just my two cents and what I did with my Seibon hood. remove the water trays underneath the vents... about a dozen screws. This will give you an amazing amount of cooling.

Second.. powder coat the vent grills. I really disliked the silverish color, they just looked cheap. Be careful when you're bending the tabs to take off the grills, they can break easily.. ask me how I know

 

Ive always wanted to remove the water trays but I dont want rain all up in my engine bay... let alone the small debris that can fall into there as well... Id love the extra amount of cooling though but idk I just cant seem to justify all of the crap that can get in my engine bay

And as far as power coating the vents it seems like too much of a hassle... Ill leave em the Silverish color

 

fitment for cf pieces are always different.. i've been through 3 cf hoods.. trust me, i know.

seibon and vis are both reputable companies. i love my seibon =)

 

Ugh, damn you Ghost for stealing my rims...

 

I havent had an issue in over a year with anything getting into my hood. On the road there's no way for it to get in there and even parked if you look down from above the angle is wrong for anything to make it past the grills.

 

alright so regardless of the debris, what about rain??? do you not care if it soaks your engine bay?

 

people drive their RX-8's in the rain?!

 

have you ever looked under your engine bay? more water splashes up from under the car then will ever fall through your vents.

 

I love this hood, but can you get it in the oem color? I'm not sure I want carbon fiber.

 

^^ You cannot but what you can do is have it painted by your local body shop and have it matched...

 

I'm thinking of getting a Seibon TS-Style carbon fiber hood. Got a couple of questions though.

Is the Dry Carbon lighter than stock?

Seibon recommends not reinstalling stock springs, struts/shocks or dampeners. This is where I'm lost. Are they talking the hinges and springs on the hood system itself or am I gonna have to replace the struts and shocks etc. on my suspension because that doesn't seem worth it.

Thanks all!

 

It is a little lighter, but not by much. I didn't weigh them separately but the stock hood is already very light.

Seibon is talking about installing shocks on the hood itself. Cutting and mounting shocks / dampers on it to lift it up will damage it. Do not use a damper like this one: