my oem seibon is starting to fade to like a carbon kevlar color lol. anyway i can repair this myself?

 

Get a new one. No cure

 

Body shop here in vegas redid an Evo wing. They might be able to redo your hood. I would call and ask some body shops. If mine can do it, you might be able to give the hood to my brother to bring down here.

 

there's shops that can clean it up for you depending how bad it is. i've had friends either have a shop re buff the thing out if they can or have them re clear coat it

 

yea ive been reading on on it and said cf hoods are gel coated to wax is not good. ive been reading up on some marine 3m stuff but i was hoping someone who had the same experience could chime in here

 

What about painting it?

 

i had the same problem where my overcoat was all dulled out due to the sun on my fiberimages hood. Where i had like a turtle shell imprint on it, so i took it to my paint guy and he wet sanded it and applied a layer of clear coat on it. Looks brand new!!!

 

Strip and re-clear is the only way I know of.

 

+1 for reclearing...i think i am going to try that on my seibon

 

yea probably the best way to go. damn i shoulda done it while it was in the shop couple weeks ago

 

Yeah just have them re-clear it.

 

how much does re-clearing usually cost on average? thanks

 

The problem usually occurs from either low grade resin being used when manufacturing the parts and/or a lack of UV protection.

"Yellowing" of lower grade hoods is common, and not "fixable". You can cover it up, by reclearing the hood with a darker clear. That is about all you can do as far as I know.

One way to prevent this from happening is to clear coat the hood when you get it. Make sure the clear coat has UV protection. Or, buy a hood from a company that has UV protection in their gelcoat...

 

Seibon uses UV gelcoat.

How long have you had the hood Gimpster? Is it a hazy fade (as in the clear) or the carbon fiber itself it turning "yellow"?

 

so i should specify and ask for a uv protected clear coat?

 

I've seen between $50-$150.

 

It can also be the resin they are using. Raw materials have many levels of quality. Regardless, a carbon fiber part turning yellow is not a good sign.

Most of manufacturers I have worked with/at use a UV gelcoat(specifically formulated to be used with carbon fiber) + UV clearcoat. Obviously, quality of the materials play a big part in the final product.

 

how long would it take to go dull? I'm thinking about purchasing a seibon, and thought of clear coating, but prolly leave it till it gets dull and re clearcoat.

 

Depends on how you take care of it. If you wax it regularly and don't let it sit baking in the sun for extended periods of time, it can be years before a new clear coat would be needed.