I want a lighter hood, but i dont want the attention that carbon fiber hoods get. Are fiberglass hoods any lighter than stock ones? Is it worth the investment? I DONT want a crazy hood with all sorts of gay useless holes and whatnot, just a direct factory looking hood.
Thanks,
-Nick-

 

fiberglass is great thing, but when youre in an accident, both kinds will kill you if they go through the windshield.

 

fiberglass is easily repairable after a wreck

 

alright, but what about weight differences?

 

neglidgible at best carbon fiber is thick, fiberglass can be real thin and weigh less, but then its less durable

 

What's a typical weight difference between a CF hood and the stock steelie?

 

Why don't you just get a CF hood and have it painted?

 

FWIW, I went from a steel bonnet.....oh, hood to a aluminium hood and weight was 9 kilo (steel) (20 lb) to 4.7 kilo (Alloy) (10 and a half pound) on my 3 gen civic.

 

i thought carbon fiber didn't "take" paint very well.

 

pretty sure a metal hood coming through the windshield would kill you also...

 

The stock steel hoods have bend points in them. You know, like when a car gets into an accident and the hood pinches in the middle and bends up like a pitched tent. Also both ends of the hood extend beyond the windshield to help keep it where it is, and the windshield itself is designed so that if you do just put a strong peice of metal where your hood should be, it would slide over your windshield, and over the roof of your car. But that would never happen, it is just a redundant safety precaution. Check out where your hinges are fastened, and the angle at which they are fastened. I'm sure even those of you who didn't pay attention during physics class would realize that a hood coming through the windshield is the last thing you would need to worry about in a head on collision. Car manufacturing engineers design car hoods so that they will not decapitated you in a head on collision. Any aftermarket hood should have similar breaking points in it. The only ones that dont are some cheap fiberglass and carbon fiber hoods. They do this to keep the cost down. Anyway the epoxy that helps the carbon fiber keep its shape will just shatter in a collision leaving you with a flacid piece of carbon fiber with some shards of the epoxy stuck to it. And as most of you know, fiberglass will also shatter into a million peices if it gets hit hard enough.

 

Any head on collision you are involved in your screwed, no matter what type of hood is on the car.

As far as which one to get I'd say get the carbon fiber, that just me. If you dont like how it looks, they also have some carbon fiber hoods that are woven with color fiber like blue. I personaly dont like how those look, but thats just another option. And as far as the weights I have felt both, the fiberglass was on a mustang though, they were both extremly light and couldnt tell the difference by hand.

 

LOL,
I cant imagine the hood piercing the windshield, can you?
I can picture it launching over the windshield

 

Formula 1 cars' paint looks just fine.

 

any good sites for purchasing quality fiberglass hoods? I would hope that they are cheaper than quality carbon fiber hoods.

 

you can paint carbon fiber just as well as you can paint anything else all you have to do is sand it down and it is fine

 

if you are going to replace the hood anyways, why not get something with a little extra venting to help cool your engine bay? That's one thing I never understood about people who buy CF hoods.

I think unpainted CF hoods look way lame..but that's just me.

 

hood vents look ghey. sorry no offense. but to me that's one step closer to being fast and furious.

 

who's feeding you urban legends? i know people who have personally wrecked their front end with a carbon fiber hood, and the truth is that they crack in half. despite what you think most carbon fiber hoods and fiberglass hoods are actually made very cheaply, and they aren't very sturdy, which is a good thing.




[Modified by SEFI8LOxCivic, 1:58 AM 5/2/2002]

 

Its also one step closer to being more functional, especially if you have a turbo under that scoop sucking in nice cool air.

 

yea, those vents are just about as functional as those 747 wings kids in highschool put on the moms 4 door dx civic. you don't think the front grill provides enough airflow @ moving speed?

 

I did not have any specific scoop in mind, but if its done right, it can provide more air flow, which is a good thing, don't you think? I'm sure there are scoops that are designed just for the look, I assume thats what you are referring to, but thats not what first came to mind for me. I guess I was just looking for the positive aspect is all.

 

you'd be surprised tho. the front grill flows a lot of air especially at freeway speeds. one thing besides looks that makes me apprehensive about vents is water getting into the engine bay when it rains. while things are somewhat sealed, it doesn't take much at all to screw up the bearings inside the distributer.

 

Thats a waste of $$ because most if not all CF hoods have only couple of layers of CF on top of fiberglass, also the ribs underneath are fiberglass, so might as well get the cheaper fiberglass one

 

in your defense may i present the current subaru imprezas? their air scoops are more than functional as the intercooler sits right under. while most people who get them, are probably fast and furious, the small minority who see a true purpose to it all won't hesitate to get one. and that's cool in my book.