posted on s2ki already but figured some of you might not roll over there.

yes, i know this isnt something for everyone. i did it just to see if it could be done, if you dont like it, cool. if you hate it, cool. to be honest, i despise unpainted CF hoods on cars for the same reason people might not like this.

anyway...

i found a hood on craigs list for like $150 with no dents, exactly what i needed.

i didnt want to borrow my grandpa's truck to drive the 30 minute drive out to pick the hood up from the seller, so i just took mine off, kinda wish i had a mullet wig or something. fwiw, the car feels unstable without the hood at highway speeds.


got the hood, this is uhh... silverstone? sebring? **** i dont know, whatever, it doesnt matter...


stripping the paint. this stuff is nuts, used mr kleen paint stripper... fumes were terrible, had a headache for 3 days


almost completely stripped, ran out of stripper and was having some more dropped off so i decided to..


...experiment on a small section to see how it shined up.. not too bad


after some more work the shine is coming out




i dont like the finish, the metal is still too rough, kind of satin finish


orange peel.. sucks..


i wetsanded the entire thing with 800 grit sandpaper and polished a corner to see how it looked




getting there.. 2/3rds of the way done


and this was saturday, up near the windshield it needs a tiny bit more work, but i wanted to put it on so a few friends could see it. i'll clean it up next weekend and throw a coat of clear over it to keep it from oxidizing (which hasnt been an issue) and keep bird **** from messing up the finish.







i still like my stock hood better, but this was fun (for me) to spend some time on over the course of a few weekends.

ibeveryonehatesit,lol

 

I don't hate it but it looks out of place. i'm not sure what you could do to make it fit in more.

 

i like it

 

i think it would look pretty good on a bb car instead... gonna put it on my friend's 06 and see how it looks

 

man, that doesnt look half bad.

 

apologies for the mediocre pics, it has been raining for like a month straight here in texas and i've just been using my phone to take all the pics.

 

That actually looks pretty cool

 

Looks great. i think it would look even better on a Sebring Silver.

 

Polish out the rest of the car!!

 

cant do it, steel wont polish up like that.

 

was really hoping the trunk was aluminum, it'd be a lot less work and i'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

Yeah I thought the trunk was too, but I have on rusting out


I think I am gonna do this to my extra hood!

 

dude i thought i was gonna truly hate this until i saw the pics... its soooo sick...

 

Oh yeah, I forget! Chrome paint it is! J/K

 

Um, did you ever consider what might happen at just the right time on bright sunny days??? Severe sun glare.

I had a custom guage pod I made one time. On the way to work, the sun would come through my back window, hit the guages and then continue to blind me haha. I'm curious if that will be a problem, I'd have to think it would be. Let us know.

 

i dont see how a mirror surface facing away from me at a ~15* angle could blind me.

not to mention:


thousands of these are on the road, ever have been blinded? i havent.

the only thing that i've had issues with are trucks with big *** flat chrome bumpers reflecting my headlights back into my eyes.

 

It depends on the angle of the son man. It can be right above ya or setting or rising. That is a large spectrum of angles that could very easily hit right in your eyes.

That is obviously a much different angle than your hood. Hey, I hope you DON'T have problems, but let us know, I would have to think in the summer time, you may run into issue's.

 

i cant even see the hood except for the very middle when sitting in the car and i am 6ft tall. i really dont think this will be an issue.

if it is though, i'll let you guys know and get some recommendations on sunglasses...

 

I agree w/ those that say it looks pretty cool. I wouldnt do it to my car... but its def unique. Now do it to the rest of the car and itll be ****!!!

 

You did it right thats for sure, just doesn't look right at all on the car.

 

pretty neat. saw it on s2ki.

 

Anarchy sunglasses are the ****... theyre cheap and look awesome...

 

it looks good. I wouldnt do it to my car but i think it looks ok.

 

That looks amazing and very unique. Thumbs up for creativity.
How did you polish it after stripping the paint?

 

initially used mothers mag/alum polish and an 8" variable speed polisher. that gave me the satin look above i didnt like, after that i carefully used an electric palm sander to wetsand it with 800 grit wet/dry 3m sandpaper and polished it again. i could have gone up to 1000 - 1500 - 2000, etc but it doesnt seem like thats necessary.