Carbon Fiber hood - significantly lighter than aluminum?
 

I guess, the real question is, how much do carbon fiber hoods for our car weigh? Our steel hoods are in around 50 lbs, and aluminum around 30...

i dont know about the cf one but i held a alum hood off the follr of my dad truck with 3 bungee cords, cause its freaking crazy light.

I think the FC3S/Speedmachine hood is around 15 pounds. I know I can handle the thing with one hand.

what's the price tag on one of those?

If it's this one: http://www.speedmachineperformance.com/inc/sdetail/434

700 bucks.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

That's a nice hood. It's made by fiber images, very professional.

If the weight saving is 15lb over an aluminium hood, that's a reduction of 0.5-0.6% of the car's total weight depending on model. This is a very expensive way to make so little difference...

But a very VISIBLE way to say, "LOOK AT ME!"

-=Russ=-

I'd say get an FRP hood... lighter than aluminum but cheaper and less ricey than carbon fiber.

lol.... off topic but how is carbon fiber ricey?

whats lighter ? Carbon Fiber, or Fiber Glass ?

Well, flashier than need be. An FRP hood is MUCH more subtle and almost as light.

I don't recall seeing any WRC cars with unpainted CF hoods, do you? They might be all-carbon bodies but at least they're painted...

BTW, carbon weighs a little bit less than FRP, but for a lot more money.

I never did understand leaving carbon body parts unpainted. I guess I'm just not part of the "look at me" crowd. For my money I'd go with an FRP hood. Like others have said, there isn't that much of a weight savings with carbon and you're going to pay a LOT more for it. Just my .02 though.

Zach

Look at me look at me, unpainted CF hoods are a target for thieves. I guess after spending all that money on the hood, paint is too expensive. Around here, I see Hondas/Toyotas/Mazdas with unpainted ground effects and wings. No paint is just lame.

And, its all about reducing weight.
How many cars have added weight? stereo? strut brace? LCA brace? cage? shock brace? bigger radiator? rims? driver's drive-thru habit?

Certain things like lighter battery/hood/fenders/......makes up for those weight adding devices.

Which would you rather have?
CF hood or weighwatchers,
odyssey battery or slimfast,
Fiberglass fenders or jennycraig,
booming stereo or spare tire/jack.......

CF can be ricey. It depends on how and why it's done.
a Black or CF hood on a red/white/etc car looks ricey because all the tards do it to their rearend accident cars.
My car's black so it naturally blends in(at certain angles). I think it's a somewhat subtle body mod for looks. It's no GP sport kitr or RE Ameiya rear wing but it still makes people check it out.

I also did a TII swap and did not have a TII hood. Do you know how hard it is to find a TII hood in AZ?

CF also does not have to be painted(optional). The FC3S hood is a FG underframe and the main top part is CF.

Speedmachine/Fiberimages hood is top notch stuff. I've had it for 2 years on my daily driven TII in hot AZ sun. No fading/yellowing or hood latch problems.


Close up
https://img216.imageshack.us/img216/...im000496dl.jpg

From far away.
https://img225.imageshack.us/img225/...292991l4va.jpg

Also for the Thieving part. At least in AZ us RX7 guys are tight knit. Trying to sell a CF Rx7 TII hood will be damn hard especially since they have serial numbers on them.

What's with the flames on the hood, Digi?

My FD's CF vented hood weighs about the same, if not a couple pounds more, than the stock AL hood. THe reason for having it is the vents...they reduce underhood temps GREATLY on the FD. Keep in mind that most CF hoods are not totally CF, but have FG underlay.

A CF hood is all about reducing weight by a tiny amount for a huge cost. There are far smarter ways to make such an insignificant different to your car's performance.

It's just dust on the hood.

Hell id buy the fiber images hood and paint it to match, even on my black 7, carbonfiber makes a good accent, but not a large area in my opinion, id do a CF tii lip and rear diffuser etc. but not a hood or fenders or anything crazy like that, id paint those to match.

how about weight savings over the stock steel n/a hood?

HUGHE! But NZCOOVERTIBLE is right, too much $$$ for a couple of pounds, you are better off investing your money on an alum flywheel or lightweight wheels (if you are looking for weight savings)

hoods in CF are alright not color matched but there are ppl that run around with fenders and shit not mached looks like they got in a wreck from far off.

guess i'll go with the fiberlgass one. i'm just sick of my heavy-ass hood.