I have seen too many of the CF hoods go yellow on the clearcoat from the UV rays and then start to crack. I would leave it unpainted at first but plan on painting it later when it starts looking bad.

 

on my last FD, i had carbon fiber fenders, a carbon fiber front bumper, and a carbon fiber hood. i painted everything except for the hood and the kidney vents on the fenders

 

un painted for sure

 

IMO, the CF look is as tacky as stickers, 5" coffee cans, and LEDs. Paint it.

 

please paint it. bare CF screams rice to me. JMO.

 

+30 for painting it.

 

CF on black looks the best IMO... if you want to paint it... should've just went with a fiberglass version

 

I'm a fan of painting it, but using light paint so you can still barely see the carbon weave beneath the paint. gives it a little extra flare

 

I put mine on and left it unpainted for a bit. It always seemed to make the car look dirty to me from a distance. I like it much better painted now.

 

A lil OT, but aren't most of the "carbon fiber" hoods out there just fiberglass with cf overlay?

I vote for paint!

 

paint it but leave a cool design of cf comign through. Like leave 2 thing stripes of carbon fiber unpainted it looks great.

 

Painting over CF means a butt-load of tedious priming and block sanding. Otherwise when you put color over it, the weave pattern will show through. Always figured that's the reason they clear-coated them in the first place, since you won't see that pattern with clear.
Personally I've never cared for CF all that much, it just looks unfinished. If I was going to change hoods, it would be for the vents, but I would get a fiberglass version. Gel-coat is easier to finish, easier to repair if damaged, and generally cheaper.