I bought a used Seibon VSII carbon fiber hood and it needs to be re-cleared. I am going to try to get a shine to it first, and then will decide if I want to attempt to clear it myself or have a shop do it. On to the pics!

1st Day - Install

I installed the hood myself and it was a pain! Fitment is ok, left side fits perfect and the right is slightly off. Maybe with two people and a little tweaking it can be improved:







The worse part of the hood is the middle from the heat. Previous owner had a turbo. I started by wetsanding with 1000 and got this:







Took out the silver mesh grille and replaced it with an RS2.0 upper grille painted black. The RS2 grille is actually 3 pieces and after unscrewing the trim and metal frame, I had just the mesh and it fits perfect!





Day 2

Today, I started off by using some rubbing compound. I worked on the left side for about an hour.

1st round of buffing:



2nd



3rd



You can see the significant difference between the right and left.





Comparison. I dunno what that stuff is on the hood, if it's the clear faded or a film of wax/dirt mix but it's a pain to get off. Some parts of the hood only takes a few minutes but might have to wetsand the really bad stuff.



Day 2, Part 2

OK, now after 3 hours of buffing the right side, NOTHING! So I went to wetsanding with 2000 then some buffing and now it looks pretty good.

Now I just have to do some touch up sanding in certain areas, and find a better scratch remover. I'm only using Scratch-X cuz I can't find my rubbing compound











So here's the before and after pics, just from today:

Before:



After:



Day 3: Rubbing Compound

Yay for Turtle Wax compound! Scratches, GONE! There are some spots I missed wetsanding, so I will have to go back and do those again. This is just the left side for today. Very happy with the outcome

 

It could be the gelcoat/resin used on the exterior is fogging...

I'd use some megiuars medium cut and see if you can rub some of it off... It'll probaby be best to get it spray again... Once everything has been sanded, as far as imperfections and all...

 

^thanx! Definitely, I would really like to do it myself but I've never used a paint gun. It's gonna be a while tho before I can get this thing cleared

 

why are there a set of hood pins on top of a set of hood pins?

 

I dunno, that's how the hood came. I'll take off the top ones lol

 

i think it just looked retarded.
i hated my hood pins, so now i have an oem hood. go figure

 

damn i always loved ur car always look sick good luck wit the hood and i really like those fogs i was considering them but now that i see them on another car im definatly gonna buy them

 

I've had 3 cf hoods (1 on the tC, 2 from previous cars) that started to oxidize. unfortunately clear coating is the only permanent solution. I once read a thread on honda-tech about using 3M marine wax + separate polish. People were raving about how well it works, so I bought some off Amazon.com (but others got it from marine supply and Walmart). It works well, but its only a wax so its not permanent. I'm too lazy to wax my car so I said "effit!". Here's my original thread, which includes the Honda-Tech link: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=206880

Choose the appropriate wax:
http://www3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/...er/output_HTML
http://www3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/...er/output_HTML
+
Restorer compound:
http://www3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/...er/output_html

 

great start/// yes marine wax does work miracles.. but clear coat is eminent

 

using a spray gun is fairly easy... just make sure you have the right tip for clear, and practice on something prior to just jumping in...

Just be patient... Try not to do a flood coat right off the bat... The first should more or less be like a tack coat, for the others... Just mist the spray.... Then build on that... Follow your paints flash time, and just be patient...

 

found these online a couple days ago.
maybe theyll help you out.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=17579

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...&threadid=7113

 

Looks real good dude, I don't know what you are talking about but the fit looks mint to me. I would never have noticed anything if you didn't say it. Great work.

 

thanx! I'll read up I like that forum.

 

Thank you for the info! I will look into that marine stuff. Another SL member sent me a great link from a civic forum. This guy used the marine stuff and his hood turned out great! I might try this later. Check it:

http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?p=2100461

 

I thought Seibon hoods came pre-clear coated?

 

Thank u for the compliment! I like the fogs too, they fit great and were easy to install. There were no VRDs at teh time when I purchased these, and I had to because of a nasty crack in the lower right vent from dang raccoon. "Now you see it, now you don't!" hehehe

 

 

Thanx, the fitment is ok it's not off by much. Not anything noticeable like you said, unless you are REALLY looking.

 

*edit, put the pics on page 1

 

wait now the hood pins still look retarded. wtf did the guy before you do?