I wrecked my perfect red trunk and spoiler ~ a month ago.

Bought a replacement... it's silver.

Repainting will run ~ $500.

A carbon trunk lid will cost $650 shipped from Ionic.

With my hood, it's probably the same sitch... a repaint will likely be ~ $600.

Carbon hood is probably somewhere around that price.

I have absolutely not experience with carbon pieces so here are my Qs:

The CF trunk lid will take the OEM lock and latch mechanisms and will funtion just like the OEM trunk, right?

I've been looking at hoods and I don't see that they have the OEM type stricker. So they have to be held closed with the hood pins, right?

How's the durability of the attachement points for the hood and trunk hinges?

How's the durability of the finish?

Will these items last as long as replacement or repainted steel parts?

Apologies if these Qs seem fundamental but like I said... I know "jack" about CF parts.

I was actually talking about this last night with my roommate. Supposedly, before you even put the pieces on your car, you need to get it clear coated. That is the only thing I can tell you. The clear coat should make the finish last.

I was in the same situation as you and bought a Carbon Fiber Hood from Carbon Creations for ~$400 and installed Aero Latches. Yes you'll need latches on the Hood, you could get away without them but who knows for how long and you'd be on the edge of your seat when your pushing 80mph.

Mine was already clear coated when it came so... I'm guessing yours will be too. And as for the hinges its the same bolt up as OEM

That seems pretty good price for the hood. it is real carbon fiber? As for the latches, Do you have to have a body shop install them? From the looks of them it looks like they have to be cut in the hood. Any more pics?

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...d-latches.html

I did have a shop install the latches, they are cut in.

$500 to paint a trunk? and $600 to paint the hood? wow $1100! You could paint the car for $1600 at alot of shops! well here in dallas anyways. and the CF should be clear coated already. some hoods do require pins while others (mostly OEM style) bring the factory latch.

For a carbon fiber hood an maybe if they make it trunk lid. The best ones to buy would be a VIS hood from wings west. They are designed to be a direct bolt on no custom latches or any of that just bolt it on align it .i havent seen one not match up with the body yet. Plus the come with clear coat applied. They are a lil more expensive but it usually works out to be the same price as if u were to buy a cheaper one and have a body shop mess with it.

hahaha $1600 for a ****TY paint job. a decent paint job will run you anywhere from $3000-$12000 depended on the type of paint and how well its done.

oh yea, im also in the same boat, hood and trunk are trashed so i need new ones and i think CF would be cheaper and better but need more info..

whoa where do you ppl live? my uncle has a shop in miami. arrocha auto repair and with filling all the dings and dents, sanding, primer, and base coat, clear coat it costs about $3000! $12000 for a paint job? ur out of your mind! you must be getting a chamaelon or candy paint job or something and still that runs about $8000! for $12000 you can buy an almost new max!

yeah damn that a lot. I was thinking more like $3000 max for a good job. But I guess it depends on what color/type paint you use, Ie color shifts or custom designs.

Nope... they say hood pins are required. But hey... if that's what it is, that's what it is.

http://www.visracing.com/newcatalog/...duct_info.html

From my experience with CF hoods, I would suggest getting them clear coated. They DO NOT come with a clear coat already on them. Its a gel coating that is used when they are created. In time, they will begin to fade and delaminate. I am on my third CF hood. The first two both did this, and my third hood which is a VIS hood I went ahead and had it shot with 3 coats of clear before putting it on.
I have seen many brands of hoods fade, including the Carbon Creations.
The trunk is a different story. Jose at Ionic uses a really nice UV protected resin when he makes them. My trunk still has a really nice shine to it.
Now wiht that said, the CF items are much lighter and thinner.
The trunk onc bolted in is sooo light that when you ope the trunk it will literally fly open. You may have to remove the torsion bars to prevent this. For me, adding the spoiler took care of that. Also, the trunks have no keyholes, just an FYI.
The hoods will require hoodpins. They are just to light and if you rely on only the hood latch there is a good chance of it breaking away from the hood and flying open.
In all honesty, since the trunks and hoods are made from fiiberglas with a sheet of CF over them, I wouldnt say they are as durable as a stock hood. They may or may not last the life of the car, depends how carefull you are with them. They are fragile.

So speaking from your experience would these auro latches be sufficient enough to secure the hood?

1. ID doesn't give you a keyhole/lock, other companies do. It will pop open with your remote or from the lever in your car.

2. They do have an OEM type striker. Hood pins are added insurance. I didn't feel comfortable with the craftsmanship of how the striker is molded into the hood, so I got hood pins.

3. Pretty good, no qualms there.

4. Not the best. You'll have to add a clearcoat/wax to it to protect it. Otherwise, it will fade fast/discolor.

5. Never in a million years, assuming your car is a DD.

Any latch/hood pin will do the job. It's merely aesthetics IMO.

haha bro ive seen a $12000 paint job. it was on a '52 chevy pickup. it was a wierd pearlescent red.

ahh got ya! I like the look of the auero latches. thanks for the info.
yeah thats straight nuts. people with dough to blow. I'll be happy with a simple repaint of black. Done right of course sanded to the metal.

Thats the worse thing to do. The factory primer is the best. Your best bet is to sand it smooth and repaint.

If Im going to be paying $3000 for a paint job... I want a new coat of primer. +10 yr old primer didn't think they would paint over that. I know nothing of the process of a paint job but Im assuming one starting from the metal is the way to go. That's what I heard at least. What if your changing the color of the car? How can they only sand down to the factory primer? They must have some machine that does that then

I have the VIS carbon fiber hood... bought it on ebay for like $550 shipped i believe.
I had to enlarge the windshield washer squirter holes to get them to fit. It went on pretty good otherwise. You will not re-use the hood struts, so u will need to get urself a hood prop (i use a swifer mop handle, lol). I also do not use any hood pins. The stock latch seems to be holding the hood closed pretty good for almost a year now. I didnt put any clear coat or anything on the hood... still looks good. Car is parked outside every day.
Dunno much about the trunk so I cant help u with that.

My current hood is a VIS hood as well. This hood is the best hood Ive had in regards to quality. My other hood hoods just had a FG skeleton frame underneath with a very thin FG top with the CF layed on top of that.
The VIS has a solid bottom. Much more solid and durable. However I still had it cleared. I know VIS states they clear it already but I didnt want to take any chances. Im tired of buying hoods. CarbonEFX claims the same and Ive personally seen those hoods go to crap as well.
A year isnt bad, they normally go to crap in about 1.5-2 years so hopefully your VIS will last past that.
Your a brave person for going without the pins. VIS even suggests using pins there hood. I inspected the latch assembly on the VIS and it was pretty much the same as my other hoods, thats one area that didnt seem to be of better quality.

So your saying the finish on these hood only last about 2 years?

Didnt say that. What I was saying is that my previous hoods did, as well as some others Ive seen. That seems to be there time frame. This is my first VIS hood, and what i did say was that I went ahead and had it cleared before putting it on just as a safe measure.
Im not wanting to have to replace another CF hood.

Good you are taking precautions this time around. Sometime we have to learn the hard way. I was thinking these hood would last as long as any painted hood. I guess not. Makes me want to stay away from them.

Yeah, really erked me that I didnt do it the last time. I kept saying I was and when the time came I never put any cash away for it and just figured screw and i would do it later. Of course i never did. i did wax it very often which helped it keep its shine but it still developed spotty areas where the clear gel coat wore thin.

^^^^ even if the clear or gelcoat that the CF comes with wears off cant you just sand it and get it clear coated again? i had a CF hood on my civic but it said it was clear coated and i sold the car b4 i noticed any fading.

Once it wears too thin, the Carbon Fiber becomes exposed. Sanding it will only cause the weave to become frayed. The sheets of Carbon used are just for cosmetic purposes so the weave isnt extremly tight to begin with.

oh ok cause ive seen CF painted or designs on it? i guess what they sand is the gel coat that originally comes with?

So once you clear coat this hood how long is the finish supposed to last?

Ive already had it cleared. It was shot with three coats of clear. Should last forever now as long as I dont crack it or damage it some other way.

So now thats worth while then. I thought no matter what you did eventually the finish would fade. Cool thanks for all the info.

I got a question? A buddy of mine have a carbon fiber hood for his maxima, but the hood wont latch. We work on it, but seem can't to latch it. Is there something i could do?

It's typical with an aftermarket hood, that the OEM latching mechanism (that the hood latch falls into) needs to be adjusted/raised slightly for the hood to latch properly. I had to do this with my CF hood, and with Ptatohed's fiberglass Sarona hood. Prior, it wouldn't latch/catch properly.

so you saying wizard, that i have to raise up his latching?

Yes, there's a good possibility that it needs to be raised. Very easy to do once the grill is removed. Hopefully it's as simple for you as it was for me and Ptatohed.

thank wizard for your help. ...he been driving with only hood pin attached and not with the latch...

FWIW,
When I went to install my first hood, I also couldnt get it to latch even after adjusting the OEM ltavhing mechanism.
I then rotated the latch porion on the hood, and that worked. Seems as if they installed it backwards before sending it out to me.

No problem.

One other thing I forgot to mention. On Ptatohed's hood, there was some extra fiberglassing around the hood latch, and it prevented the latch from going down as far as it needed to go. Once we realized this, we buzzed down the obstructing fiberglass with a dremel. We did not have to do this to my hood.