So i just picked up my new(used) hood. A lil back ground the 1st owner bought new i belive and ran it just epoxy coated so when the 2nd owner bought it it had started to yellow like they do if not cleared, so they ended up painting alot of the hood in a design. Well i just picked it up and i really dont like the paint job or scheme and the fact that the prior clear refinish is peeling off i MUST refinish it.
Ive done many many paint job in the past and know what im doing just been a while and i really never worked with the cf when its been coated over. So basically i would love to see if i can get it back to all exposed carbon fiber and then id like to reclear it but with a Tint. So some questions one whats the best way to sand off the old clear n paint? Like wet sanding grit? i know mrthompson just did that to tabs old hood and got it back to cf. Then id like to know what ratio n how would i beable to reclear the hood but with a red tint? Do i simply just add the cars color to the clear if so how much do i add?

Appreciate the help n feed back.

I would imagine you would want to hit it with a very high grit on a DA. Having never done it i would say start with a 2000 grit on a soft pad DA and see how that goes. Then work your way down to a lower grit if that doesnt do much.

as far as tinting it, you'd probably want to spray a light pearl or candy before clearing it. most likely pearl would be your best bet if you only want a slight tint.

i think i would tint the clear kinda like how they do a tri coat on a cadillac or something like that

ogre wrote:i think i would tint the clear kinda like how they do a tri coat on a cadillac or something like that

tricoat doesn;t use tinted clear

you don;t want to tint your clearcoat

tri coat is a base coat a tint coat than a clear

the way im thinking is when ur tinting your tail lights u put a little black in clear spray them than do a coat of clear

ogre wrote:tri coat is a base coat a tint coat than a clear

correct....it's not a tinted clear. Hence my suggestion of a pearl/pigment or kandy followed by clear and not tinting the clear itself.

Wayne, like Joey said, remove the existing paint with a higher grit paper to expose the epoxy resin. Definitely stick to a very fine grit since sanding scratches can take some elbow grease to get out of epoxy resin. Last time I stripped paint of a c/f hood, I knocked most down with a DA, then finished it off by wet sanding by hand, just to make sure not to scratch the resin. There's always a chance that the epoxy is salvagable as far as the yellowing, but it really depends how long it was exposed to sun without clear. The longer it sits in the sun, the further down it will yellow. Take Phil's EVO hood on Qwibby...there was nothing that can really be done to pull all the yellow out. Now if the hood didn't have too long of sun exposure, you may be lucky and find the yellowing is only near the surface and can be knocked down back to a clear surface. Only way to really tell is to work a small section and see what happens.

And again, like said, do your red tint via a candy or pearl, then clear over it. If you need any help, shoot me a text or something,