First off, I hope you get your hood taken care of Hass.
Second, carbon is stronger in tension than in compression, and a considerable amount of carbon fiber that can be found in the marketplace is of extremely poor quality. Most of it consists of wet lay-ups using Fiberglass Resin instead of Carbon Fiber specific epoxy. That is one way to make the carbon fiber cheaper. Keep in mind that carbon fiber specific epoxy has different chemical and mechanical properties than fiberglass resin. Another way products are made cheaper is through the use of either less layers of carbon or in some cases the carbon layers are mixed with E-glass, a structural fiberglass mat that is not as light or as strong as carbon fiber.
The end result is that while those products are cheaper, they are also weaker and generally will not withstand the test of time, sunlight or stress, very well. In fact some of them are so brittle, they will crack easily.
When buying carbon fiber you should always find out a few things. First of all you want to know what is the manufacturing process being used. You would want to know if the parts are made using a wet lay-up, where the carbon fiber mat is impregnated with epoxy either using a brush or sprayed on. If a wet lay-up is used, in general those products will not have the same sort of quality as a pre-preg lay-up, where the carbon fiber mat already comes with the epoxy pre impregnated in the fibers so the epoxy is diffused more evenly.
Another fact you need to find out is if the parts are vacuum bagged or not. This is important even with pre-preg carbon mats because there might exist an excess of epoxy as well as air bubbles and voids when the different layers of carbon are laid down. Vacuum bagging helps to eliminate those voids therefore providing the part with a better finish as well as structural integrity.
So if you find out that the manufacturer uses pre-preg and vacuum bagging in the manufacturing process, that is a pretty good start, but ultimately you want to try to find manufacturer's that use an Autoclave to cure the parts, so that they have the desired strength and finish.
Again, good luck Hass and tnelson this might be of some interest to you before your name/reputation is stamped on it.
ahhh ima go eat
