REVIEW: Ronin Speedworks Mazdaspeed Carbon Hood
 

Forward: I wrote this review because I wanted to get the good news out about this company and my experience with them. With my FD needing paint, and my Vmount in full form, I wanted to get a vented hood. However, I was looking for a hood that kept the OEM lines in tact, wasn't too flashy, but was still functional. Otherwise, what's the point. After emailing Mike back and fourth a few times, I decided on their Mazdaspeed replica.

Experience: I was impressed! Great communication, great knowledge, and great attention to detail on every aspect of purchasing my hood. Mike was really knowledgeable and helpful with my questions. Communication was pretty good. As my hood was made to order, he did a good job on keeping me posted.

Price: $1050 shipped to NJ. This was for the carbon fiber Mazdaspeed hood. Shipping and packaging was around $200, but it turned out great. The box and foam they used was very functional for keeping my new product from getting injured. I actually re-used the packaging when I sold my OEM hood. It worked great. With the rarity of of the piece, and quality fitment, I felt the hood was adequately priced. Pay to play right.

Product: I love this hood!! The fitment is really great. I have yet to adjust to perfection, but honestly, with paint on the horizon, I'm going to let the body shop tweak it to perfect position. My 10 min fit job looks fine for now. As far as vibration or flexing at speed.... there is none. I chose the carbon because it is more rigid than the FRP version. The hood will be painted with the body. It sits tight with no issues. I have had it up to about 120mph with 4th gear pulls with not a single hickup. I do not plan to run pins. The latch is steel and fits snugly to the OEM clasp. As Mike mentioned, he has had some customers choose not to run pins with no issues. After driving with the hood a bit, I have inspected the latch and all looks fine. I don't really track my car, so I wanted to try running with no pins. If I venture that direction, I can see some pins in the future.

Getting the hood took a little longer than the 2 weeks Mike quoted. Why? There was a minor flaw in my original, so Mike had it remade! The piece I received was perfect.

Final Thoughts: I am very pleased with the entire experience. The price, product and service were all spot-on. Obviously with aftermarket body parts, there is a big concern with fitment. Nothing but great stuff from the guys at Ronin Speedoworks.

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Glad you had a good experience and your car looks fantastic. Would you mind if we used a few of the above shots on our website?

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that up, and give us positive feedback. One of the big challenges with any venture is the fact that you usually only hear back from folks who have issues. The happy customers go out and enjoy their stuff.
If you are planning to paint your hood, make sure you give it a couple heat cycles to fully cure the resin. If you plan to keep the hood with a carbon finish, have them throw a coat of clear over the top to increase the lifespan, and give it that mile deep carbon POP.

Absolutely! In fact, my car is to be painted soon, and the wife has a real nice digital SLR camera. I'll shoot you guys some nice Hi Res pics. :)

I hear ya. I have been driving the car a bit with the carbon on it. Easily put 1k miles on it. And yes, she will be painted the body color.

Thanks again for a great product guys!!

UPDATE:

Some pics of the hood painted. Better pics will be posted when the weather is warm, and my engine bay isn't in pieces. ;)

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that hood looks so good!

Are hood pins required? Does it flutter or vibrate at all when driving?

That hood and paint job looks great! Glad to hear the positive feedback, I do plan on doing business with them later on when the money comes.

We do recommend hood pins. There is a sheet steel armature at the latch so quite a few folks run without pins and no one that I know of has had an issue. Still, for simple redundancy, hood pins are a good idea particularly in track driving where the aerodynamic forces are greater.

We've had no reports nor any personal experience with flutter or undesireable vibrations. We think we have found a good compromise of strength vs weight. Most of these run slightly lighter than the factory hood.

Thank you. Let us know when we can help. For what it's worth, although carbon is marginally stiffer the overall assembly weights about the same. We generally recommend fiberglass as lead times are shorter to get these built.

Looks great!!

That thing is nice man! I have clearance issues with my stock hood and was thinking of running an aftermarket one. Most are too flashy, but this one is perfect! Does it have more underhood clearance or less? I had to cut the cross member off my hood and grind down part my throttle body

The biggest question is where is your zone of interference with the factory Mazda hood and your LS6? Generally it is tightest up near the throttle-body for both ls swaps. The factory Mazda hood slopes down aggressively at that point. If this is where it contacts your hood, please measure the zone of interference from the leading edge of the hood, back to where it touches. You can carefully lay a flat edge across the fenders and measure where it is closest to your motor. Call this distance measurement A. Then take a tape measure and find out how far back from the bumper edge you have this zone. Call this measurement B. Last we need the distance above or below the fenders that the throttlebody sits, call this measurement C.
Give me those measurements and I can let you know your chances of good clearance. This varys slightly from one kit to the next, and from manufacturer to manufacturer.
We have found that in many instances our hood does add a little clearance in this zone, as the vented area rises slightly to create higher pressure where the vents exist. This draws hot air out of the engine compartment.

That looks fantastic!!! Well done!

Hey guys!

What's the current production/lead time for delivery on one of these hoods in Carbon Fiber?

^ I may be interested in one as well. Checked Ronin's website but it is no longer on there.

Well that's a shame.

that it is...it was on my summer to do list. Just gonna run a vented hood when its hot out. I guess the seibon toned down scoot replica it is....doh

Jason

Guys, Steve from Ronin emailed me back to let me know that their vendor's production times have ground to a halt, so they are reticent about selling product they can't guarantee timely delivery on. You've really got to respect that approach, especially in the world of FD parts vendors. It's a shame, but Joel and Steve are solid guys.

Good Morning guys.

Steve here for Ronin. Thanks Peter, that means a lot. But yeah, right now we are having a lot of "timely issues". We've asked our vendor to keep pumping them out so that way we may be able to get these out on a regular basis. Don't fret, we should have some by summer. Fingers Crossed. :D I will update the website and this thread when we have unclaimed Carbo Hoods ready and available.

Thanks guys!

Most excellent. Will not purchase anything in the mean time then.

Jason

Also interested in one of these. almost pulled the trigger a couple of years ago but i havent seen anything else i liked better. hopefully production gets back on schedule. there is a demand for these :)

Just wanted to ask if these hoods were yet available for purchase? Ive sent you guys an Email and a PM but havent received a reply to either.

+1 on people looking to purchase a FD cowl hood if they become available soon.

I'm thinking its dead :(

Jason

I am interested in purchasing one of these hoods as well. Still available?