my carbon fiber hood looks like crap... help!
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my carbon fiber hood looks like crap... help!
I tried searching for a thread about this but I couldn't find one. Basically my carbon fiber hood looks like crap. I bought it in a group buy about 4 years ago, and last year it started fading or something. I'm no expert but I'm guessing it's UV damage of the clearcoat. When I wash it off it looks perfect when wet, but once it dries it goes back to that filmy look.
So I have asked a few people and some have said that I have to get it re-clearcoated. Others have said I could use some Finishing Edge or Cut by 3m (I'm not sure the exact name), and I could fix it myself that way.
I would love to do it myself but I also don't want to screw it up worse... any suggestions??
So I have asked a few people and some have said that I have to get it re-clearcoated. Others have said I could use some Finishing Edge or Cut by 3m (I'm not sure the exact name), and I could fix it myself that way.
I would love to do it myself but I also don't want to screw it up worse... any suggestions??
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- PATDIESEL
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I don't think you need to get that extreme. Take it to a good detail place and ask them if they can buff the hood. If you cannot find a place then a body shop worth their weight in salt will buff it or wetsand if necessary for less than a buck 50.
ZE -strait neck,headers,2.5 exhaust,pheno spacers,lower cross member,GC coils,MS struts,Brembo slotted rotors,filled MS mounts,SS brake/clutch lines, CAI,to rear bat reloc,Hella headlamps,Hella DE fogs 180WHP
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Sadly i tried buffing it and added clear coats .. the works... the sun in my city is just so hot.. cf does not last long here. Today was a sad day.. i painted it over.
-hec
MX-3 w/ curved neck millenia klde, boosted @ 5 psi. /bov and wastegate are good!/ nitto drag radial/ gutted interior/ millenia red top injectors, vortech fmu/aem wideband/ all bolts ons/ Car put together 100% by me. Mechanic? who needs a mechanic? ew.. real men work on their own cars!
MX-3 w/ curved neck millenia klde, boosted @ 5 psi. /bov and wastegate are good!/ nitto drag radial/ gutted interior/ millenia red top injectors, vortech fmu/aem wideband/ all bolts ons/ Car put together 100% by me. Mechanic? who needs a mechanic? ew.. real men work on their own cars!
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Pat,
Thats a local friend Mark. It needs clear coated, just like mine does. His and mine are doing the same thing. Its as if there was no UV protection the clear coat, or there is no clear at all, and its just epoxy. Ive tried buffing it, doesnt help.
[edit:fixed typos..]
Thats a local friend Mark. It needs clear coated, just like mine does. His and mine are doing the same thing. Its as if there was no UV protection the clear coat, or there is no clear at all, and its just epoxy. Ive tried buffing it, doesnt help.
[edit:fixed typos..]
Last edited by Custommx3 on April 19th, 2007, 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- PATDIESEL
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ouch. I was in the original group buy too and my hood is fine. I have parked in the garage for about a year now, but it was outside for about a year too. I know there were complaints about the clear coat right after the buy went down so maybe he didn't clear them properly.
ZE -strait neck,headers,2.5 exhaust,pheno spacers,lower cross member,GC coils,MS struts,Brembo slotted rotors,filled MS mounts,SS brake/clutch lines, CAI,to rear bat reloc,Hella headlamps,Hella DE fogs 180WHP
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Mines an ebay one.. exposed to the sun every single day. No garage or trees to park it under.
-hec
MX-3 w/ curved neck millenia klde, boosted @ 5 psi. /bov and wastegate are good!/ nitto drag radial/ gutted interior/ millenia red top injectors, vortech fmu/aem wideband/ all bolts ons/ Car put together 100% by me. Mechanic? who needs a mechanic? ew.. real men work on their own cars!
MX-3 w/ curved neck millenia klde, boosted @ 5 psi. /bov and wastegate are good!/ nitto drag radial/ gutted interior/ millenia red top injectors, vortech fmu/aem wideband/ all bolts ons/ Car put together 100% by me. Mechanic? who needs a mechanic? ew.. real men work on their own cars!
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maybe I'll trade you if you get me a set of glass headlights
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Re: my carbon fiber hood looks like crap... help!
So I recently bought an RS from another mx3.com member. He bought the CF OEM style hood from cjthor. So, I'm the third owner of the hood. When I bought it, it looked more light grey than black, from all the oxidation. I decided to rescue the hood. Now the hood looks great -- deep, translucent and shiney-reflective. I really should have taken before and after pictures, but I didn't realize that there would be such a dramatic difference. If you do something like this, please take some before and after picturesto share.Mooneggs wrote: Basically my carbon fiber hood looks like crap. I bought it in a group buy about 4 years ago, and last year it started fading or something. I'm no expert but I'm guessing it's UV damage of the clearcoat. When I wash it off it looks perfect when wet, but once it dries it goes back to that filmy look.
This is going to sound like a Meguiar's commercial, but I'm just listing which products I used, I'm sure I could get as good results with Turtle Wax or Mother's products. Here's what I did :
1. First, I washed it with Meguiar's Deep Crystal Car Wash.
[If your hood is very bad, you may want to try wet sanding at this point. Use lots of water and 1500 and then 2000 grit paper wrapped around a flexible foam rubber backing board/sponge (I like the 3-M one the best). Use a gentle touch if you do this, you don't want to marr or dig too deep. I didn't need to do this.]
2. Not wanting to risk a buffer with a deep cleaner, I hand buffed for a long time using Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Heavy-cut Cleaner #4 (agressiveness rating 8 ). This did a good job of removing the oxidation. The the result was less than shiny, but it did a good job of cleaning.
3. I used a buffer with a coarse foam pad to buff with Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Fine-cut Cleaner #2 (agressiveness rating 5). I also used an electric toothbrush to clean around the washer nozzle (the car has just one) and hood pins. This is a bad idea. Don't do it -- it was a step backward.
4. I went back to hand buffing with heavy-cut in the areas I used the electric toothbrush (around the washer and pins). Then I hand buffed fine-cut cleaner in the same areas. Now the hood was deep, translucent and shiny, but I could see swirl marks.
6. Used a terry cloth bonnet on the buffer to apply Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Swirl Remover 2.0 #9 (aggressiveness 3). Then I hand buffed around the pins and nozzle again. Now the Carbon fiber was very shiny, deep and translucent. I was impressed. I thought I was done.
7. Just for curiosity sake, I used a soft cloth and hand buffed with Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Show Car Glaze #7. You won't believe this stuff. The darks of the carbon fiber got darker, and the lights got brighter, and the shine got shinier. It's almost as if I wiped on a coat or polarizer lense, for those of you who know how polarizers clear up a sunset for a photo. I was truely impressed and proud of my work. I didn't need to follow up with anything, else and didn't for a week or so.
8. About a week later I decided I would add a coat of Meguiar's QuikWax and QuikDetailer. I didn't notice much of a change in look, but it's been 3 more weeks now and I haven't noticed fading on the hood. I did notice some fading on the hatch visor, which I had previously done in the same manner, but had not waxed it.
Now, some of you will notice that I'm mixing levels of products -- Deep Crystal and Qwik are consumer level and Mirror Glaze is professional. I really don't know the performance differences of product lines, and I certainly didn't understand the differences when I was in the store trying to make sense of all the different products. I just decided to go with Meguiars. I'll probably use up my consumer level products then just buy professional products in the future because of how impressed I am with the Mirror Glaze line.
Also, I should talk about method. For hand buffing, I used clean cotton cloths, applying about as much pressure as I use to wash a window with glass cleaner and a paper towel. I kept rubbing the same area about 1/6th of the hood at a time until a haze developed. Then I would buff off the haze with a clean cotton cloth. I used 2 different cloths per level of cleaner/polish, one for applying/buffing and one for removing the haze. The Show Car Glaze does not leave a haze. In between each cleaning-of-the-haze and the next application of cleaner or polish, I buffed bare with a clean, soft, cotton cloth.
For machine buffing, I used a cheap Coleman 9" random orbit car buffer. I have since gone to a variable speed grinder-style buffer. I apply just enough pressure on the buffer to control it's movement and allow just the weight of the buffer to give pressure -- no pushing down. Again, working small areas at a time until a haze developes, then hand buffing the haze off.
Lastly, I try to detail carbon fiber or paint in the morning while it is still cool and slightly humid so that I can get a longer working time before the haze developes.
The end of the story is that I am now glad to show off my carbon fiber hood, and it looks great. It had been badly oxidized when i reveiced it. I suggest that you try something similar on your hood before you go spending more money on reappying a clear coat. Good luck!
Eric
Oregon Outdoors
92 mx-3 GS lowered, CF hood
2013 Mazdaspeed3
92 mx-3 GS lowered, CF hood
2013 Mazdaspeed3