2-3 times a year to preserve the shine, well the hood is like 4 years old or so... probably been buffed like 10 times- with a high speed buffer like a porter cable or Makita.

 

well....CF is great looking..but...the aftermath seems like a nightmare...
for now... i am staying away from CF.

thanks yawl

 

wow jus found this thread. anyways. lookin to get a cf hood. cant decide between VIS or ABS hood. which one does not need hood pins? also.. would it help if the new hood gets another hard clear coat put on it so that it can prevent the damage? i dono just a thought. thanks

 

ABS is a POS hood, I wouldn't put anything they make on my car. I had their hood, AND their front lip- I guess I didn't learn the 1st time. Its actually fiberglass with one coat of CF with just some clear on it....... how do I know ? mine got destroyed and I got a VIS one to replace it.

 

are hoodpins required for the VIS hood?

 

Post some pics, Mike.

 

I have to look for the ABS hood pics, my VIS one is pretty much done- its nasty looking. If this was a straight up race car- which it might become soon, I wouldn't worry bout it. But I like my car looking clean, and the hood deters from that.

Eventually I will replace it, my advice to everyone- do not put a hood on a car if you live in snow- belt area. Thats what destroys the hood. After each winter the hood got looking worse n worse.

 

I know you're not considering this, but won't painting the hood add weight? I would imagine the prepwork involved like primer and the paint itself would weigh a considerable amount.

 

I don't think it's going to weigh all that much.

 

you'd see bigger weight changes taking a crap in the morning before a race.

 

.

 

there is hope for re-clear coating cf hoods, i just had this guy down here re-do mine here is b4 n after pics its a vis hood, he only charged me 100 to do it.

 

if anyone wants to sell a 5th cf ood let me know

 

mitymax - did you have "water spot" looking stuff all over the hood ? My hood looks like complete crap. I want to get it redone, can you please ask him exacly what he did ? just sand the old stuff off and re-clear it ? I am gonna hit up my body shop soon for a exterior paint refresh, I got tons of paint chips and scratches here n there from all the driving. Almost 200K miles have taken a toll on the paint thats for sure.

 

wow mitymax, they sure did one hell of a job! I forgot about this issue with carbon fiber, hopefully my rear window spoiler will last a while before discoloring then il just paint it.

 

BlackBIRDVQ, i had just bascialy a big white cloud sittin on my hood lol , only spots i could see was just heat spots all around the edges.I dont know what he really did he just said he had to clean it like 10 times . Then just put bout 4 coats of clear on it. He got it all done in only 2 days.

glude, yea he did a damn good job i couldnt believe it , cause i was just gonna throw that hood out , cause i thought for sure it was a gonner.

 

i helped my now boss with his vis cf hood for his focus, the thing looked horrid, we sanded alot of the clear, down to a 2000grit i think, and then spray cleared it and sanded again, looks about 90%

and i dont know if its juts my hood, but its wavey and such, if i painted it to match the car it would be really noticable. the weave pattern hides the waves and recent dent(didnt know u could dent a cf hood).

 

I made sure the body shop installing my hood cleared it 3-4 coats beforehand. We will see how it stands up after the winter.

BlackbirdVQ, OTkinda, if you push down gently in the center of your hood, does it flex/dip at all? I have a VIS OEM style CF hood too. Wavy as hell.

To answer someones question, from what I hear the VIS is closer to OEM quality fitment so the hood pins aren't exactly required, but they couldn't do any harm to have. I have had the VIS for a few thousand miles, driven over 100+ mph, no problems. I am adding Sparco hood pins however for the long haul and piece of mind.

 

Only problem I see, it looks like your hood is UV damaged (the actual CF) and re-clearing it will not help that. UV light most likely has changed the color of your CF from black to a greenish tint and your black car is going to make that show up really bad.

 

You can clear coat it!!!! - have them sand the surface coat off, ACETONE the surface two or three times. Start with a very light coat and get progressively thicker. Wetsand and polish.. (ive already done it a couple of time with great success.)

 

resin breakdown.