sun damage on cf hood!

**CaptainObvious** · 12-22-2002, 04:44 PM

hey guys, new here, just a regular joe.

i got a carbon fiber hood, but the guy said the the blemishes were "hardly noticable". well that was BS.

anyway, i tried meguiars, heavy, medium and fine cleaners, but they didnt do any good. today i tried wet sanding it, now it is dull and hazy and with swirls everywhere.

and the sun damage is still there. i was new to wet sanding so i started with 1000 grit, then 800, then 400. it looks like it didnt take away, just left it with the haze and and swirls. i was gonna see if the medium or heavy would get rid of the haze but it was too sunny out.

i hope you guys can help me out. thanks

Kevin:xyxthumbs

**Redcar GUY** · 12-22-2002, 04:59 PM

Hi Kev, welcoome to the forum. As I have never touched a CF hood with any products, I cant really help

I hope that someone can:nixweiss

**Detailing NY** · 12-22-2002, 05:19 PM

Since you already wet sanded the hood with 1000 grit. Did you compound & polish the hood when you were done.

This could be why it is so dull. Anytime you wet sand you should compound and polish the area.

I would use 3m perfect it III compound to remove all the wet sand marks.

Then use a 3m Swirl mark remover to get rid of the swirls.

one questions for you is, did you try these products by hand or machine?

NYD

**CaptainObvious** · 12-22-2002, 05:48 PM

Originally posted by NY detailer

Since you already wet sanded the hood with 1000 grit. Did you compound & polish the hood when you were done.

This could be why it is so dull. Anytime you wet sand you should compound and polish the area.

I would use 3m perfect it III compound to remove all the wet sand marks.

Then use a 3m Swirl mark remover to get rid of the swirls.

one questions for you is, did you try these products by hand or machine?

NYD

i used the by hand, i know, it says to use a machine, but i was told i could use it by hand. ill get some of the 3m compound, i have the swirl remover already.

**Detailing NY** · 12-22-2002, 06:07 PM

After you wet sand compounding by hand will not be powerful enough. Try it with a pc, but i would suggest a rotary if you know how to use one.

**02 t-wrex** · 12-22-2002, 07:54 PM

Wait a minute... you said you wet sanded with 1000 grit... then 800 then 400??!? Aren`t you supposed to use FINER grit paper to remove the marks... like use 1000 grit then 2000 grit then compound??

If you used 1000 THEN 400 you would be roughing the surface up a lot... 400 is pretty coarse! I don`t think any kind of polish is going to take out the swirls/scratches from 400 grit sandpaper :shocked

**Andre'** · 12-22-2002, 09:01 PM

CaptainObvious You need to do what you did in reverse. Start 800 grit, 1000, 2000 than polish it out with a compound than a swirlmark remover. I don`t know if it will work on a carbon fiber or not but you can try it.

**admac** · 12-23-2002, 12:50 AM

well, most carbon fiber has a coat of clear on it. i hope you didn`t sand through that. 400 grit`s pretty harsh. and you`d still have to go backwards through 800 and 1500 to 2000 or so. sounds like a lot of clear.

**02 t-wrex** · 12-23-2002, 02:05 AM

Do CF hoods actually have clearcoat on top of the resin or is it just the clear epoxy (or whatever) resin that you`re sanding/polishing?

**Nagchampa** · 12-23-2002, 02:15 AM

Please tell me you are at least using a sanding block!

Most carbon fiber parts are clearcoated.(most that I`ve seen anyways)

**CaptainObvious** · 12-23-2002, 09:49 AM

LOL, yeah, i used one of those 3m sanding blocks, i started with 1000 and got to 400 cause i didnt want to do too much damage:doh i think by now, i may be down to the resin

but it hasnt removed any of the blemishes. ill see if i can get a good pic of it, when i feel some of it, it fells a bit raised up, and looks a little like white paint specs. :nixweiss