smrx8

iTrader: (1)

Why do people paint there carbon hoods thinking of getting one.... sorry if its a dum question.

VASasha

iTrader: (5)

Most of the time they don't paint, but when they do it's to retain the stock look.

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

cool thanks

GotBass

The purpose of a carbon hood is to reduce weight, since the paint adds weight and carbon fiber looks fine not painted, the trend became not paining the hood. Now the black hood is a style of its own, and the carbon hood is basically all for looks.

Most of the supercars are all carbon fiber (Porsche, Enzo) and they are painted. Although I do believe that there is a unpainted carbon Pagandi Zonda.

I cant imagine that a painted CF hood saves much weight over stock since our hood is aluminum (to save weight vs a steel hood). Its cheaper to lay off the Oreos.

DrewMan

In Aus, carbon hoods arent road legal since they change the way the crumple zones work.

Carbon fiber tends to snap and not absorb the intertia and aluminium works with the crumple zones and is made to absorb much of the inertia in a crash.

Not much use changing the rx8 hood unless youre going for looks

$650+ for 1-2kg lighter?

just go jogging! its free (or put it towards a set of volks)

In australia, people paint their CF hoods to get away with a "stock looking" hood

Other cars arent as lucky as ours and have much heavier hoods.

R Magic

I will be repainting my hood soon, CF looks okay & the weight difference isn't that much. I think, you would hardly notice any difference. But, the reason I'm painting it so it can match the rest of the car.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

I honestly think there is no reason to get an OEM style CF hood. It saves you 2-lbs is you're lucky for $550 or more if you get a qualitly piece. Those people only do it for looks, really.

But I can understand a CF vented hood. And in fact I'm looking at the Seibon TS-II but throwing town a light coat of paint on it. That way you can still see the weave, and in fact, looks almost like the carbon fiber itself is colored. That way it doesn't stand out as much. But it's mainly for the cooling benifits of the ducted hood, and this is one of the cheapest vented hoods and it just happens to be carbon fiber.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

bottom line: no one these days buys CF hoods for the weight savings. It's so tiny, it won't make a difference.
The real reason to get one is for LOOKS. (like most of the mods we buy)

I don't care for the look of CF but I do like the style of Vented hoods. If I ever put a kit on my car, I could see myself getting a Vented hood and painting it BB so I get the best of both worlds.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

well, carbon fiber DOES do some weight savings on other cars that have steel hoods and heavy body panels. But the 8's hood is aluminum, so the weight savings is nill.

The only reason I'm considering the Seibon TS-II is because of it's vents. The hood just happens to be CF. All other vented hoods cost much more than the $650 for the Seibon; like the RE hood, Veilside, RMagic, Varis, or others. And they cost more than the Seibon for FRP, so I have to spend extra on paint.

Here in the desert, the heat sucks. I'm really hoping a vented hood will lower my temps

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

make sure to log temps before / after

tiltmode43

iTrader: (15)

I was half heartedly thinking about getting a vented cf hood to help keep it cool in the engine bay but I never could pul the trigger.

Has anyone tried a hood tilt like:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/4...ec7f40a3_o.jpg
Throw a few washers on and should keep it cool using cowl induction

imo cf hood is money better spent elsewhere

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

yeah i did it to one of my cars and i could not believe the heat that was let out through there..

XDEEDUBBX

i did it for looks, form doesnt always follow function, but my cf trunk saved some good weight.

alerx-8's

how much does a painted cf hood go for . lets say painted by the dealer lol? < i know pricey but throw some quotes out por favor

Throwdown

iTrader: (1)

I know a guy who put spacers to have his hood sitting up like that. I'm not sure if it's as effective as a vented hood, but you can feel the heat coming out if you put your hand behind his hood.

Trekk

I dont know for sure on this car, but on most cars the air bounces off the the glass and runs down to the hood when you are driving. Thats why air blows through your vents if the a/c is set to vent. At speeds I'd think this would cause some drag. Also if the car isn't moving and you have the a/c with it set to vent you could be sucking fumes into your car.

WoodsOfGreenRx8

Ive never seen one up close & personal with the washer deal, but I dont imagine it looks all that well.. I have a hard time dealing with the fact my CF hood has about an 1/8th of an inch gap larger on one side.. D'oh!

>speedaddict<

i put washers on my hood, it does let out alot of heat when your driving and when your parked you feel all the heat come out. i didnt record temp readings though.

Throwdown

iTrader: (1)

That doesn't make too much sense. Air doesn't get sucked down there. With the hood up on spacers, the air that comes in from the bottom of the car is pushed out, carrying heat with it.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

I removed the rubber weather stripping on the back of my hood. That way it appears stock but kinda acts like the lifting up the rear wish washers dealio.

In traffic I can see heat waves coming out of it, but ten again in traffic my hood is around 185-degrees anyways and when it's 120 out I see heat waves coming off the street!

jeffe19007

From my old Camaro days, there is a high air pressure zone at the base of the windshield. That was the reason for all of the Chevy cowl induction stuff on early Camaros and Chevelles. It was as useful as ram air for helping performance.

The Corvette guys would crush (bend?) a beer car and put it under the rear of their hood to allow more flow in the summer. It worked pretty well.

But then big blocks chevys cast off a lot of heat. Ate spark plugs too, but that is another story.

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

yes, the base of the windshield is a high pressure zone at speeed... look at cars with cowl induction hoods (the last time I looked at a nascar setup they were using cowl induction as well)

Trekk

Yes it doesnt get sucked down, it gets blown down. Turn your A/C off and drive with the car set to vent and windows up, you will feel air comming in from the dash vents, you slow down it slows, you stop it stops. If this car is like most cars you could pop off the plastic vent cover around the wipers and you should see the opening for the "vent" option on your A/C.

If I remeber correct this hood shim was more of a drifter mod, cause the cars didnt move all the fast and ran the motor really hard so they needed the venting.

Really what I was tring to say was becarefull when you use the a/c unit (on vent)in your car if you have done this. You could be blowing harmfull gases into your car.

Really if you want to look at how things work, get a bunch of yarn and cut it in to like 6inch pc then tape them all over your hood, tape towards the glass, yarn towards the headlights and go for a drive. Then you can really see what the air is doing over the hood of the car.