The definitive paint thread. Nuff said.

[burnsauto]

Originally Posted by Rustys14

Does anyone in this thread have experience painting a Seibion carbon hood? Is any additional prep needed to keep the weave from showing through or can it just be scuffed and sprayed out of the box? They seem to be the only company that makes a decent OEM Silvia replica hood, but I hate the look of exposed carbon fiber so I would want to have it painted. Going the Seibon route would save me about $500 over sourcing an OEM metal hood, but I might just pony up the extra cash if the Seibon is going to take a lot of extra prep.

I've seen it go both ways. Some hoods the weave is so pronounced that even after you paint it you can still see the ripples in the clear.

In those cases you basically need to block out the factory applied clearcoat (You can do this with a soft block* and 1000 grit) trying to get out as much of the weave pattern in the clear as you can, just don't go crazy enough to burn through. Depending on your results, you can prep it for basecoat (red scuff pad) or if it still has a lot of texture in it, you'll have to re-clear it, and then wet sand it all over again.

If you're doing it to save money, you'll be paying for it in sweat equity. Cheaper CF hoods have a ton of texture, and expensive ones don't, but that's one reason why they are expensive.

Edit: * As far as the soft block, I always recommend Meguiars E-7200 for any kind of wetsanding. They have the perfect amount of flex and are cheap enough anyone can get them.

Linky : https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-E720.../dp/B0009IQZ2K

Wet sanding tip - CHECK YOUR WORK AS YOU GO ALONG. 1000 grit can burn through clear faster than you think. Often take the sandpaper off your block, dip your block into your bucket of water, and use the edge of your sanding block to squeegee the area you're wet sanding. If you still see shiny dots, then you still have orange peel. Once you see a flat, uniform finish, all the orange peel has been removed. Just keep in mind that you don't always want a completely smooth, chip-foose-looking paint job, especially if you're trying to bring it back to a factory looking finish. The original paint has a certain amount of orange peel, and the trick is to sand/buff out enough of your excess orange peel to replicate the factory finish. Really good painters can match it by the way their gun/paint is set up, but those guys are few and far betweeen.