Carbon fiber hood fixable?

[bigal07]

Just wondering if anyone could tell me if my carbon fiber hood is fixable. There are 2 large cracks in the resin in the middle, the corners are very beat up and next to the hump is cracked very badly. And the whole hood is faded. Can I sand this down and re-resin and clear at all possible?

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[3kgt2nv]

needs to be regelcoated. a boat repair shop is usually the cheapest option since they gel coat more often. another option due to how cheap hoods are is to just get a new cf hood or a franks fiberglass hood and just paint it.

 

[bigal07]

Is gelcoating something I can do myself? Not familiar with resin/gelcoat stuff. Worst thing that could happen is I ruin it and have to buy a new cf hood.

 

[gixrman]

At this point it's not going to worth your time and money. It very easy to sand it to far and get into the fiber.
That's not gel coat for a top coat.

 

[Boostdclips99]

I'm in the process of repairing a cf hood that was given to me free of charge. Has a lot of the same issues that you have and more. Previous owner had some holes drilled for both aerocatch pins and old style hood pins. Also has a nice chunk missing in the front of the hood.

Since I didn't have any money investing I'm doing fiberglass repairs and bondo for smoothing. My body repair skills stink and given it won't have carbon fiber look anymore I will probably just wrap it in the stock color or a carbon fiber vinyl. I'll agree with gixr you take a risk of getting into the fiber with sanding and if you don't sand all the way down those cracks will just keep running.

 

[Crazylilpunk]

That hood needs alot of love. With the price if getting it sanded and re-cleared, without fixing the cracks and damaged corners, it would almost cost the same as grabbing a new one. Sorry buddy

 

[islideawd]

9With carbon fiber you tend not to fix any cracks from the edges they just do not hold up over time, but any cracks from within the edges are fixable but you will not be able to duplicate the finish since its a raw finish, you will have to paint the hood since the carbon has lost its uv "protection" thats built into the resin.

you can use resin and clear to fix it but it will only stain fast and crack again.
your best option is to buy another carbon hood. but if you wanna repair it, I recommend goin to a boat shop(since they usually carry it) and getting West System (WEST SYSTEM | Epoxy Resins and Hardeners) that's what my shop has had the best results with.

 

[bigal07]

Well i just painted the car last summer so I think im going to just paint it to match since I have plenty of left over paint.

 

[duppydem]

Well i just painted the car last summer so I think im going to just paint it to match since I have plenty of left over paint.

yea thats the best option thats what i did with mine to much of a headache

 

[90gsxdakilla]

If you want to repair it you just need to use some fiberglass. You can get it at your local paint shop for probably less than 20 bucks and then just primer and paint it. Always worked for me.

 

[gixrman]

Thinking about it more even if you fix the corners it will be noticeable. You could do an overlay after that to keep the CF look and even go with simulated fiberglass that looks like CF. You are adding weight and another layer of glass and resin.