The paint on my Mazdaspeed cf hood cracked aroundthe drivers side vent about 2". I asked my father who ran a Custom shop for 15 years . He said there wasn't much that can be done with it. It was my thought also but I figure i'll ask if anyone here has ran into a similar problem and came up with some sort of soution.

Anyone ,anyone??

 

You have a painted CF hood, or is the clear thats on there cracking? Either way it can be fixed no problem, but if you have a clear/unfinished hood, it will be time to get it painted. Here we go with the shitty CF lay-ups starting to show up from shops having no clue how to lay up carbon fiber or fiberglass. Let me know whats there and Ill tell you how to fix it.

 

Sorry haven't checked back here in a while. The hood is Painted on carbon fiber and it looks like it is only the paint that cracked. It's blue ifthat matters at all(I can't see how it would) So let me know the 411

 

It can be fixed no problem, the only way I can see that the paint would have cracked, is if the hood flexed? Anyhow, if you want to fix this have it sanded down first, to see if its in the paint, or the carbon fiber, if its in the carbon fiber, have it ground out a little beyond the cracked area, then layed back up with a good epoxy resin, NOT POLYESTER. I would reccomend Gougeon Brothers West System epoxy resin, your hood being painted, you dont need the special hardner for clear coat, depending on the temperature outside, they have a variety of hardners, 205 and 206 are 5-1 hardners with 205 being a lower temp one, the 206 if its hot where you are. Either way, your doing a small area, so it shouldnt be too much of a problem, use with the 105 resin. They also sell different fillers to add to the resins, so after you lay it up and grind it down again, you will use these fillers mixed in with the epoxy resin to make a body filler. Let me know if you want me to go on with this before I go any further, are you going to do this yourself or have a shop do it? DO NOT let a auto body shop use polyester resin or filler on the hood. I would also not use standard clear coat when it comes time to paint, epoxy primer, basecoat, a good clear that has flex in it, like DuPont Imron clear. let me know where your going with this.

 

Hmm Im not sure if I would do this or not. I have to pull the engine so I don't think I'll be tackling it ant time soon. I'll pm you when I'm ready. Thanks Rob your the man.

 

I would say to send it to me, but who knows how or how much to ship the damm thing back and forth, im in New York.

 

Oh you can fix this stuff?? I am suming the hood will have to be repainted afterwards..Right?

 

It may make sense to send it to you considering it will be off anyway while I am doing my engine build up.

 

I can of course fix it, the good thing is I have all I need, a kit of west system can run aver $50-$75 or so. I have the Epoxy primer as well, if you had the hood painted locally, I could fix it for you, leave it in primer, and your local guy can shoot it, or I can paint the hood for you myself and use the clear I know will work well with original basecoat. You still have the crate it came in??

 

Nope. I'm going to call the bodyshop. Since my paint job was covered under insurance they are still liable to fix the problem areas. At least she told me to bring it back when I was ready to address them. I'll keep you posted.