Carbon Kevlar Vs Fibreglass

marshall69 · Feb 22, 2014

Even after 3 repaints I cannot get the paint finish on my Tony Branda fibreglass hood to be as good as the finish on steel panels.
Can anyone tell me if carbon kevlar hoods are any different as far as getting a near perfect paint finish?

How do the guys with show cars get a finish on fibreglass that matches steel? Any advice appreciated.

iskwezm · Feb 22, 2014

I painted my hood 2 differnt times and it came out as good as the body with normal prep. What problem are you having?

marshall69 · Feb 23, 2014

even with careful block sanding the final finish appears slightly uneven from some angles. It is a candy over base colour and that may be part of the problem, the reflections off the metallic coming through the clear. I'm just guessing, I cant find a painter who is prepared to say 100% he can fix it so I'm thinking about giving up and going to a different product.

While a steel hood is a solution I need a scoop and they are all f'glass anyway and that obviously presents issues with joining the two.

horse sence · Feb 23, 2014

For one thing ,fiberglass will never be like a steel piece . Fiberglass is going to expand with heat and contract with cold .You can make it look flawless but sooner or later some flaw will appear . I don't know what type resins Branda uses but a cheap resin will never make a good part. The best fiberglass i have used is parts made with at least ISO resin. Stay away from parts made with ORTHO resin . The difference between ISO and ORTHO resin is like night and day,ORTHO will get soft under heat and sag or even warp ,ISO is not affected as bad under heat and the pieces i have used sound like steel when you close a hood .I have never used carbon fiber so i don't know how it will react. A fiberglass supplier should tell what resins they use when asked,if they will not they are probably using ORTHO.

marshall69 · Feb 24, 2014

Thanks for your advice HS, it will help me inch toward a plan to solve my problem.

dcstang67 · Mar 18, 2014

A proper finish on fiberglass requires the use of polyester primer. Lay on 3 good coats and then block sand with 180 and 220, spray on 1 good coat of 2k primer and wetsand with 400, apply urethane sealer then base/clear as normal. Results will look no different than the steel.

marshall69 · Mar 20, 2014

dcstang67 said:
A proper finish on fiberglass requires the use of polyester primer. Lay on 3 good coats and then block sand with 180 and 220, spray on 1 good coat of 2k primer and wetsand with 400, apply urethane sealer then base/clear as normal. Results will look no different than the steel.

Thanks for your advice dcstang67. You are the only person that has told me one can get an equivalent to steel finish. GM can do it on corvettes so one assumes it can be done.

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Carbon Kevlar Vs Fibreglass

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