I've had the ECC Motorsports OEM carbon fiber hood on my car since January and when I put it on the car it looked mint. There were a couple flaws in the corners but nothing noticeable. Now along the outer portion (just above the headlights) going about halfway up the hood in a few areas you can't even tell a weave is there. It all looks like a pixilated mess.
At first I thougt it was heat from the enginethat may have caused it but the area directly over the engine looks fine. In June it was on the right side and now its on both. As time passes its getting worse. Would a crappy finish cause this. The guy who painted my car said the hood had been cleared, it was just a really cheap clear.
My question is how salvagable is the hood? Is it just a matter of having the hood sanded and re-cleared or is painting over the area that the weave no longer seen my only option?
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id take it to a good body shop and ask them what they can do.
see my hood is startin to look bad too...but its w/ the clear coat...its has all these spots that look like oil and it wont come off...
carbon fiber is wierd like that. I have to agree with previous posts which is to take it to a body shop and see what they could do. Other than that, the thing to do is sand down the spot, resin it and just paint the hood cause carbon fiber isnt as easy to fix a fiberglass
I figured that it would have to take it back to the body shop to be at least re-cleared. I started working with c.f. a few months ago and read alot about what heat can do to c/f under the resin but what they have mentioned doesn't seem to be what it is.
Shawn Poolio,
My hood did that in a couple areas and when I had my front bumper repainted the paint guy told me it was the cheap clear used on it.
Once this rain quits I'll take a couple pictures of the areas affected.
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my rkcrappy hood got cloudy , it took me the better part of a day to hand polish it back
and ive still got a few areas you can see dark spots , ive got to go over it 1 more time
then ive got to look into getting painted , which i wanted to do in moderation , but thanks to rkcrappy ive got to paint atleast 60-70% of the hood to hide their great quaility c/f air bubble work
OK this isn't the best picture ever but as you can see the bottom of the hood can be seen then just above it up and two right you can see nothing but a cloud. Whats werid is the hood is actually still that shiny.
Here is a picture of a good area on my hood for comparison.
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looks like oxidation, try buffing/polishing it
nope, Zack I had the same one remember? I took it to my shop and sanded it down pretty good and put enouph clear on it to do a whole car and it still looked the same (foggy spots) .
Phlatcav wrote:nope, Zack I had the same one remember? I took it to my shop and sanded it down pretty good and put enouph clear on it to do a whole car and it still looked the same (foggy spots) .
Yeah I remember that. I'm just gonna have it qouted to see what it would cost to have the part whereit is bad at painted. (What design I'll go with I have no clue.)
Winks,
Yeah that is an option but not one I want to do.
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you could always go the route of painting around it to cover the imperfections. my bf did that because lets face it, cf is not perfect and there will always be something wrong in the weave.
~*~*DONNA MARIE*~*~
2002 Yellow Cav LS sport (aka BadG1rl)
2006 Chevy Cobalt SS/SC Twin Charged
FPOC Model 2005
http://www.cardomain.com/id/1badg1rl
Donna,
The weave is not the problem. Minus a few air bubbles there really wasn't a problem. Air bubbles, I don't mind. I honestly never bought the hood for having a great looking carbon fiber hood. I wanted a hood that was light and cheap so I knew what I was getting into. But the fact that 8 months after I bought it the weave is starting to just disappear in a couple areas is what bothers me.
I am going to eventually get that area painted over though. I was sorta starting to not like having just a solid carbon fiber hood anyways.
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