mrcarbon

Hi I'm a bit confused rite now with all this so called grade AA carbon hoods and such. I currently do composite work for lemans and touring car teams. I see hoods on here going for 250 dollars. How can a hood be sold for that price. With being in the composite industry I dont believe a good hood can be sold for such a cheap price. So much work goes into construction of composite parts. If a spoon sports hood is over 1000 dollars how can another hood go for 250 dollars. I'v built a few hoods and they were sold at a value of 800us. A company approached me to make hoods for them at a cost of 450cdn and i turned it down. They wanted me to use the cheapest resin/cheapest moulds and cloth from china. I would not have been proud of my work if I had to produce such bad qaulity parts. If you want your car to be the best out there, i dont know if a 250dollar hood is gonna cut it. a lot of companies that happen to sell a lot of hoods for a good price dont use the best of the best.


I would like it if a moderator would like to examine this issue. People are going to think carbon fibre products are cheap to come by and produce,and its not the case. It is nearly impossible to get the best carbon fibre in production rite now due to the wars going on and the military has first dibs on all composite material.


A reall good carbon hood is well over 600 bucks so be ready for anything when you pay less than that.

rodrez.

[QUOTE=mrcarbon]Hi I'm a bit confused rite now with all this so called grade AA carbon hoods and such. I currently do composite work for lemans and touring car teams. I see hoods on here going for 250 dollars. How can a hood be sold for that price. With being in the composite industry I dont believe a good hood can be sold for such a cheap price.

Compared to the work that you do, with the cars you work with, the carbon fiber hoods you see on HT are probably sub par.

So much work goes into construction of composite parts. If a spoon sports hood is over 1000 dollars how can another hood go for 250 dollars.

A Spoon hood is expensive, because it's Spoon. Just like when they charge $12 for a 10mm bolt to hold down the radiator bracket. It's a name added to a regular part.

I'v built a few hoods and they were sold at a value of 800us. A company approached me to make hoods for them at a cost of 450cdn and i turned it down. They wanted me to use the cheapest resin/cheapest moulds and cloth from china. I would not have been proud of my work if I had to produce such bad qaulity parts.

You pretty much answered your own question right there.

If you want your car to be the best out there, i dont know if a 250dollar hood is gonna cut it. a lot of companies that happen to sell a lot of hoods for a good price dont use the best of the best.

I don't know anyone that wants to be the "best," so I can't really comment on that, but I can tell you that 95% of the people on HT couldn't really care less who makes the hood, as long as it fits right, and some are concerned with weight and construction. I don't see anyone wanting to pay 1000 for a Spoon hood, it's very rare.


I would like it if a moderator would like to examine this issue. People are going to think carbon fibre products are cheap to come by and produce,and its not the case. It is nearly impossible to get the best carbon fibre in production rite now due to the wars going on and the military has first dibs on all composite material.

Haha, I don't think a moderator is going to examine the issue, what are they going to look into that you can't look into yourself. Carbon fiber products <U>are</U> cheap to come by. There's a million knock off companys producing parts in China and selling them here dirt cheap. They don't have the same quality or fit, but people are buying them like crazy

A reall good carbon hood is well over 600 bucks so be ready for anything when you pay less than that.

I paid 300 for my Fiber Images hood, about 4 years ago, and it held up perfect, great fit, and it only weighed a few pounds. Honestly, I was extremely happy with it, it shaved some weight, and I didn't have any problems keeping it closed. I don't use it anymore, but it's sitting in my garage, good as new.

McNizzle

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rodrez. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I paid 300 for my Fiber Images hood, about 4 years ago, and it held up perfect, great fit, and it only weighed a few pounds. Honestly, I was extremely happy with it, it shaved some weight, and I didn't have any problems keeping it closed. I don't use it anymore, but it's sitting in my garage, good as new. </TD></TR></TABLE>

what kind of car is it for? im interested in buying it if its for an EG/EH and if you are interested in selling it

rodrez.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris M &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

what kind of car is it for? im interested in buying it if its for an EG/EH and if you are interested in selling it </TD></TR></TABLE>

I still use it for racing, along with a beat up bumper, plus I'm on the other coast

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eric.ws.anderson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually, when I went for my class5, my driving examinator questioned my carbon fiber hood @ $700 CDN. He told me about his motorcycle fenders or whatever that cost him $2500+ and couldn't believe my hood was so cheap.

There's got to be something going on...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think part of it is, as the thread started said, cheap materials and cheap work, that equal low price hoods. Also, it's a mass produced, piece of carbon laid over fiberglass, the expense really isn't too drastic. People/shops buy it in bulk, and it saves even more money.

nub.96ek

If u don't care about using hoodpins u can get a really cheap hood. Most peaple only want to shed a few lb's. Now high quality hoods that have a firm under stucture, nice gel coat finish and that "guarantee" u don't need hoodpins [like carbon creations] are more costly. Most of the hoods on this site are likely used ones that keep getting sold around... and if u can get for cheaper - why not do so.

jspresso

well the thing is, the place where you got your hood from has a mold made already so its easier to pump them out quicker, the mold is the most expensive/ hard part, and things like fenders for a motorcycle are expensive cause its not like there in high demand and not a lot of people need to shave weight off there bikes

monicle

you have to realize the competition in the honda market as well. a $600 hood will not sell as easily and a $350 hood. The quality is better on the more expensive one yes but lets face it... a very large majority of people buying stuff for hondas arent exactly worried about the quality. they are living on an in highschool or right out of highschool budget for the most part. So to answer your question simply they can sell the hoods cheap because they are cheap hoods and because people will buy them reguardless of that fact. just do a search on this forum for hood fitment and youll see how many people have fitment issues. is one related to the other? I think so.

Falqon

a pro in the industry who can't spell mold or fiber? Yeah right.

GAccord

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Falqon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a pro in the industry who can't spell mold or fiber? Yeah right.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes because you need a english degree to work with carbon fiber.

monicle

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Falqon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a pro in the industry who can't spell mold or fiber? Yeah right.</TD></TR></TABLE>

both mould and fibre are brittish variants of mold and fiber. Look them up in the dictionary. Sounds like someone else could use a little schooling in language and word variants. Would he also be wrong for calling the hood a "bonnet" or calling the trunk "the boot".

civic gtr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by monicle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

both mould and fibre are brittish variants of mold and fiber. Look them up in the dictionary. Sounds like someone else could use a little schooling in language and word variants. Would he also be wrong for calling the hood a "bonnet" or calling the trunk "the boot". </TD></TR></TABLE>

OWNED

its sorta like buying an authentic JDM body kit made of fiberglass and cost around $2000. its still fiberglass and itll crack but its the name that makes the price x10 for the same ****.

Falqon

I apologize, I had a hard time reading the poor sentances and didn't realize that this was apparently normal for some other places that speak english. My bad.

monicle

hehe everyone takes their lumps from time to time. even myself.

Marauder

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrcarbon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I would like it if a moderator would like to examine this issue. People are going to think carbon fibre products are cheap to come by and produce,and its not the case.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL...moderators aren't here to protect people from false information, they are here to keep things on topic and peaceful. They aren't like 60 minutes doing investigative reporting.

Its all supply and demand. The Honda market buys up cheap parts like crazy. The cheaper the price, they more parts they sell. Corners are cut whenever possible, and that's also why you see cheap copies of well engineered parts. For example, an AEM intake sells for $250 where you can buy a ebay copycat for $50.

I've worked with manufacturer some carbon parts, and it was just a small decorative cover to go on a race engine. It was $150 ea for a little coil cover.

Since you do high quality work for racecars, I'm sure you couldn't possibly believe how the regular consumer parts are made instead. Much looser tolerances, cheaper molds, cheaper fiber, cheaper everything!

Like a Fiber Images hood can be so cheap cause they are only like one or two layers thick, you can see light thru the hood when its open.