I have no idea what the top layer is made off. Clear coat or resin. So can I use regular car polish and wax on it?

Whose the manufacturer?
If it's clear coat, polish and wax will be fine. I don't know anything about resin though.

Try and use a wax with strong UV inhibitors, the sun's uv rays damage carbon fiber.

I got it from a group deal from Maxmojo (Paradox system). I believe the top coat is just resin. I don't think it's clear coat.

Most of the resin's used in carbon application are basically like a clear coat. I waxed and polished mine all the time. I even used polishing compound on it a few times to get stubborn swirls out.

You should have no problem polishing it up and throwing a couple coats of wax on it. I would recommend Meguiars #26 Gold Wax, but you are into that fancy Mother's nonsense

Check the detailing board for more wax/sealant suggestions....


Mothers:

How much weight would a clear coat add to the hood? If he's going for the cosmetic appearance, than this is good advice. But if he got a CF hood for the weight reduction, he might not want to go this route.

polishes and waxes don't provide much UV protection because they're meant for clarity... the only protection from fading and discoloring is keeping it in the shade as much as possible.

I got my CF hood last week and put a layer of Klasse All-In-One and 5 coats of Zaino already. The gloss and depth is excellent.... i'm just hoping this thing doesn't fade or discolor on me!

I think we need to start a CF forum with Andy as the moderator, cause he knows his ****. All CF questions should be directed through him.

I guess it's safe to use some mild polish and good old wax on my hood.

Kinda OT but

I notice that when i washed off the bird shiit it leaves some crap behind that i cannot get off the hood. Is there anything that can be used after bird shiit has set in?

I'm sure it's safe to use a wax on the CF hood, but I would suggest a product called "Plexus" It's a really high quality plastic polish that comes in an arysol can & it won't build up over time the way a normal wax would. You can pick it up at your local motorcycle shop.

I have the same issue.
In one spot there was some bird sh*t, when I washed it op it left a hazy mark where it was.
I took some Meguiars scratch x and it helped it out a bit.
Now I just make sure the hood has plent of wax on it now so that when a bird happens to drop off more presents I can wipe it off quickly before it makes any more permanent marks.

I wax mine once a week. You cant go wrong that way.

and people had the nerve to ask me why i painted my hood.... :P ...

you can fix that by polishing the hood.

plexus works well on CF hoods? Interesting, never heard anyone use plastic polish on hoods. I'm assuming your hood at least didn't come with clearcoat on it.

I think the CF hood is safe to do some light waxing on. And to the moron who disses mothers, he is sponsered by them.....

I think I will too next time sleeper

Nadir_S
"plexus works well on CF hoods? Interesting, never heard anyone use plastic polish on hoods. I'm assuming your hood at least didn't come with clearcoat on it."

I don't want to go the are you a Moron route, so I'll simply tell you incase you are unaware that pretty much all clear coats are some form of a plastic.

It must be nice to live in California where you can wax it once a week.

they make CF wax

A.) I didn't know that. I know the ORG is your entire life, and that everything said on here has a profound effect on your and your self worth, but I have other things going on in my life.

B.) That erases the fact that they don't make particularly good detailing products (other than B2B)? I don't think so. If he's happy with them then great, but they do not make very good waxes and/or polishes in my opinion and in the opinion of most of the detailers that I know, that are on here, and that are on Autopia.

Couple things: The bird crap problems are something that happens to paint too. It comes from leaving the crap on there too long...the acids in it with etch the paint/resin. Wax + removing it quickly will definitely help prevent, polish is the only way to remove the etching (be careful on CF!)

Plexus is an amazing product that works well for a lot of things (use it to clean tinted windows some time ). However, I'm not sure how well it will stand up to the elements. It definitely leaves protection behind, and I have used it on exterior parts like headlights and taillights, but it seems like you might want something a bit more robust for hood/rain/bird crap duty.

I can't possibly imagine that wax would have any negative side effects on a CF hood at all. Even if it is not clearcoated, people wax their boats all the time. While gel coat is a different animal, I have never seen any kind of warning about not waxing over fiberglass repairs, which will also leave a surface of resin.

The only thing to be careful about is putting swirls in it. If you need to be careful about polishing I would be ***very*** careful about how I was applying wax (as well as how I washed and dried the car) to avoid swirls. A Microfiber applicator is probably a must...

sign me up for some of that shiit!!!

Really, if this is true, where can you get this?

i wanna try CF wax too

Does this CF wax exist or not?

Yes you can polish and wax your CF hood, it doesn't matter if it has a clear coat or not, if it was designed for an automotive clear coat then you should be fine since Carbon Fiber resins are stronger.

And to address some comments on this thread:

"Originally Posted by thebigsadler: Most of the resin's used in carbon application are basically like a clear coat. I waxed and polished mine all the time. I even used polishing compound on it a few times to get stubborn swirls out. "

He is not saying that the resins are the same, he is implying that the are similar in the way they perform, you can wax and polish them, he is not saying that you can make CF parts with an automotive clear coat.

AND:

"Originally Posted by slammed95: If the hood has a clear coat, it can be polished and waxed the same as the rest of the body panels. However, if there is no clear coat, care should be taken as the fibers are very close to the surface"

and

"You may want to have a body shop spray a clear coat if there isn't one already. This will provide added UV resistance, and a long term gloss. Much easier to take care of too"


This information is wrong, the first reason is because the top surface of any carbon fiber body panel has to be either an epoxy or a clear gel coat depending on the molding process, and these two materials get rock hard and will provide enough protection for any amount of normal polishing or waxing, the only way to get to the fibers is to use an excessive amount of rubbing compound or to use sand paper.

The second affirmation is also incorrect, you do not want to add anything else to the finish of your hood, because it will become prone to chipping and there will hardly be any added UV protection if any at all.

Just wanted to clear things up because Jason started the Carbon Fiber trunk lid with his own initiative and money, I manufactured them so I believe I have a fair amount of knowledge of the subject.

Hope this helps!

for $7 a tiny bottle of plexus, I dunno how moronic it would be to use it on the hood... sounds like a waste to me. I've had great results with non-abrasive polish and wax (base coat of Klasse AIO and layered on with Zaino Z2).

What's up Jose? How are things going on the 5th gen trunk lid?

Gimme a call on the cell sometime... it's been awhile man!

jason

The 5th gen trunk lid is comming along just fine =)

How's the new G35 compare to your old max?

I'll drop you a line tonight.

G35 is great.. I can't wait for all my stuff to get here, I am so bad at waiting for things! The max was much quicker though, but it doesn't slide around all nice like the G35.

Sorry I missed your car, I will shoot you a ring tonight.