CF hood damaged, PIX* suggestion? Options

[Ryu3x16]

hello 6gcers! I'm going to keep this short and simple.

here's my S2k:



from a far it looks ok.. but when you get up close.. You'll see this:



thats like a 7inch scratch.. someone key'd my hood and it totally sucks balls.. Its a deep one too but don't think its on the CF, hopefully
how do I fix this without damaging the Carbonfiber?
do you think its a good idea to just sand it down and then try to reclear it?
thanks it advance!

[devilsden97]

id say a light sanding....and respray the clear. OR wet sand it. Iluvmycelica95 can vouche that wet sanding took out a bunch of scratches on her cars paint. (wet sanding the car removes the top layer/layers of clear coat on the car. so if the scratch isnt into the CF it might disappear)

[playr158]

honestly it depends how deep it is...
you want to use 800 grit WET sand paper...you DO NOT want to dry sand this
be VERY VERY careful how much you sand...and only use 800grit and higher
start out with a really wet piece and LOTS of water (basically take your garden hose out with a nice stead low pressure stream, just sit it above where your working and let it run)

start sanding it with little pressure..don't push too hard
and watch how much resin there is to work with
once you have it 99% out move up to 1000grit WET and sand it to about 99.8% then switch to 2000 WET and finish it off..

once its done take it to a REPUTABLE shop (NOT MACCO or Earl)
and spend the money to have them reclear coat the hood for you

NOTE/WARNING: if you sand too much you will hit the Carbon threads and damage them...this will leave a blemish and basically ruin the look of that area so be very careful

This post has been edited by playr158: Aug 25, 2006 - 10:44 PM

[Ryu3x16]

thanks for the replies... Hopefully i can get started on it this sunday when Im off.. or should i just bring it to a shop?

[devilsden97]

shop charged $100 to wetsand iluvmycelica95's celica....id just get it all done at the same shop. Rather then risk ruining the cf

[hitcachi]

can u please post more pics of your s2000 while your at it?

[LewFX]

why not just get the hood painted red?

[Ryu3x16]

lewfx: the oem hood and the carbonfiber hood weight about the same.. I would love to get it fix and leave it black because i like the way it looks.. =)

[azian_advanced]

nice s2k btw

[mzztoyota]

lewfx: the oem hood and the carbonfiber hood weight about the same.. I would love to get it fix and leave it black because i like the way it looks.. =)

I like the way it looks, too

I hope it all works out...

[lagos]

take it to a shop have have them do it. if you never done repairs like this before, there is a big chance that youll mess it up.

[playr158]

you guys really are making this out to be MUCH harder then you think it is....
this is really basic sanding with some common sense

although having a shop do it is easier...but will cost more

[creis]

easy fix man, sand out the scratch only, get some epoxy resin and with that end of the hood lifted till its level then useing a seringe pore the epoxy evenly over the srcatch and place a plastic wrap firmly and evenly over it to spredit out and make it level with the sides. let dry for 24 hours. there are probably easyer ways to fix it but that would be the best in my opinion as it would restore it to new rather then putting other kinds of fillers or polishers in it.

although looking at the pics its really not deap, nut if you just sand it down would ne un even without thic clear coat over it

This post has been edited by creis: Aug 28, 2006 - 10:26 PM

[playr158]

NO do NOT pour any epoxy on it...it will completely ruin the hood

it will never blend in..all thats needed is to sand the scratch out and have the hood recleared...no adding of anything

[creis]

it will never blend in

um if you do it right, it absolutly will. but for that its probably not deep enough to bother, just a sand and clear will do fine.


(comment on post below) True, does take practice. I think everyone should learn to work with resins for fiberglass and cf its a good skill for more then just auto work.

This post has been edited by creis: Aug 29, 2006 - 7:30 PM

[playr158]

well considering this would be *more then likely* his first time working with the appropriate resin for CF he'd end up with air bubbles, dust ect.. and it wouldn't