Edit to original post:

This thread is my little project diary for restoring a beat up VIS carbon fiber hood I acquired recently. I don't have much experience with body work, let alone carbon fiber, so I'm getting a crash course as I go here. Here is a pic of it before any work was done.

You can see the spots where I tried to buff in some rubbing compound/scratch remover. As you can see, no dice.

Here's the process I'm doing as of now:

-Wet sand: used 3M 800, 1000, 1500 grit
-Spray a few coats of clear. Using DupliColor Acrylic Enamel
-Depending on the amount of orange peel and haze, final wet sand with a 3M Trizac (3000 grit)
-Lastly, a good polish and wax.

 

Just some tips for any noobs, like myself, when it comes to wet sanding. Some of these I learned by trial and error.

-Do smooth, even, back and forth strokes (no homo) when sanding. DO NOT sand in a circular pattern! That was my first mistake, had to redo the 800 grit because it looked like crap.

-Small sections at a time! Wipe frequently, check your sand paper for clumps of old clear frequently. I learned as I went that this is a must! If you get a clump of white, spray you paper down. As I progressed with the sanding I found myself doing these things more than the actual sanding, which I think is good?

-Don't forget that dish soap in your spray bottle. I forgot it once and it was a mother f... father to sand. Just a small squirting will do.

-Lastly... give things time to dry to see how it looks. Remember you want the whole hood (or whatever) to look uniform. You may not need to spend as much time on some areas as others to accomplish this.

 

This was my first attempt at wet sanding. I thought maybe I could bring back the original shine by using a Trizac... blah results as you can see. But it's looking good wet though! lol

 

Having NO experience with CF, best I can do is suggest you find a shop that specializes in CF and make a phone call to see if they know..
Or just paint it and be smug with the fact that you have a "sleeper" hood.
The look of stock, with that lightweight advantage.


Either way, good luck!

 

Reserved here as well...

 

I'm sure the wizard would know a thing a two. Might be worth a PM.

 

Thanks, I'll do that.

EDIT: I did, thank you Wizard! I appreciate your advice and expertise.

 

My old cheap sanding block didn't quite do the job on the rounded areas. Solution? Used cotton waxing disk. It's ghetto, but did a great job in the dips and rounded areas.

 

you have been goin HAM on your car props man

 

Thanks.

As for this project, not for the light hearted. Consider yourself warned if you wish to attempt. Been wet sanding with 800 grit for 4 hours now, only 3/4 the way done. Getting the brownish/yellow hue out is... well, not that easy. I'm at the point now where I'm only going to sand down until I get the 3D look back in the carbon fiber. Going to finish out with the 800 tonight. Tomorrow after work I'm going to hit it with the 1000 grit. Later in the week I'll clear it with Duplicolor acrylic enamel. Couldn't find the lacquer, tried auto zone and advanced auto.

 

Holy wetsanding Batman. Did 1000 grit today and finished off with 1500. It's all about the prep work right? Now I have to wait for the humidity to break before I can clear. It's a solid 75% right now. I have a 4 hour window tomorrow in which the humidity is in the 50% range, now to get out of work...

 

:

 

You Ghustler a-holes circle jerked on my car! I'm telling my mom.


Waiting for a video to upload from earlier today. Been at my son's football practice, just got the kids to bed.

 

 

I even commented on your dirty deed in the video. Here you go:

 

Great work.
Keep on jerking on that hood if it looks like that wet.

 

Fixed

 

....

 

Too much ****. I blame that addiction on 13yrs. of marriage and 5 kids roaming around.

To get back on topic, leaving work early to hit my low humidity window. I'll get some pics between coats. Have 4 cans, should be enough for a few good coats.

I tested an area on my lawn mower. Just a dab of wet sanding with 800. On the flat part it leveled really good! Vertical area, orange peel city. Hoping I can skip the final wet sand if I get the hood on a flat raised surface. Should be fun in my shed...

 

 

 

Looks new. Wow.

 

Thanks. This was the first time I attempted an auto body project on this scale. Thank god for the Internet and YouTube.

In other news, guess it's time for the mods to move this thread to the auto body section. Sorry, this all started as a question about restoring with polishes, waxes, and what not.

 

Back on the car tonight. Crappy night shot, I'll snap a better one in the daylight tomorrow:

 

One more pic, hood pins on.

 

hhmmmm... hoping I can knock this out in a weekend but I might be a little to optimistic. Mine might be worse than yours was tho.... I guess we'll see when I wash it tomorrow. You'll get to tell me how bad it really is on thursday.

 

Well here she is after a quick wash





Definitely got my work cut out for me

 

No UV fade from what I can see. Yours may be in better shape than mine was actually. Remember to take your time with the wet sanding. Read up on some of the crap I posted above if you are a noob at this like I was. I'll see you this coming Thursday, I actually crashed a Cloud 1 mini meet tonight, lol.