Pros: Lighter than your stock hood, looks great and sets your car apart from other stock cars

Cons: Ordering process (some shops are sketchy) shipping/receiving, ensuring you get a quality product, handling stock options like wiper fluid, concerns about bending/breakage (you can be careful though)

As to the wiper fluid nozzles.. although mine had pre drilled holes (through Motor-fx which may or may not still be in business) they were drilled in exactly the *wrong* place... so it was impossible for the hose to deliver fluid. It was set up to kink really hard.. so i had to re-drill myself.

I got one as a replacement from an accident, and it saved me money because it didn't have to be painted

 

true it does save money on doesnt have to be paint on but the hood from kaminari has to get clear coat on that to make it last longer. i saw OEM CF hood other website and its 500 and its already has clear coat on it. not bad

 

captain has a Flint Mica dunno if that's his car though

i'll take a pic of the kaminari cf on my friend's BSP and post it up

 

I have the vented Motor-FX hood and am not worried about it cracking or fading. I had my body shop lay on several clear coats and I keep it waxed...However, it ever does start to fade or crack, I will have the body shop sand it all down and paint it to match which they agreed to do for a discount if the clear coat didn't hold up.

Steve

 

Well heck... now i'm nervous, because I didn't clear coat mine at all! Just installed.

 

can you clear coat it from a can?

 

LOL !!! Pros : None
Cons : Looks like Sh**

 

Just get you some real good wax and wax it regularly with your car. Should hold up fine.


And to answer the question about clearing it with the can clear coat...uh...I wouldn't, but I am not well-versed in the clear coat science. I believe you would need to wetsand it and a few other little steps to get it right, but maybe you can achieve that with a can. I'm not sure though...Someone else chime in here.

 

Most quality hoods come UV protected from the factory. My Seibon did. So a good waxing every two weeks should fine. Also dont rattle can clear your hood. Take it to a professional. A shop will usually charge only 80-100 to spray a coat of clear. Well worth it for piece of mind in my opinion.

 

I just had to post, as i saw this thread on the front page.

Pros: Slight weight reduction, hard to see oil smudges when you pull out from doing a quick pit.

Cons: Consumers and people who aren't doing quick pit stops at a race track having a crew person with dirty hands lift up your hood have no need for them. The weight reduction is negligible.

I worked nascar and professional motorsports for a few years in the late 90s. I know from talking to everyone, there is one reason and one reason only for putting a black hood on your car. When you stop in for a pit, your pit crew may have dirty hands, and nobody wants to see a black oil smudge on a bright white/red/etc car. That's it.

Sure you can argue that people do it for weight reduction, but the difference is, what, about a pound? But you guys are adding speakers, stereos, a/c's and your purse to the car's weight anyway, so that's completely negated.

it's about as smart as putting a spoiler on your car. On a few cars, FUNCTIONAL spoilers begin to extert downforce after 120mph. Most cars it's higher mph you must reach.

 

While I agree with dave in as much as if you aren't racing your car you don't really need one... like I said I did mine because I couldn't afford to pay to have a stock hood painted and everything.

Also my understanding is that the weight reduction is more on the order of 10-20 pounds, depending. I can certainly attest to that with both my CF hood and hatch (both from accidents).

 

still wanna see more pics of CF on BSP or not?

 

I can have them by the next couple days if you want

 

you have another friend with bsp and cf

 

No it's you silly remind me to

 

ahaha will do

 

My experiance is, you buy cheap you get cheap. Never get CF hoods from ebay if you want quality.
You'll know you have a quality product if the underside of the hood has a plastic guard to keep excessive heat from the CF=longer product life.
As far as it fading, it took 6 years for mine to start fading, it has yet to crack. Waxing i do when i feel like it, and i've never re clear coated it (to expensive)
VIS is a good company but YES they do take forever if you order on your own, ordering VIS from a shop that orderes frequently works better.
ALL Trunks SUCK as far as fitment! I Dont know why, its just something i've noticed.

That is all


Oh yea, seibon (sp?) is a great company too

 

even on the xB it's a lot more than a pound diff. more like 10-15.

I bought mine from deft racing and the fit and finish was excellent!

 

how often does it need to be waxed

 

i wax mine once a month. and waxing consists of washing, paint cleaner, polish, then wax.

as far as what kind to get or if it looks good etc...

do not skimp on price, you get what you pay for. You might as well spend the extra $150.00 and get a brand that has a good reputation, clear coat and uv coat. trust me, you'll need it! Another thing you'll want is a strong latch, especially if you dont want to run hood pins. And last but not least, the higher quality you go, the more likely it is that you'll have all the holes drilled in the correct spots in the correct position.

As far as color's are concerned, I feel cf hoods look better when the contrast is higher (silver, white, etc). I've seen it on bsp's and it looks good, but you can hardly tell it's there. Almost like a waste of money imho.

Our hoods are pretty light weight to begin with, so you're not gaining much on that front going cf, and the cf hoods produced are not true cf, they are fiberglass covered with a few layers of cf.