Carbon Fiber Hood Basics

[Maxtype 240]

Been looking for guides/basics on carbon fiber hoods. Details on grades, 1x1 vs 2x2, rolled vs unrolled edges, etc.

Reason is, I'm looking at the D-Drug hoods from TF & they're 1x1, unrolled edges. They're relatively new so not much info on them.

Please provide me some links to the basics, thanks!

Jesse

[Yoshi]

with CF and FRP hoods, you really do get what you pay for.
There's no way I'd go with a single layer hood of either construction if the car was used for ANYTHING but being on the track.

Single layer, unrolled edges are for 1 purpose only, track abuse. Tech says you need a hood, that's the lightest way to go... try driving with it on the freeway, odds are, someone is gonna get hit by your hood, whether it's your car or one a few cars back from u (yes even WITH hoodpins, those hoods were not designed for freeway speeds for extended amounts of time).

That being said... safety first, no matter what route u go!

[ghostuss]

yep those track hood is like 1 or 2lb... it's just a layer of cf or fpr whatever.

[Maxtype 240]

According to D-Drug, the hoods are ~17lbs. 1x1 weave is stronger but harder to lay. They say rolled edges are more for aesthetics more than anything.

Just trying to find a guide that goes over such basics.

Jesse

PS - They're clearcoated as well.

[DriftGirl]

One few off my car:
Cracked the sunroof, ruined paint job,destroyed a CF trunk and ripped off my spoiler in less than a second.

Story: http://driftgirl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9:Owned:

[Yoshi]

One few off my car:
Cracked the sunroof, ruined paint job,destroyed a CF trunk and ripped off my spoiler in less than a second.

Story: http://driftgirl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9:Owned:

Oooo... ouch.
I feel your pain :(
That's EXACTLY what I was talking about.

[Maxtype 240]

Well, that counts for "BASIC" info for sure. Yet, I can't imgaine why people would run w/out hood pins? They're cheap insurance on a $450-$1500+ investement.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Well I recently just bought my 2nd carbon hood cuz i jes *lost* my last one. It blew cuz i fooked up basically. I popped the hood to do something but got sidetracked with something else. Forgot that i popped it, drove off and POP. I lucked out tho, atleast it didnt damage anything other than the hood itself. its a POS VIS knock off *its 5 yrs old* and the carbon skin basically peeled off the skeleton when it popped up. Ended up driving home for an hr with just the skeleton. Now im running a Seibon hood which in my opinion is way better than the 2nd one cuz it actually has the secondary safety latch that works.

[dasalnt]

how well does your seibon hood fit? I was thinking about going with the vis hood but if the seibon hood fits pefectly, i'll prolly pick it up.

[MikeFD3S]

I recommend hood pins, and I especially recommend painting the hood.

They'll all fade and dull in the sun if you don't paint them. A lot of the Japanese CF products do not have consistent weave pattern because they usually paint it..instead of blingin the CF.

If you're getting a CF hood, get something decent quality if you're going to daily drive it.

1x1 unrolled...sounds like some cheapie cheapie stuff

[SilviaDriver]

take a pic of the seibon safety lock

[Zen S14]

[QUOTE=Yoshi]with CF and FRP hoods, you really do get what you pay for.
There's no way I'd go with a single layer hood of either construction if the car was used for ANYTHING but being on the track.

Single layer, unrolled edges are for 1 purpose only, track abuse. Tech says you need a hood, that's the lightest way to go... try driving with it on the freeway, odds are, someone is gonna get hit by your hood, whether it's your car or one a few cars back from u (yes even WITH hoodpins, those hoods were not designed for freeway speeds for extended amounts of time).QUOTE]

I don't understand the logic behind that. If a hood is designed for the track it will see much higher speeds than highway for extended periods. It would be stupid to design a track hood that can't even handle driving at 65mph. I think the flying up problem originates from people wanting to look good and not using hoodpins.

The lightest hood I've seen so far out of all my friends cars and my own is the Fiberimages. The frame is a cutout rather than a whole layer.

[eyustfu]

i have the VIS one and recently bought a Yashio Factory CF hood, The vis was rolled over but the YF one wasn't, if i have time i'll weight them both. I was supprised of Vis' quality from all the rumors i heard.

yea and i agree with hoodpins, a friend's cf hood's latch failed on him, left him with a dented roof..

[ALTRNTV]

I don't understand the logic behind that. If a hood is designed for the track it will see much higher speeds than highway for extended periods.

I think track time such as drifting and auto-x. You don't usually reach high speeds.

[SilviaDriver]

i have to agree with Zen.

track time such as drifting/autox? why would a company spend a shitload of money for R&D juss to build a CF hood for only drifting and autox??? makes no sense

[Yoshi]

I think track time such as drifting and auto-x. You don't usually reach high speeds.

that's exactly the "Track" I meant.

vs. commuting in socal off hrs... say u have a long 40min commute each way (i'm using my dad's commute for example) 20mins or so of going at 80mph+ with crosswinds has way more of a chance to flip a poorly mounted/manufactured hood than 9-13 seconds going down the strip... also in drag, it's just you and MAYBE one other car that's on the other side of a concrete divider... you're also surrounded by emergency crews and the amount of people around that could get hurt are much fewer, not to mention the cars going down the track being their focus... they're aware of what's going on.

On the freeway, speeding along, you're in very close proximity to a BUNCH of other cars on any typical day. They are NOT paying attention to you, worse, they're probably eating, or drinking coffee, or talking on the cell. They are the ones most likely to get hurt, or damaged property...

If it were just worrying about your car, fine. Your property, your business. But once you put things like these hoods on, then hit the public roads, you're taking on a new burden of responsibility... that's NOT an OEM part and if it's not legal by whatever local/state/federal standards are applicable, then YOU are Liable. Ignorance of whatever rules/regulations you break are inconsequential... it'd be very easy for police to site you for gross negligence... worst case, invoulentary manslaughter.

Is my example realistic? Probably not. But I've seen a lot stranger, far less likely things happen in my life, and I'm still young. If you guys disagree, that's fine. I'm just saying that IDEALLY, we should all be concerned about safety over Asthetics and Penny-Pinching.

Edit: Also I don't think R&D is the issue, it's the cheap manufacturing that's devoid of decent quality control that's the issue in contention... everything always works better on paper (CAD).