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?? https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/wink.png

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.

OK, hope it works out for you, dont let them bullshit you now that you are prepared, and dont let them fix the crack with polyester resin either, its not cracked on the underside as well? Or cant you see it under there?

No the bottom is fien. It's just the paint.

here is the crack ...

This spot is looking like it's about to crack. What do you think Rob?

Those valleys are prone to cracking, for various reasons. Remember that when that is laid up in the mold, its upside down, those valleys tend to get excess epoxy that 'puddles' in there, excess epoxy is no good, especially in the mold, they generate heat when they cure, sometimes too much heat if they laid the mold up too fast, that makes it brittle. Chances are there isnt any carbon fiber in that area, only epoxy, maybe a single layer of CF if that. Being not as strong, it tends to crack there. All thru the painting process there is ponding of material in those areas as well, too much primers and paint is no good. When your hood was primed, they SHOULD have used a good epoxy or urethane based primer, allowed it to cure, then wet sanded it before top coat, even so- areas such as those usually on get scuffed with scuff pads, not actually sanded, so there is a tendancy to get excess material in those areas, some guys use a 'wet on wet' primer, which is fine for brand new metal parts, but a no-no for glass or CF. Do you know for SURE what kind and brand of primer, paint, and clear they used when they did that hood? Hopefully they didnt give you shitty laquer primer.

I have no idea what they used. I may be able eo find out. Worst case scenerio I buy a stock hood.

No need, dont let a little crack like that bother you, worse case is you have the shop who painted it re-do it for you, without seeing the hood first hand, if I was the one fixing it, I would add some glass/epoxy to the underside of that area to make it stronger, can you snap a pic of the underside of the hood for me? IM curious as to how the hood latches and how the hood hinges bolt on to it??

Yea I get them tomorrow after work. The hood has bolts that go into it as opposed to the studs coming out. All the braces on the underside I glued down before I took the hood to the bodyshop. Thye were all loose and had lots of play . I used Geocell adhesive.