odd bonnet happenings..

bought a seibon fibreglass based carbon fibre bonnet 3 or so years ago and recently every time it gets warm out, the bonnet has a nasty habit of looking like it has condensation underneath the clear casing.

does everyone suffer this? and if so any tips on stopping it? or is it time to just paint over it (if that can be done)

cheers

rob

The laquer probobly needs re-doing, have you any pics?

it actually gets better when its cooler, how hard is it to redo the lacquer?

Thats why I went off carbon fibre I had a half carbon TRD spoiler that went the same. It needs alot of looking after to keep it looking fresh.

it actually gets better when its cooler, how hard is it to redo the lacquer?

When its goes milky like that it needs sanding back and buffing and relaquering i would get a bodyshop to do it though as its very easy to cock it up, shouldnt be too expensive though and should look brand new when its done

cheers, it'll go on the list ..

Have exactly the same thing right now. Tried some polishing and that helped for an hour or so but after that it just reappears completely in a couple of days:(. Also a Seibon.

I'd think the only cure would be to flat all the lacquer off and then re lacquer it.

Had very similar happen to a cheap TRD c/f copy wing/spoiler

First time i've seen that. My bonnet is over 5 years old and my TRD cf wing is almost 5 years old and they look fine. As the others said: Flat all the lacquer off.

If you want to get it painted, I think it's a lot of work, because the bonnet is not even enough to be just painted.

First time i've seen that. My bonnet is over 5 years old and my TRD cf wing is almost 5 years old and they look fine. As the others said: Flat all the lacquer off.

If you want to get it painted, I think it's a lot of work, because the bonnet is not even enough to be just painted.

Not that much work, remove all the old lacquer, prime it, flat the primer

then paint & re lacquer £300 or there abouts depending where you go

Very common! its because they use a cheap clear coat and the UV content aint good, thats just sun damage! the TRD rear spoiler blades are common for going "milky"...

you have 2 options! carefully DA the bonnet down and then have it clear coated again (could damage weave if not careful), or just get it rubbed down, primed and painted!

I don't know if it's true, but I did some research on this a while ago and found that the older Seibon units weren't treated with a clearcoat but a gelcoat instead. Would be the same stuff as on the hull of fibreglass boats. "They" would also say that if this type of bonnets would be sanded down and recleared it would appear frosted forever. Some people used marine class rubbing compounds and that would get rid of these "water spots". Haven't tried it myself as those marine products should be a lot more aggresive and I wouldn't want to damage the coat on my bonnet even more then it already is. At least I can get it to shine perfectly now for at least an hour if there are shows and/or photoshoots. This is what I did:

1. Clayed the bonnet until it's as smooth as glass.

2. Meguiars rubbing compound

3. Meguiars step 2 crystal polish

4. NXT wax to protect it for a couple of days