How to restore a carbon fiber hood

Why do carbon fiber hoods get dull? Any plastic, over time will eventually haze up over years. This is not just true for carbon fiber parts but for OEM plastic parts. If you've ever seen any headlights from the 90's like the 92-95 Civic OEM headlights or the 93-98 Supras you'll see that they have a strong yellow hue. Anti UV gelcoat helps, and most of our carbon fiber parts have this, but there is no such thing as a carbon fiber parts that's 100% immune to UV rays or even OEM unpainted plastic for that matter. Park your car in a shaded area or better yet park in the garage. What you'll need: Usually you don't have to buy a new hood to get that shiny carbon fiber look. We recommend taking the car to a professional body shop to have the hood lightly wet sanded the hood with 500+ grade sand paper, spray with clear coat and polish. This process usually restores the look to new or better! If you have body shop experience and are attempting to do this yourself you'll need:

800 Grade wet/dry sandpaper

1000 Grade wet/dry sandpaper

1200 Grade wet/dry sandpaper

Clear coat

Dust-free work area (spray booth / masked garage)

Spray Bottle /w Water and a little Car Shampoo

Tack Cloths

1 Med Size Can of Clear Coat

Paint Gun (gravity feed) requires compatible air compressor

Paint Strainers

Paint Thinner (to clean paint gun)

Paint Gloves

Plastic Drop Cloth

Paint Mask

Spray booth with adequate ventilation

Wet Sand the carbon fiber

Rinse the hood and mix water and car wash shampoo in a bucket. Wash the hood thoroughly to remove dirt and greasy residue. Dirt and grit on a hood can scratch the finish when you polish it--so make sure it is clean. Dry the hood well with a soft, lint-free tack cloth. Now that the hood is ready, wet the hood and start sanding with 800 grit, 1000 lastly 1200. Wash and clean the hood again, dry with tack cloth again. Finalize and touch up areas with 1200 grit sand paper.

Clear Coat the hood

Mask everything besides the exposed carbon areas of the hood. Wet the spray booth. Wash and clean the hood for a third time, dry with tack cloth again. Make sure there are no particles of dust or debris that are on the hood before you clear coat, if you miss something it's going to be embedded. Some errors are correctable but it's better to do it right the first time. Clear coat the hood, let dry for 72 hours or until 100% dry.

Polish the hood

Polish the hood, if the hood has areas of anodizing or swirl marks--either of which can occur on carbon fiber hoods--apply polish to these areas first. Work on these areas longer than other parts of the hood. Take extra caution when polishing a Carbon Fiber vented hood for instance. You don't want anything getting caught in the mesh or openings, there will be small areas that need detailed attention. Apply polish, using the foam applicator, to the rest of the hood in sections (approximately 2 feet square at a time). Don't rush through this--taking time to rub the polish in does make a difference. Use a clean microfiber polishing cloth to buff the entire hood. When finished, inspect the hood again for any problem areas--these may require a little more polish.