Painting a CF hood

[GoSpeedRacerGo]

I'm wondering how to paint a CF hood? Do you just prime over the clear coat and not sand it? Or do you sand off some of the clear coat so the primer will stick? Or no primer? Any help is appreciated.

 

[igs]

Sand, prime, paint. If it has a gelcoat you might have to sand all the way through, I've heard paint won't adhere to it, but don't know.

 

[GoSpeedRacerGo]

Oh, I was under the impression that sanding may be bad, because I wouldn't want to damage the actual weave.

 

[igs]

No you don't sand to the fibers. You simply sand the resin so it's smooth. If there's a gelcoat you sand that. If there's a clearcoat you sand that. What I don't know is if there is a coat if you have to sand all the way through to the resin. But either way you don't want to sand through the resin to the fibers.

 

[theboogieman]

You do not sand thru the gel coat which is somewhere between 16-21 microns thick probally. If you do you will hit the weave. There is NO other coat after the gel coat. The only other resin is what is in the carbon fabric and that is not really considered a "layer of resin" or protective coat like the gel coat.
If you are just going to give it an extra clear coat for added UV protection and from other elements then sand the surface of the hood with 1500 and then adhesion promoter then your clear. If you are painting it with color then sand,prime, and then paint.
Leo

 

[theboogieman]

to give you an idea of the process...the gel coat is sprayed into the mold for the hood...sprayed in kinda like painting a car, until they achieve the desired thickness of coats, usually by the 3rd coat (you use a big gel dump gun). This is not very thick...but thick enough. When the gel coat dries in the mold then next resinated carbon fiber is laminated down and it WON'T sink into the gel coat and cause "print thru"...
point is...once that hood is popped out of the mold those few coats of gel is all you have before the weave.
Leo

 

[GoSpeedRacerGo]

OK cause my goal is to paint the hood black (along with my car) but still be able to see the weave.

 

[igs]

Originally posted by GoSpeedRacerGo
OK cause my goal is to paint the hood black (along with my car) but still be able to see the weave.

Ohhh.... in that case you gotta sand all the way down to the weave. Sand through the gelcoat.

 

[Flash]

Ok, I'm getting a carbon fiber hood really soon. And I was wondering if anyone has a picture of this idea I have. It's to paint the hood the same color as the car, but leave the bump unpainted to reveal the carbon fiber.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[Surf Thrasher]

hMm... that'd deff. be different. it might look good

 

[RipperXX]

Might get someone to photo chop it?

 

[G_S_X]

My super ultimate idea of the century is this...
I take my CF hood, paint it black, then i get a fake CF hood sticker that they sell at kragen and put it on my hood. Then I purposely start scratching up the sticker so people walk by and are like... " Hey look at that ricer... with the fake CF hood sticker... " WHEN REALLY ITS CF !!! OWN3D!!!!

 

[Eclipsemblue]

...why paint a carbon fiber hood, just leave it the way it is they look hot that way

 

[KFT0001]

G_S_X, if you painted the hood black, all people would see underneath the scratched up CF look sticker is black paint.

 

[98eclipseRS]

...why paint a carbon fiber hood, just leave it the way it is they look hot that way

no mismatched body panels does not look hot.

Flash what color is your car?? it might look alright but I would imagine it would look out of place and getting a solid line for a cutoff point around the bump might be semi difficult.

 

[Flash]

My car is white.

 

[98eclipseRS]

My car is white.

hmmmm....I would think it would look funny but that is just me. Try this take a peice of black paper(or a few peices to make it fit nicer) and tape it to your hood where you want the carbon fiber to show, leave it like that for a while and see if you like it. An interesting idea I thought up while waiting for the reply page to load was to have an offset stripe down the car(black of course) except on the hood where the stripe would be leave it carbon fiber...just an idea. I personally would paint the whole hood but its your car so ultimately its up to you.

 

[stock1g4g63]

quick shop

 

[kooka]

that looks terrible.

i dont get it. why would you want one panel on the outside of your car to be totally different? how does that look good?

its like painting every wall in your house but one big wall in the middle of your living room to show everyone what type of drywall you used.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

that looks terrible.

i dont get it. why would you want one panel on the outside of your car to be totally different? how does that look good?

its like painting every wall in your house but one big wall in the middle of your living room to show everyone what type of drywall you used.

I like the look on some colors, a black car would look good, the talons with the black roof could look good because there is something to tie it into the rest of the car. I liked it when I saw the spoon cars in grand tourismo because it was uinque and it stood for something. Now about all it stands for is if your like me and won't take the time or money to paint your black quarter panel red to match the rest of the car, or you wish you had a spoon.

 

[99gst_racer]

I think stock1g4g63's quick shop pic looks pretty good. However, I think it would look good completely painted or completely unpainted. I dont like the original cf hump idea.

-Paul-

 

[Omega]

It would look better if the hump section faded into CF, rather than a CF stripe.

 

[stock1g4g63]

Some quickies

 

[nutshot]

that looks terrible.

i dont get it. why would you want one panel on the outside of your car to be totally different? how does that look good?

its like painting every wall in your house but one big wall in the middle of your living room to show everyone what type of drywall you used.

:laugh:

 

[9D9 MITSU RS]

Check my gallery. I think I pulled it off. I just don't like leaving it black. Looks like an unpainted kit to me. Painting some helps blend it to make it look completed IMO.