removing clear coat from carbon fiber

[bigjuice_7]

i started wetsanding with 800 grit with a little soap in a spray bottle but it just didnt look right so i continued to wetsand all my oxidation off with just the sandpaper and running the hose over it. i did straight lines as best as i could up and down the hood( notice the streaks up and down). and the highest grit i used was 1000. Yes, it looks uniform when its all wet but like how the pic is it doesnt look great but i dont know if i should start spraying yet. And yes im going to spray it with my gun, im going to lay some duplicolor paint shop clear on it. there is a great how to video on youtube How to Repair a Carbon Fiber Hood - YouTube

Yes its a vis invader, and ive heard terrible things about their clearcoat peeling and oxidizing and i believe it ### i bought it used and after a month or two it started to look super dull and oxidizing bad but the shape of the hood is sick and i got some new sparco hood pins.

So what do you think dude? is it ready for clear?

 

[4g63tc]

i'd do some a bit more sanding, bring it up to 1500 grit, then TSP, tack and finally shoot.

post up some pics after

 

[bigjuice_7]

i kept it how it was and used some tsp then tacked and then painted. layed down a coat and it looked great then i get done doing the second coat it looks great but when i was stepping out of my paint booth a few drops of paint came out the top of the gun and splat on the wet paint. so i got three drips on one side of the hood, the rest looks great but god i hate myself right now. I dont know what to do now. the paint says to wait 6 hours before buffing to get a better shine so i guess i have to wait till then to sand? idk what to do ...help would be appreciated.

 

[4g63tc]

i kept it how it was and used some tsp then tacked and then painted. layed down a coat and it looked great then i get done doing the second coat it looks great but when i was stepping out of my paint booth a few drops of paint came out the top of the gun and splat on the wet paint. so i got three drips on one side of the hood, the rest looks great but god i hate myself right now. I dont know what to do now. the paint says to wait 6 hours before buffing to get a better shine so i guess i have to wait till then to sand? idk what to do ...help would be appreciated.

eww the dreaded paint drops, atleast you haven't dragged a hose over the fender after painting.

yes you can wetsand it after it cures, shouldn't take much, or if it's not bad enough it might rub off with rubbing compound.

Clear tends to cure pretty quick.

 

[bigjuice_7]

Thanks alot for the help man. i sanded the drops down till they were flat the layed two more coats. It looks so awesome man. It looks better than the day i got it! ill post a pic tomorrow after i put my hood pins on.

 

[4g63tc]

Sweet, good to hear!

 

[bigjuice_7]

There she is. if you have the choice dont do hood pins they never seem to fit perfect.

 

[4g63tc]

There she is. if you have the choice dont do hood pins they never seem to fit perfect.

looks Beautiful

 

[bigjuice_7]

Thanks! and i appreciate your help!

 

[4g63tc]

^ forgot to ask, how did you like the "paint shop" stuff?

Was it pretty forgiving? easy to use?

I always wanted to use the "Matte" clear to give the CF a "dry" look.

 

[bigjuice_7]

It was awesome i just had the regular clear so its pretty shiny. Easy to use no mixing reducer or thinner, you just shake it and stir it up and your ready to spray. 1 can did 4 coats for me. i think matte proboblly would look better on my car rather than the clear ### my rims are matte black but im not complaining. now it just makes my cowl look really faded haha

 

[H@xtGSX]

I have a tip that is much more resource/labor intensive, but I can guarantee you'll get a showroom smooth and straight clear doing it. This is only for the truly demanding person though. It's a lot of work.

If you have any visual distortion in the clear, or especially if you can feel any, get a little contrasting color water based LATEX primer, like for painting the inside of your house, and very lightly dust it over the surface. I use that type primer because it's easily scrubbed off with a little water and some work if you need to get it off before finishing this, but doesn't just wash off. Then take some 1000 grit sand paper and a hard, flat board sander and systematically wet sand the entire surface lightly, so the material removed is about the same all over. The low spots will still have the primer in them, so now you know where to focus you attention. Then, you have 2 options depending on the amount of clear coat left on the panel. Option 1 is to continue systematically wet sand the panel until the low spots just lose the primer left in them, thoroughly clean the panel, and shoot a new clear coat on. This is the best option if there's enough clear left to allow you to do it. Option 2 is a last ditch effort I have used and got excellent results from, but it was a major pain in the butt. With option 2, you take a bit of water color paint or wax pencil and lightly outline the low spots with about 3" of extra space around the spot. Scrub off the primer completely and clean the spot with wax remover or similar. Get an airbrush or a very light spraying touch up gun and shoot clear on the spot several times, paying heed to flash times, somewhat heavier than normal but not to the point of running. Don't over shoot onto the marked outline, or you'll be doing even more sanding. You're just trying to build up a layer even or a tad thicker than the surrounding coat. Once those are all filled, remove the marks, ensure its dry enough to wet sand, dust it again with the primer, and sand it all uniformly. All the primer *should* be sanded away easily with a couple light passes. The high spots should be the repaired areas and can be sanded even with the rest. You'll know when the surrounding primer comes up that its even. Once it's even, clean and shoot a final clear and it should look show car smooth. If not, repeat the process, unless you cut past the clear. If that happens, you just have to sand and shoot a clear and start again. I've never had to go that far though, but you have to be careful.

That's NOT standard body shop type repair for clear coats. It's way too much work. But it is what I've done a few times to fix "show car" paint without having to sand to the color coat.

 

[corleon816]

I was looking for this info when I found this site. This is great and very helpful I will post before and after pics as soon as I re-clear my cf hood. As far as hood failure I mainly have alignment issues. I raised front bumper support and still have a gap on drivers front. I have pused my fenders in and that helped alot. All I have left to do for my hood is install hood pins and re-clear it.

 

[4g63tc]

It was awesome i just had the regular clear so its pretty shiny. Easy to use no mixing reducer or thinner, you just shake it and stir it up and your ready to spray. 1 can did 4 coats for me. i think matte proboblly would look better on my car rather than the clear ### my rims are matte black but im not complaining. now it just makes my cowl look really faded haha

Hit it up with some Plastidip! it'll look great, and still have that semi-matte rubbery appearance.

Use the Spray can type.
Clean it good with TSP
No other Prep Required. Fixed for 7 bucks.

I was looking for this info when I found this site. This is great and very helpful I will post before and after pics as soon as I re-clear my cf hood. As far as hood failure I mainly have alignment issues. I raised front bumper support and still have a gap on drivers front. I have pused my fenders in and that helped alot. All I have left to do for my hood is install hood pins and re-clear it.

Let's See 'em.

The Gap may actually be caused by the Aftermarket front end, this can be remedied by adjusting the mount height of your hood pins, and rubber stops.

I have a tip that is much more resource/labor intensive, but I can guarantee you'll get a showroom smooth and straight clear doing it. This is only for the truly demanding person though. It's a lot of work.

If you have any visual distortion in the clear, or especially if you can feel any, get a little contrasting color water based LATEX primer, like for painting the inside of your house, and very lightly dust it over the surface. I use that type primer because it's easily scrubbed off with a little water and some work if you need to get it off before finishing this, but doesn't just wash off. Then take some 1000 grit sand paper and a hard, flat board sander and systematically wet sand the entire surface lightly, so the material removed is about the same all over. The low spots will still have the primer in them, so now you know where to focus you attention. Then, you have 2 options depending on the amount of clear coat left on the panel. Option 1 is to continue systematically wet sand the panel until the low spots just lose the primer left in them, thoroughly clean the panel, and shoot a new clear coat on. This is the best option if there's enough clear left to allow you to do it. Option 2 is a last ditch effort I have used and got excellent results from, but it was a major pain in the butt. With option 2, you take a bit of water color paint or wax pencil and lightly outline the low spots with about 3" of extra space around the spot. Scrub off the primer completely and clean the spot with wax remover or similar. Get an airbrush or a very light spraying touch up gun and shoot clear on the spot several times, paying heed to flash times, somewhat heavier than normal but not to the point of running. Don't over shoot onto the marked outline, or you'll be doing even more sanding. You're just trying to build up a layer even or a tad thicker than the surrounding coat. Once those are all filled, remove the marks, ensure its dry enough to wet sand, dust it again with the primer, and sand it all uniformly. All the primer *should* be sanded away easily with a couple light passes. The high spots should be the repaired areas and can be sanded even with the rest. You'll know when the surrounding primer comes up that its even. Once it's even, clean and shoot a final clear and it should look show car smooth. If not, repeat the process, unless you cut past the clear. If that happens, you just have to sand and shoot a clear and start again. I've never had to go that far though, but you have to be careful.

That's NOT standard body shop type repair for clear coats. It's way too much work. But it is what I've done a few times to fix "show car" paint without having to sand to the color coat.

This can fix the imperfections on the hood that were transferred from the mold, Almost all CF hoods are Wavy. In the case of mine, I completely sanded all the clear off, then feathered out the high spots using a standard guide coat of Primer.

But then again i was Machine sanding with a DA, and 3k grit trizact hook-it pads from 3M, since they have about 1/8" foam back they were able to do a super job!

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSu7zK1fslxtUm8_BnYtUev7qe17zHvTSevTSeSSSSSS--

I have never re-cleared my hood, just refined, and polished the gelcoat.

 

[bigjuice_7]

Hit it up with some Plastidip! it'll look great, and still have that semi-matte rubbery appearance.

Use the Spray can type.
Clean it good with TSP
No other Prep Required. Fixed for 7 bucks.

hmmm.. i do have some left from spraying my drip molding. Did you do that to yours?

 

[rtrocket59]

how thick were the coats of clear? it should look wet...how weird.

Generally Clear is Laid pretty thick depending on the material used.

sorry for such a long response, i didnt see your post haha . but you think i didnt spray enough?

 

[4g63tc]

hmmm.. i do have some left from spraying my drip molding. Did you do that to yours?

I sure did, about 1 light coat as a starter, then 3 more medium-heavy coats came out pretty nice.

sorry for such a long response, i didnt see your post haha . but you think i didnt spray enough?

I think so, "BugJuice's" clear was the Paintshop Duplicolor stuff, and it came out great.

Yours seemed really dry, almost like the coats were too thin.

Lay a thin coat, and let it flash, could be 5-15 mins depending on your product, and temperature. This will allow you to lay heavier coats, with a reduced chance of runs, or sags.

then lay 2-4 medium almost "wet" coats spaced about 10 mins apart.

 

[rtrocket59]

I sure did, about 1 light coat as a starter, then 3 more medium-heavy coats came out pretty nice.



I think so, "BugJuice's" clear was the Paintshop Duplicolor stuff, and it came out great.

Yours seemed really dry, almost like the coats were too thin.

Lay a thin coat, and let it flash, could be 5-15 mins depending on your product, and temperature. This will allow you to lay heavier coats, with a reduced chance of runs, or sags.

then lay 2-4 medium almost "wet" coats spaced about 10 mins apart.

well i guess thats what happens when you dont use a spray gun.... where can i get one?

 

[4g63tc]

well i guess thats what happens when you dont use a spray gun.... where can i get one?

A Spray gun? I got mine at Home Depot, pretty inexpensive and sprays well. I payed 80 bucks for it.

 

[rtrocket59]

A Spray gun? I got mine at Home Depot, pretty inexpensive and sprays well. I payed 80 bucks for it.

alright i dont have time to work on it anytime soon but when i do ill post some pics!

 

[muddfisher85]

Ok I know im bring back an old thread but I figured it was better then starting another one. I got a seibon evo style carbon fiber hood for free form someone whos car was getting repoed for a title loan. I just wanted a few opinions on how bad it is and if I can repair it to keep the carbon look or just paint it to match the car. It looks like someone already sanded it so bad you can barely tell its carbon fiber. But for free you cant argue the condition. Heres some pictures let me know what you think. Thanks Josh

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It has a few cracks in the front

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Then it has this near the vents

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[GSLENK]

the hazing is easy, relatively, the cracks are going to be harder. If you are lucky you can use fiberglas (resin only) to "fill" the cracks. then more sanding and clear.


I had pretty bad hazing, wax and rubbing compound alone didnt do it. 500 - 600 - 800- 1000 1200 1500 clear coat (800 for a run and progress up to finish) 1500 - 2000 - 3000 rubbing compound, polish/wax. That did it. Too bad I sucked with a paint gun (first try) excellent finish, except for the bubbles... next time. I used dupint nason clear. around $30-$40 for a quart and activator (used it all)

Also, the yellow is in the clear, and resin. its pretty much permanent. it will never be "grey/black" CF without very carefully removing most of the resin on top, or painting a shade of black/grey/carbon on it. I started to sand it off, and gave up. It was going to be too much effort.

 

[muddfisher85]

So what about the damage near the vent? Treat it like a crack?

 

[4g63tc]

Do me a favor and take a pic of the hood wet.

 

[Kirkamus]

Im just wondering what would be the best way to fill holes from previous hood pins? can it be done? My carbon fiber hood is in my profile would love some ideas