ok, i am about to get a carbon fiber hood. they say fitment is perfect and the edges are rolled and both sides are carbon fiber.

the question is that do i need hood pins?

And do I use my stock hood struts cause they tell me not to use them on hoods that are very light? They say the hood weighs 19.5 pounds.

help needed.

thanks

 

if you dont mind watching the hood fluttering around at high speeds... also it might break off the latch and fly open smaking your windshield and causing a major accident, which wouldnt be good. so yes get hood pins for safety precautions. make sure that the underside of the hood has good structural support. dont want a weak cf hood...
good luck.

 

That's a pretty heavy CF hood. If you're asking if a CF hood needs pins then maybe you shouldn't buy it?

 

you got it from GTP?

 

Regardless of hood weight, you need hoodpins.

Those pins are drilled into your car, then "bolted" down... they're pretty firm and highly unlikely that they'd come undone at highspeeds.

Redline Max CF hood is 28lbs - 17lbs less than stock. Cost $480 - 485 shipped
Fiber Images is 19lbs I believe, but not sure. Cost $575 + shipping.

I think there are a few other companies that make them for Maxi.... there is another company called ABS Dynamics http://www.streetstyler.com/ABSDYNAM...FiberHoods.htm

Only the OEM style hood can fit the Maxima.. Their hood I think is like $400 - 500 with free shipping.

Anyways, whatever you choose, just know that any carbon fiber hood you get IS NOT going to be perfect....

 

gtp hood is $400 and it weighs 19.5 pounds. they say oem hoods weigh 44 pounds. so that is a difference. how about the hood struts? do you still ose them?

 

You don't use your hood struts anymore.

What most good bodyshops do (it pays to have a pro install it) is fashion like a prop on the front of your car, ie: if you still have your old hood prop, then you'll use that to hold your hood up.

If you don't have a hood prop, then just find a nice long plastic stick and use that... just be sure it's stable. Even though CF hood's are lighter than stock, you still wouldn't want to be clunked on the head with it! :-)

 

why cant u still use ur hood struts?

 

I'm not a bodyshop specialist, so I don't know the inner workings, but if you look at your OEM struts, they're screwed into your hood, I don't think a CF hood is made to do that.

It's probably not a good idea for a number of reasons.... it could compromise hood integrity by drilling into the hood like that. It's probably not a good idea to prop a hood up with the struts due to stress on the hood...

I honestly don't know why you can't, but all I know is that you don't.

Of course you could always be the first to do it.... but for $500, it's at your own risk.

 

thats right the oem hood is around 45 and the redline max hood is 28, so thats around 17 lbs lighter. ( its hard to remember all this stuff, lol !)

hood struts im actually using mine, but they are old and shot and cant even hold up the cf hood ! from what people tell me , dont use them if they are strong enough to hold up your oem hood. so if they are shot (not working anymore) then you could leave them on there. the only reason i did is so i can use vice grip pliers to hold up the hood instead of a stick .

 

Ceasars Chariot
did your hood come with the bolt where the hood struts go on the hood?

 

I have the redline hood. It was NOT 480-485 shipped.
It cost 480+ shipping. Came out to 502 shipped.
I would use hood pins. I drove aroung for a while with out them. At 60-65 I noticed my hood moving. After I installed the pins I see little to no movement at 80+.
Good working hood struts will not work on the CF hood. Their too strong for the lightened hood and will crack it when you try and close it.
*Another note* the hood did not fit perfect, as most aftermarket parts dont. I had to modify my hood hinges to even the gaps on the sides.
Also, the only holes drilled in the hood were the washer nozzles which I had to alter a bit to get my OEM nozzles to fit.

 

so what do you guys use t ohold the hood up? and i am not going to buy from redline, i am going to get it from gtp. $400 plus shipping for the hood. is it hard to drill holes for the hinges?

 

The holes for the hinges are there with threaded inserts already, sorry i didnt mention that before.
Any pics of the gtp hoods? How is their fitment?
The edges are rolled? Maybe I should have went with them.
Shipping is normaly around 100.00 bucks due to the size.

 

Well, Ange sold us our hood for $380 plus $100 shipping, if you check her website that's what she's selling them for now....

 

Uh, yeah, I know that. I purchased mine for 380. But with the shipping it came out to 502.
I guess since Im in TX. it cost moreto ship it, and it was to a business.

 

Was that shipped to a residential or business address?

 

gtp hoods look very good. the edges are rolled and they say fitment is perfect. plus they got a ton of pictures on their website.

 

Whats their web address??

 

FiberImages hood? what their adress? how much it weighs and how much is it? and rolled edges are not because of lack of quality somewhere else.

 

gtp adress is http://www.importfan.com/

 

GTP probably resell the fiberimage hood.s When you get it, see if you can find any marking as to what company produce it.

 

The GTP hood looks better then my Redline hood. The edges look nicer, the under structure looks nicer, the latch assembly looks more solid and it even has the holes along the front edge to use the OEM front rubber seal.
Wish I would have waited. Let me know what the total comes out to be shipped.

 

that is why i am trying to get the best hood possible