Best carbon fiber hood

I would like to hear from any of you that have experience with carbon fiber hoods and companies. I'm looking to pick the best hood and supplier. I would also like to know about how the hoods behave at speed and any info you might have about weight savings. Thanks guys!

 

I have one on my S4, sebon is the company I think, it fit perfect and behaved like a normal hood. The clear coat breaks down over time if you don't add UV protection or paint over it. It saved about 25 or so pounds over the old hood.

 

Just curious - my hood is dented from acorns to the point it looks like a red golf ball - any opinion as to whether acorns would dent the carbon fiber hood ?? Thanks for any reply. Curious George

 

No. It won't ever dent. It takes a lot to damage it, but carbon fiber does have one weakness. A serious chip, like from a rock could cause the CF to delaminate under stress. It's much more fragile than fiberglass in that regard. Actually, one of the best laminates out there is still hand laid fiberglass, but for whatever reason you hardly ever see it. CF is much sexier . The fiberglass that gets sprayed from a chopper gun is heavy and weak for it's weight.

 

I love the look of a carbon fiber hood. Not especially on our trucks but they have their place. My main concern with a carbon fiber hood is there are no crumple zones built into them (as far as I know) like the factory hood. During a accident I'm not sure how they would react.

 

I doubt there is any danger since the hood is so light. Not likely it would penetrate the windshield. If the hood were flexed to the breaking point it would most likely exploded into a million pieces. Just look at the body panels on Nascar wrecks for a clue.

 

Good point. But I think you mean F1 / Indy cars. Nascar still uses aluminum IIRC?

 

That is a great idea DD ! A short deflector made of polycarbonate would do the trick!

 

NASCAR is using composite bodies these days. Here is a pic of Denny Hamlin's hood during practice at Indy a few weeks ago. Crew forgot the hood pins & you see what happened.

 

^^^

How do they hammer out the dents in the fenders ? or is that a thing of the past ?

 

Most of the rest of the car is still aluminum though correct? I'll admit NASCAR is not my thing.

 

unclip busted panel ---- clip in new panel

Wish I could do that on my Tacoma...busted ass work truck.

 

I think he was asking about NASCAR since he pointed to a photo of NASCAR.

 

And how much do we think this would cost? I could get a skewp!

 

If you could figure out a way to induct it into your supercharger that would be sweet!

 

I know, right?!

Didn't even know a CF hood could be an option. $100k Tacoma before you know it.

 

LOL... tell me about it.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Thanks for the reply and information.

 

Did we ever get an answer to best place?