Weird and major problem with CF hood!!! Anyone?

nrengle

New member
Ok I was working on my friends Carbon Fiber hood on his Prelude. He's already decided to get a new one, but we had to try to save it first before his wife would get off him about ordering a new one.



The problem is, it's got a white hazed/oxidized look to it. He's washed, clayed and used a cleaner wax on it. Figure it's time to get a little more aggressive with it. Did a ONR wash, then a IPA wipe down. So broke out the rotary, orange pad, and Wolfgang TSR 3.0. Nothing, upon inspection it still looked hazed, and white. So went to the yellow pad with TSR (strongest stuff I had at the time). It leveled the clear slightly, but it still looks oxidized and hazed. And after doing a IPA wipedown on the hood in the test area it started to get weirder. I wiped the hood down, then it looked like it hazed, ran my finger across it, and it felt oily. So hit it with IPA again, same thing. Hit with 50/50 IPA, still oily. Went to pure IPA, still oily. Is it possible the gel coat is failing from the inside out? Whenever I'd run a finger or a cloth across the hood it'd leave a streak even with no pressure, and then my finger or cloth would feel oily. I'm at a loss as to whats up.



The main thing about this hood is it feels thin for carbon fiber, and when it's cool in the morning you can see the support structure frame in the dew outline.





I'll post pictures later when I find the dang'd cable for my camera.



I really want to try and save this hood even though he just ordered the new one online. I'd like to do this for practice and since it's a odd problem have a solution for the future if I would run into it again.
 
Pics would be good. I have white haze marks on my hood in the painted fiberglass part just before the scoop due to high rotary engine temps. Carbon fiber is good though, I can also see the support structure when it's cold enough and I think it's normal. Real carbon fiber isnt very IME. How old is the hood? Has it been polished by machine with abbrasive products a few times? I only use marine/RV gel-coat products on mine by hand and it's been good for almost 8 yrs now exept for the heat marks. Post pics when you can.
 
We're both not sure if it's been machine polished before or not, but we're both leaning towards it has had something done to it. It's either been wet sanded and never polished, or it's been compounded and nothing else done to it. It was in bad shape before we began anything tonight...



Pics will be coming soon....
 
[quote name='beachcities']I saw a carbon fiber(real) hood oxidize 2/3 of its surface area within 2 weeks of being parked at the beach.[/QUOTE







Wow, that's insane. In my case my hood has spent most of it's life in Dana Point, and about 2 years in Santa Barbara accross the street from the beach parked outside. Here in Washington it's been snowed on a few times too.
 
Here's the pics....



Before polishing (ONR and IPA wipe down)



With Flash:

IMG_3215.jpg






Without flash

IMG_3213.jpg




IMG_3212.jpg




IMG_3211.jpg




IMG_3216.jpg






Afters (LC Yellow pad, Wolfgang TSR / IPA Wipe down):

Without flash:



IMG_3210.jpg




IMG_3207.jpg




IMG_3205.jpg




With Flash:



IMG_3208.jpg




IMG_3206.jpg




IMG_3204.jpg




The flash takes away the oxidation/hazing where it hits, but it also shows the underlying problems on the sides of the flash.



All those streaks were after a IPA wipe down. They weren't there till I did the wipe down, afterwards they came through, and were oily.
 
Here's the pics....



Before polishing (ONR and IPA wipe down)



With Flash:

IMG_3215.jpg






Without flash

IMG_3213.jpg




IMG_3212.jpg




IMG_3211.jpg




IMG_3216.jpg






Afters (LC Yellow pad, Wolfgang TSR / IPA Wipe down):

Without flash:



IMG_3210.jpg




IMG_3207.jpg




IMG_3205.jpg




With Flash:



IMG_3208.jpg




IMG_3206.jpg




IMG_3204.jpg




The flash takes away the oxidation/hazing where it hits, but it also shows the underlying problems on the sides of the flash.



All those streaks were after a IPA wipe down. They weren't there till I did the wipe down, afterwards they came through, and were oily.
 
From my experiences w CF, They re all different (depending on manufacturer),

But from the pics before after it looks like yellow pad was too agressive as it looks worst then before.

I would start by blue then grey then white LC pad, I did one last week and test spot with an orange pad and SIP and left swirls...
 
How about M105? It'll leave a fine finish no matter what. At least fine enough to determine what else needs to be done. And it's aggressive enough to remove the rest of that hazing.
 
That doesn't look like a weird problem. It looks like you went far too aggressive. Did you try using something less aggressive or did you jump straight to using a yellow pad?
 
I tried a White LC pad, no change, same with a Orange LC pad then went to Yellow..... One thing I didn't mention was that I hit it with a white and a black pad afterwards and it still looked exactly the same even after using the Mirror Glaze in the Wolfgang Duo on the black pad a 2nd time... As you can see the hood was already hosed. It still oily though no matter what we do to it. That's what we can't figure out. An IPA wipedown of straight 91% alcohol should've removed any and all oils. It didn't. And the towel feels oily/gummy afterwards...



I've done plenty of corrections before, but never have I ran across anything like this. When he bought the car the hood felt oily, and had a residue to it. But he didn't pay any attention to it then.



Any other ideas?
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad news (well not really since hes getting a new one), but most carbon fiber pieces use crappy clear coats on them and thats exactly what the wing on my Evo started to look like before it got even worse to where it is now.



Everyone I've talked to (body shop guys from the dealership I used to work at mainly) said that all these carbon parts need to be recleared before they are installed or this will happen just from exposure to the sun. It can be prevented with extreme waxing with a good wax (at least 2 times a month), but it's not always the answer. Heres a pic of my spoiler just so you can see it's happened to me even with a factory part and clear coat:



allpictsfromcamera1-3-08424.jpg




Since his is in the early stages he may just be able to get off with having it stripped and recleared since he'll need to do it with his new hood if he doesn't want this to happen again.
 
That's what we wondered if it was failing. Does your spoiler feel oily at all? That's what we don't understand. Being it's a hood, I wonder if the extreme heat from the super charger and such too is what led to this.
 
I'll just re-iterate what was said above - unless it's final preped properly (proper cleared and buffed, etc....), it will look like **** very quicklyand nothing you can do will save it.



If cleared and treated properly, it will not oxidize, haze, yellow, etc.... The entire interior on my 65 cobra is all carbon fiber, and at first I was terrified it would look like **** in a matter of weeks because of what I've read online - however, my bodyshop guy showed me that the problems are in the final phases when the pieces are made (improper clear for the most part)



beachcities said:
I saw a carbon fiber(real) hood oxidize 2/3 of its surface area within 2 weeks of being parked at the beach.



then it's final prep was a piece of ****.
 
Efnfast thanks... I'll give him a heads up when he gets it in to get a well recommended painter give it some TLC.



Guess it's time to just scrap this hood then.
 
Mine never felt oily. It may be that his gel coat is actually melting off. Like I said with his new hood take it right from his house to a body shop. Here is a good how to for the spoiler of an Evo if you want to give it one more shop and try to fix it:



Repairing Damaged and Faded Carbon Wings - evolutionm.net



I'm going to be trying this 1st before I pay a body shop to try to re-clear it. I can't make it too much worse lol. Famous last words right?
 
Yeah guess so lol. Thanks for everyones help. Like I said this is the first time I've run into something like this with a CF hood.



If I run into anything like this again, just gonna recommend it be replaced...
 
That hood is fubar! I think you said it came with the car but do you happen to know who the manufacture was? I had mine made by FC3S. org before they changed to Speed Machine. I have been weiry about some of these other company's quality.
 
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