How To: Resurface an 8G Carbon Fiber Hood

[run1206]

Here is my tutorial on how to resurface your Carbon Fiber Hood. I did it on my car which is an 8G, but you can do this touch-up to just about any car with a carbon fiber hood.

Here are the supplies you need.
12mm socket wrench
Garden Hose
Sponge
Tape
350 Grit Sandpaper
2000 Grit Sandpaper
4 cans of Clear-Coat Paint (i used Dupli-Color)
Polishing Compound
Polishing Cloth or Buffer (i got both)








Onto the job....

First, tape up the sides of the front quarter panels with tape, so you don't scratch up the rest of the car accidentally.


Next, clean off the hood of any dirt and dust particles, a nice rinse off with water would be ok.
Now, using the 350 Grit Sandpaper, rub the sandpaper on the hood while constantly having the area wet with water. This is called "wet-sanding". Rub hard enough so the surface feels rough. This will remove the old clear-coat off the hood.
Rub the sand sideways to the car. (left to right)




be sure to rinse off the wet dust from the sandpaper every now and then....


Continue to wet-sand until the whole hood feels rough and the old clear-coat is removed.
Should look alot like this picture.

Try to rub the whole hood evenly.

Now rinse off the hood with soap and water. Make sure the hood is clean.

At this point, you wanna take the hood off the car. Here's where the 12mm wrenches come in. There are two bolts on each side of the hood.

(Don't forget to disconnect the window-shield wiper fluid hose from the hood.)

Now, you apply the first and second clear-coat. Using one of the clear-coat cans, spray the paint up and down inline with the car (top to bottom).
After the 1st coat, wait ten (10) minutes, then apply the 2nd coat of paint. You should go through two cans of paint after the first coat. I bought an extra can just in case.


After the second coat, with one hour for the paint to dry, use a fan so the process speeds up a lil bit.


while the hood's off the car, cover it up if the weather calls for rain


After the 2nd coat dries, put the hood back on the car and "wet-sand" the hood again, but with the 2000 Grit Sandpaper this time. This will get rid of all the smaller deposits and scratch out the imperfections that may happen when spraying the first coats.
Rub the sand inline with the car (straight up and down this time).




Wash off the remaining dust and grit from the sandpaper with more soap and water.
Next, apply the third coat of clear-coat on the hood. As before, spray inline with the hood.


Wait ten (10) minutes, then apply the fourth and final coat.
Now, wait for another hour or so.


Now, wet the car and clean off any more dust to prepare the hood for polishing and buffering.




Now, time for polishing and buffering!
With the buffer, put the liquid polishing compound onto the buffer and apply the buffer onto the car.

(The buffer i got shut off after a few seconds and we couldn't get it back on afterward, never trust Auto-zone for buffers. We did the rest the good ol' fashion way, a lil elbow grease.)

Rub the compound onto the entire hood, then rub off (with a lil more force) with the polishing cloth.


Do this until you feel the surface is a lil bit smoother.


End Result:


Nice shiny hood!


Shot how it looks during the day...

Looks 1000 times better than before!

Once again, big thanks to Jared for helping me with this project, was greatly needed and saved me well over $300!

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damages or mistakes you do to your own car. You do these touch-ups and modifications at your own risk. Depending on the condition of the hood prior to this touch-up, results may vary.

[GOOSEY2099]

wow... very nice work.

[mapid145]

u may want to put a disclaimer on it but thats up to u

looks good man.. cant wait to see it

[run1206]

good call, will edit that momentarily. thanks.

[beam514]

hmmm I'm having a lot of trouble getting an even coat across the entire hood (scion xB hood) and I'm also getting a ton of "orange peel". Maybe I just suck.. lol

[peanotation]

wow.....i'm getting close to going in and shelling out the $150 to get my CF hood re-clearcoated....but this changed my mind...gonna have to mull this over for a bit...great writeup, thanks for this

[run1206]

No problem, exactly one year later and the hood STILL looks just like it did after doing this touch-up :D

[beam514]

wow.....i'm getting close to going in and shelling out the $150 to get my CF hood re-clearcoated....but this changed my mind...gonna have to mull this over for a bit...great writeup, thanks for this

hope you're good with paint, cause I'm having a lot of trouble with this lol. I can make smaller things shiny, but when it comes to LARGE flat surfaces, I can't get rid of the orange-peel. This is very frustrating