Fiberglass and carbon fiber
- Thread starter AAE
- Start date
jlcustomz
evil painter
Here's my first post on this site.
A few fyi's on composites.
Carbon fiber products may be solid cf or overlayed over traditional fiberglass. Higher performance epoxy resins are used with cf products with no gelcoat needed. epoxy shrinks far less than polyester resins used in traditional fiberglass. May be some matting showing through. I'd light block sand the surface first, then prime & sand again as with any other paint job.
Traditional fiberglass hoods do shrink a bit. Many are black gelcoated & should be installed & adjusted on car & set in sun a few days to cure more. Fiberglass shrinks to the highest temperature to which it gets exposed to. Block sand, fill any imperfections needed before priming &sanding again. .If one is a bit rough with imperfections & waves, etc. ,I'd spray evercoat g-2 poly primer surfacer or equivalent as a first primer. Hard stuff & adds some quality to a poor surface.
Any hood of course will need a good fitting, which may involve sanding edges, etc Also , don't forget to start off with a wax & grease remover before any sanding.
A few fyi's on composites.
Carbon fiber products may be solid cf or overlayed over traditional fiberglass. Higher performance epoxy resins are used with cf products with no gelcoat needed. epoxy shrinks far less than polyester resins used in traditional fiberglass. May be some matting showing through. I'd light block sand the surface first, then prime & sand again as with any other paint job.
Traditional fiberglass hoods do shrink a bit. Many are black gelcoated & should be installed & adjusted on car & set in sun a few days to cure more. Fiberglass shrinks to the highest temperature to which it gets exposed to. Block sand, fill any imperfections needed before priming &sanding again. .If one is a bit rough with imperfections & waves, etc. ,I'd spray evercoat g-2 poly primer surfacer or equivalent as a first primer. Hard stuff & adds some quality to a poor surface.
Any hood of course will need a good fitting, which may involve sanding edges, etc Also , don't forget to start off with a wax & grease remover before any sanding.
crashtech
Combo Man & Mod
^ I like the new guy's advice a lot! 
When I worked at a shop that made fiberglass parts, we would leave the part in the mold and shove it out in the sun for a couple days. This greatly stabilizes the part against major warping in the future, though nothing will save a part from poor packing and long term storage. I don't think most places let the parts cure enough before boxing, so the "green" part will start to bend to match however it was packed and oriented. That's the biggest reason parts don't fit as well as they should.
When I worked at a shop that made fiberglass parts, we would leave the part in the mold and shove it out in the sun for a couple days. This greatly stabilizes the part against major warping in the future, though nothing will save a part from poor packing and long term storage. I don't think most places let the parts cure enough before boxing, so the "green" part will start to bend to match however it was packed and oriented. That's the biggest reason parts don't fit as well as they should.