Cracked Clear Coat on CF hood [Merged 4-8] clearcoat repair

[Totaleclipse04]

ok i bought my car from a used dealership with a carbon fiber hood. (The Dealership sells mostly imports and customize cars then sell them.) The only draw back is that there is a crack in the hood no in the CF but in the clear coat. Is there any way i can fix it with out Clear coating the whole hood. One of my buddies said they make clear coat fixer but i dont think it would work. Any suggestions? Oh and my hood looks like the stock hood only carbon fiber.

 

[Burnett03]

the clear coat i believe is actually a sort of gel coating which will make it ever harder to repair.

 

[Defiant]

I'd replace that hood and sell the cracked one to some sorry fool who thinks he'll be able to fix it.

 

[speedworx]

wet sand and buff will make it less noticeable/ easier to sell for monies for a new hood

 

[Eagle18g]

Yeah some one probably sat on the hood. Carbon Fiber is light but you sacrifice strength for weight. I heard if you put to much wight on it is just spiders and your screwed

 

[housegsx]

Paint it to match your car. Easiest fix.

 

[cumpersgsx]

I'll be the sorry fool if you do decide to sell it. Like housegsx said, I think if I were you I would paint it as well.

 

[ILLiCliPSE]

you could try to sand it out then buff it...be careful not to go through all the way to the weave. I recleared my cf hood on my old GS because if was starting to fog up. The fog went away, but the scratches and cracks were still there. You could try BLASTING it with clear so it fills in the scrath/ crack, but Im no expert painter...I leave that stuff to my dad .

 

[DGajre777]

If the crack is big or if bothers you that much, paint it to match your car. I have a few imperfections on my hood, but you can't see it from 2 feet away.

 

[AndrewD5418]

Yeah some one probably sat on the hood. Carbon Fiber is light but you sacrifice strength for weight. I heard if you put to much wight on it is just spiders and your screwed

What? English please?

 

[Dasamary]

What? English please?

Carbon Fiber hoods are lightweight. They are basically fiberglass with a layer of carbon fiber material on top then a gel-coat. If you sit on the hood the gel coat will crack (like a windshield) and the cracks make a spider-web appearnce on your hood.

Carbon Fiber hoods remove all the crash protection that the stock hood would offer.

Does that make sense?

 

[DGajre777]

Carbon Fiber hoods are lightweight. They are basically fiberglass with a layer of carbon fiber material on top then a gel-coat. If you sit on the hood the gel coat will crack (like a windshield) and the cracks make a spider-web appearnce on your hood.

Carbon Fiber hoods remove all the crash protection that the stock hood would offer.

Does that make sense?

How does the stock hood offer crash protection? The crumple zone is in the front, not in the hood.

 

[silvercoupe97]

The stock hood bends in half or like an accordian in a full collision, just like the engine bay. Have you ever watched those crash tests and how the hood behaves? Have you ever noticed the beams on the underside of the hood and how they aren't solid all the way through but instead they have valleys in them? It's meant to make the hood bend in half or like an accordian, depending on the design of the beams.
If sitting on a carbon fiber or fiberglass hood can easily crack it, imagine what a collision would do to it and possibly you. The CF or FG hood would just crack in pieces and possibly come back to hit the driver/passenger(s) and if it does break apart, you won't have protection from the debris coming at you from the object you just hit.

Watch this 40mph crash test vid or this one and tell me that a CF or an FG will do that.

To the OP, you have two choices from my standpoint. You can wetsand it enough to where it's less visible, if it's not a gouge, and deal with it or you can have it filled in and painted. If you're on a budget, I would think option one will have to suit you.

 

[rich3389]

I can get a CF hood for free, the clear coat is coming off though.
Can I get this recleared and will it look ok?

 

[IIv SHaDoW vII]

From what I read around the site, YES. As long as, when they reclear it, they sand it very lightly not to rip into the weaves of the carbon fiber, reclearing it is pretty straightforward for a shop who knows specializes in paint/body work. I looked into this about 3 months ago when I almost bought a used Evo style CF hood.. Ended up not getting it but to get it recleared at my local shop they estimated approx. 200 bucks, including labor and supplies, and they offered a 1 year warranty.. Hope this helps

 

[ob420aboosted]

yea i had it done it came out pretty good think it was like $150

 

[super97gst]

i thought most carbon hoods were gel coated, not cleared. it that were so wouldnt it be better to have a high end boat manufacturer to re gel coat it??

 

[kittay]

I have noticed that VIS has had issues with the clear..
I was going to get mine re-cleared, but unfortunately a certain drunk guy backed into the car and left a nice hole from his hitch

 

[eclipse0508]

Hey all

I have had an OEM style carbon fiber hood on my car for a couple years now, and somehow over the winter it developed a scratch about 3 in long....and the clearcoat has started to peel off right where this scratch started. currently i have a spot about 3in long and 2 in wide that the clearcoat has come off.....my question is has anyone had this problem and how did you fix it? can you just spray clearcoat on it like normal parts or is it a different process because of the carbon fiber.

any help would be apprecited.

Thanks...

Josh

 

[Boostjunki84]

How deep is said scratch? Pretty sure you can just re-clear it though.

 

[eclipse0508]

not very deep, just deep enough to cut through the clear, it doesnt appear to have damaged the actual resin over the CF.....

any suggestions? do i have to have the entire hood done, or could i buy a can of clear and try that?

 

[DGajre777]

If the scratch has not penetrated or cut the gel coat on the hood, you can have it clear coated. You can try spraying it with a can of clear coat, it it doesn't go away after spraying it, you can always take it to a shop to have the entire hood clear coated.

 

[Boostjunki84]

If the scratch has not penetrated or cut the gel coat on the hood, you can have it clear coated. You can try spraying it with a can of clear coat, it it doesn't go away after spraying it, you can always take it to a shop to have the entire hood clear coated.

I agree, if it's not that bad you could try to re-clear it yourself.

 

[vanilla gorilla]

The stock hood bends in half or like an accordian in a full collision, just like the engine bay. Have you ever watched those crash tests and how the hood behaves? Have you ever noticed the beams on the underside of the hood and how they aren't solid all the way through but instead they have valleys in them? It's meant to make the hood bend in half or like an accordian, depending on the design of the beams.
If sitting on a carbon fiber or fiberglass hood can easily crack it, imagine what a collision would do to it and possibly you. The CF or FG hood would just crack in pieces and possibly come back to hit the driver/passenger(s) and if it does break apart, you won't have protection from the debris coming at you from the object you just hit.

Watch this 40mph crash test vid or this one and tell me that a CF or an FG will do that.

To the OP, you have two choices from my standpoint. You can wetsand it enough to where it's less visible, if it's not a gouge, and deal with it or you can have it filled in and painted. If you're on a budget, I would think option one will have to suit you.

The "beams" under a stock hood isnt there to make it bend in half.....they're there to give the hood support, if not it would just be a thin piece of sheetmetal that would flap around and have no place to mount the hinges or latch.

And obviously you've never seen a car with a CF hood crash....the hood doesn't just crack into pieces, it bends. CF hoods are alot stronger than you think.