Looking for honest opinions about this CF hood

stickers are the best mods, ask any 4yr old...

 

I like plain and basic, but think the plain hood scoop looks pretty good. Don't much care for the CF black on the white, so would paint to match. I would also weigh the cost for better upgrades compared to the hood- makes sense on the weight positives, but don't think it would make that big of a difference on an OR.

SRick

 

You should just do whatever makes you happy when you look at your truck, it’s your build it’s an expression of who you are

 

This right here. He nailed it. For this hood to really look like it fits, the whole truck needs to be fully built. And not Amazon, Ebay gear. This hood needs to be supported by the rest of the truck for it to make sense.

If it's not supported by the rest of the build you will end up with a truck that resembles the high school kid with the enormous monster sticker. It's that same feeling, just with adult money.

I do dig it, but I feel as though my truck is not built enough to pull it off, make it look good.

 

Meh... The truck has plenty of add-ons...bumper, CF fender flares, etc., so it kinda fits. Will the louvers help dissipate heat/ increase airflow? Who knows, only the designer of the hood will know if they're functional, or because they look cool (to the beholder). Kinda like the fake scoop on other Tacomas. BUT... I don't make your payments man, and I don't see it everyday like you will - it's gotta be good for YOU not the forum. NOTE: A few people are criticizing the weight savings as not enough, or cancelled out by other gear. NOT TRUE. I spent enough time in infields to tell you weight savings have a definite purpose and add up. In the racing world, lighter is faster - duuuhhhh, but in the off-road world, lighter means gear weight gets cancelled, and you stay closer to the truck's "fighting weight" which means better performance, whether that's speed, or nimbleness. So yeah, shaving a few pounds here & there adds up.

 

That CF look isn’t for me, I do like it better without the louvers. I was surprised how heavy the steel hood feels on the Taco after having vehicles with hood struts or springs for the past 25 years. I don’t plan on opening the hood very often on a leased Tacoma, so it’s probably not worth spending the $100 on a strut kit.

 

I think your truck looks Great!, one of the better ones I’ve seen and that hood would only make it look better. I was also eyeing them for the looks and lighter weight. My hood feels like it weighs 100lbs! Nothing ricey as some are calling it, and anyways Toyota is from JAPAN so the whole truck is ricey, ;-)

 

Toyota Tacoma was always designed and made in NA.

 

If you like it, do it. There are much, much worse looking hoods out there. I'd personally run the stock carbon hood, though.

 

Im really not a fan of this hood, too much goin on, looks kind of cheap?. Sport hood is good enough IMHO.

 

Ok and Mexico too, what I meant and maybe you didn’t understand is the Brand is Japanese

 

I'd like it more without the extra scoops. But it's main draw to me would be weight savings so if it does not have that I would pass, for me anyway.

 

Honest opinion? Looks like a 16-year-olds truck with too much of dad's money and I don't know how anyone could use "saving weight" as a reason to like it

 

About as useful as putting Volk or Work wheels on your Tacoma.

 

I would like this thread a lot better if it wasn't about carbon fiber hoods.

 

tuna, no crust.

 

But you can have a "Ricey" Ford Focus or Chevy Cobalt, its just a style that has nothing to do with brands IMHO.

 

Will fade over time. The cost of the cost of coating could be equivalent to a cost of a new hood. Going through a car wash, just forget about it the pressure of the drying air can bend or crack your hood. Over time where the most heat is dissipated from the engine will start to show in the center of the hood and around the air intake area.

speaking from experience

looks cool tho.

 

Just to circle back and close this out, I ended up going with the OEM scoop, and got it covered in vinyl. I agreed with the consensus of a lot of people that the CF hood would have been too much, unless it was a full supercharged desert runner build or something like that.

Anyhow here she is now:

 

This is the comment that solidified it for me.