Also got mine from ebay, oxidized in a year and a half.

Last week I buffed it out with a light compound and it looks better than it did when I got it.

As far as care, just a wash n' wax.

 

I'll throw in a 5 pence piece in this topic.

Most hoods you buy that are made in Asia are not clear coated with your standard 2K Automotive clear coat nor are they made with resins that are particularly well suited for carbon fiber fabric. Most, are actually overlaid fiberglass hoods with a single layer of carbon on top. Some may have heard of or even own the "rolled Edge" wink1.gif But thats not really to do with the topic I guess so I'll save my speil for another day.

IF your hood has an automotive clear coat on it, you're lucky because it can be buffed and polished relatively easily by hand with std Mequires, 3M or "heaven forbid" turtle wax ughh! type polishing compounds. One thing of note, a 2K clear coated hood will not exibit a chalky film as some have mentioned. That just don't happen with normal clears, unless you're talking about a ford tempo of late 80's era and I think they were experimenting with new stuff back then lol.
Some of the early hoods experienced a yellowing, which happend in the deeper layers of the hood and not the surface coatings. I assumed that most of those were made from epoxy (which yellows after alot of UV exposure) those need a 2K clear coat. Most Poylester and viynlester resins, which most are made from, don't yellow.

IF your hood does have a chalky film on it (oxidized), you can assume that it is just a gelcoated surface which has been attached by UV rays, water and heat. Buffing and polishing a gelcoat is handled in pretty much the same way as a clear coat but even my bouncer buddy would have a hard time polishing one up without a machine polisher. Lots of elbow grease required to get the same finish attained from a 2K. You would have to start with a cleaner compound -> polish -> sealer/glaze -> wax (maybe even starting with a wetsand if the finish is really bad)
Not all gelcoats are created equal mind you, my supplier infact, offers over 10 different makes. 5 of them offer a "clear" and only 2 offer or atleast state they contain UV protection. The others are really tinting bases for boat shops and aren't suitable for carbon parts.
There are other "gelcoat substitutes" and epoxy surface coats but those are more expensive and probably not used for mass produced hoods.

So its always best to protect your hood regardless of what materials were used to make it. Most professional grade waxes like 3M, Meguires, Mothers, Zymol, etc etc or any quality Carnauba Wax

 

Yeah I didn't do it by hand, I used a 2400RPM buffer/wool pad, same one I use on the boats at work.