After giving up on VIS ever making carbon fiber hoods for 4th gens i finally bought a different carbon fiber hood off ebay about a month ago. After adjusting the latch about 1/2 an inch upward it started locking and i've been driving my car for a few weeks now using just the stock latch without hood pins. I'm fairly confident that the latch will not fail because of the high quality of the hood. We have all heard the story about the latch failing on someone's hood and it flying up into their windshield, but can anyone point a finger at a member here who has had that happen?

I think that if one properly adjusts their latch upwards (though it is beyond me why every single company that makes these hoods has the latch positioned too high up) there is actually little risk of the latch failing. Now maybe my hood is just higher qaulity than all other ones out there, but i doubt it. Now i'm not saying that i wouldn't install hood pins if i could find a set that don't look like complete ish (like the ones sold on ebay), so if anybody could show me some pins that are gunmetal or black and don't look like they belong on that Civic with the primer gray hood that the owner is trying to pass off as carbon fiber please let me know!

i would like some input from all the people that actually have a CF hood in here as well

 

Very good question. I'v been wondering bout that myself

 

i dont think you really need hood pins. i had an after market fiberglass hood on my s10 and had it on there for 2 yrs with no problems until i got into an accident and couldnt get the latch to line up right. so i got those locking pins cause they fit flush with the hood but i dont know about the reliablility of the maxs hood latch

 

i dont have a cf hood but...yes...you need hood pins. i have seen cars without them...bad stuff happened..lol...one was down at englishtown raceway park in nj...the evo vs wrx car show...the evo's cf hood flew up n hit the windshield on the 1/4 race. another one was in ny...this guy with a civic hatchback...a bird hit his hood and the cf hood flew upward and hit the windshield. this is some serious stuff so get hood pins for your safety

 

Yes you need hood pins. If you are going about 80mph, you should notice the front and back side of the hood vibrate. I drove without hoodpins for about a month and the slight flapping made me nervous. A little less than a month later, I notice that the fiberglass skeleton on the hood started to peel away from the carbon fiber. Be careful, when running a CF hood without hood pins. As far as my opinion, I would never get another CF hood without Hood pins.

 

install your hood pins ASAP.

I`ve seen "it" happened on like 4 to 5 cars, most of them happened at farily low speed and one happened at 80+ luckily no one gets hurt. They all belive their brand name CB hood is the **** and that only cheap hood needs hood pins. BAD IDEA LOL
All of them had the latch seperated from the hood.

 

the only ones i've found that i like cost $150

 

You should definately get them---

THey add like 50 horsepower, and if you get some flame graphics, thats good for another 100 horspower, i also reccomend trunk pins-

no im just kidding

here u go 20 bucks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/APC-B...14968444QQrdZ1

and they sell those at a&a so save urself shipping and go there-\

 

if u run CF i would.....i mean i see my stock hood booble when driving on highways and such...especially near the edges farthest away from the latch.....the ones 007 shows are really good ones....similar to the TOP SECERET SKYLINE GT-R.....for lighter hoods that have alot of surface area like ours i would recommend.....but also they are not totally necessary....but 150 for good hood pins is better than havign to buy a new CF hood if somethign were to happen....so its really ur call

 

those are dead sexy 007, if i can talk my parents into getting those with the hood ill be VERY happy. otherwise ill get the carbon fiber hood pins at AUTOZONE!!!! lol jkjk

 

You can get hood pins for about $20 or less. Go to autozone, advance autoparts, pepboys, and or Call redlinemax.

 

i duno, the scion dealerships are installing carbon fiber hoods without hood pins. i'm sure there is a quality differance, but there are plenty of people with fiberglass hoods without hood pins. get yourself some structural adhesive from 3m and glue the rest of the skeleton to the hood skin. should solve the problem of it comming appart.

 

That two tone paint scheme looks sweet, but those graphics on the hood remind me of a lowriders paint job.

 

dont get these cheap hood pins, they are made of soft aluminum and wear out very easily. just go ahead and get sparco hood pins.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....05#post2763105

 

I said i DON'T want ones that look like shit



I've always been a fan of your 3rd gen. When did you decide to join our ranks?



Thank you, up till now i hadn't seen this actually happen to anyone on here.

I went ahead and ordered these, they're not a purdy as the other ones i posted, but for $9 they will have to do.

 

I got mine from Sparco and I think they have one of the highest quality hood pins. Those ones you said you got for $9 seems a little dinky to me. Make sure you get ones that won't start rusting... that's the most important part.

After putting hood pins, my hood doesn't even wobble a bit even going 80+

 

It's cheaper than buying a new CF hood!

 

I didn't use hood pins with my CF hood. My hood sortof bulged up while driving though because it was flexible, sortof like a parachute lol. I hate the look of hoodpins but if I do a CF hood again I'm going to get them because I drove next to my car with someone else driving it once and it looked ridiculous with the hood bulging 3/4" above the fenders.

 

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/p...roducts_id/278

 

Some CF hoods don't require it if they're built well enough, but I think every single CF hood maker recommends using it, if nothing else as a sort of liability disclaimer.

If you're spending money for a good one, someone recommended these latches as a somewhat more involved to install, but nice, option. It also blends in nicely with the hoods. $100ish from their US distributor, forget the name of the place.

 

mm those look good, a little overkill, and havent seen them in person, but looks like a good idea to me!

 

I dont have pins, since i hate the look, but i do want some type of security. i get scared racing down the track or driving on the highway.

those are feckin sweet. thats something i would like.

 

you have a really light cf hood right (less than 17lbs)? where did you get it from and how much was it?

 

i bought mine off ebay, seller optionracing i think. its 17lbs.

 

I agree go with the pins
cheaper then new windshield, hood, hindges, latch