i recently bought a carbon fiber hood. and its really really faded. i need some help bringing it back to life.

 

there was a thread somewhere on this.

 

Yeah, for details do a search.

To get you started, you can wetsand (search to clarify proper grits) and polish. If it isn't too bad, you can just compound/ polish. Just don't go through to the weave.

 

Correction, there's about a million threads for this. I've seen/posted in most of them. There's a debate in this sub-forum about what's the correct way to re-furbish a cf hood.


I wouldn't waste time compounding. The purpose of using a rubbing compound is to 'take out' sand scratches that are 1500 and finer, that number changes depending on the compound that you use. If the OP is saying that it's "really really faded" which he did on the first post, sounds to me like it needs to be sanded and re-cleared.

To sand and re-clear your hood, (this has been covered in other threads, and I guarantee that some one will pop in here and debate the correct way to do it.) Use a dual action sander to dry sand with 600, if you don't have one, use a wet sanding block, and wet sand with 600 untill you've gone over the entire hood and sanded away the faded/yellow surface. when dry, the entire hood will look like a white haze. Pretty much opaque. At this point, take your hood to a shop and have them clear it with a clear coat that has a good UV inhibitor qualities. This will protect your investment down the road. Badda bing, you've got a new hood (almost.)

Some people will come in here and say that 600 is too low of a grit. This is not true. If you paint on top of a surface that was sanded with something higher then 600, you begin to run the risk of possible de-lamination in the future. You need a rougher surface for the paint to really "bite" into when it goes on. When you have larger scratch marks (not too large or course) the surface area of the paint is larger then if you used finer sandpaper, which has smaller scratch marks.

Have fun.

 

yup, wetsand with 1500grit and then reclear the hood.

 

x2 just reclear, did it to my finds hood that was messed up bad and it came out looking like it was brand new

 

Your best bet is to reclear it. I have tried all of the other methods and it eventually fades back. Its been about a year and it still looks brand new. I had my hood for about 4 years before I recleared it. VIS FTL!! Also make sure you use a good quality clear, I only use PPG.

 

1500 is too fine.... if you sand with 1500, you could run into de-lamination issues down the road.

 

600 baby. 1500 is for wetsanding and buffing. 1500 will cause probs down the road guaranteed.

 

^Exactly.

I'm going to bump this because it's important to do it right the first time.

Sandpaper grits like 1000 1500 and 2000 are for sanding the clearcoat to get out the peel and buff it out. To make MORE paint stick correctly. you need a rougher surface. use 600.

 

just take to a body shop unless your broke a shop fixed my friends hood for 100 bucks