Is carbon fiber really worth its weight?

Shift518 Automotive
21

Most of the hoods have just one layer on top and the rest is fiberglass. Cheap hoods almost always fit poorly and get dull very fast.

22

+1 Most composite hoods are just a layer of 2x2 twill over glass mat built frames. Purely cosmetic. Proper hoods will have some 3K twill(2x2 or plain) over a 5HS prepeg frame for lightweight and stiffness.

If you’re looking for a hood for weight savings just go for glass. Most of the time the hood will have to be sanded and fitted anyway, glass is easier to “cover up” cosmetically and paint vs carbon.

And as far as weight savings it’s not just the amount of weight you’re removing but where it’s located on the car. 20lbs over or beyond the axle centerlines is going to make a bigger impact on the cars characteristics(accel, handling, etc) than 20lbs removed from the cabin of the car. Food for thought.

23

+1 :nod

24

Is glass black and woven looking?

I don’t think so :cool

:rofl

25

CF hoods are gay. Go for the bang for buck mods (unless you are going for the CF look for some reason) until it becomes more cost effective to drop weight.

26

:shifty

I need some stage 4 weight reduction on myself :rofl

27

Stage IV@($R* :ahh

28

Yes, been using it for quite some time in my products

http://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-category-Aluminized%20&%20Black%20Fiberglass-132.html

I’d say in ya face Benny but you’re a noob at this stuff :lol

29

Friggin Beanie :lol

30

:wow

31

:lol

32

Thanks alot guys. if im going that route, its gunna be function>form. not the kinda guy with a red car (white) with a black hood (cough benny) lol

And if i get it, its getting painted. the same color as the rest of the car. more than likly im getting a CF Hatch. hood can wait.

33

I don’t see the point in painting it, even the BETTER quality hood I just got, not top of the line by any means but better than the one I had, fits like CRAP, if I were to paint it people are just going to be like ‘oh man this thing got jacked up in a frontal wreck’ if I leave it exposed cf at least I have the excuse that it’s a tempermental CF hood that sticks up 1/2" on both fenders…at least it lines up better than the last one :nod

34

and if you really think that buying a cf hood for your stock ka’d s13 is going to give you any noticeable ‘function’ you’re lying to yourself, $50 says you will install it without painting it and keep saying ‘I’m going to paint it when I have the money’ until something happens to it and insurance can pay to have it painted, and even then finding a body shop that knows cf well enough to trust your nice ‘functional’ cf hood is pretty tough. shit ain’t easy to work with, not to mention how much temperature change effects it.

Point of the story is you want cf simply to say you have cf, I got my cf hood in a trade which was damn near free to me simply to get rid of my faded stock hood/stripes on the hood sucked and the oppurtunity presented itself, and my most recent ‘upgrade’ to a newer, better condition, much better made hood, was 100% free to me :nod.

You could do JUST FINE cutting out 20lbs of sheet metal under the hood skin, sure it’ll flap at high speeds but I’d save your money and get some maintenance/suspension/wheel/tire/power mods going before you start jumping on the cf bandwagon :cool

35

wow, out of pot? what an asshole

like i said id get a hatch more than anything. my cars not stying ka. soo :nana

and dont continue on about my car. its about carbon flibber. not me. just saying

36

and btw i dont want CF to say i have CF. i want ot save wieght. dont start

37

Doesn’t make sense though, there’s so many other places to save weight before spending $500 on a cf hood that will lose MAYBE 20lbs.

Take out your back seats/interior/speakers, sound deadening, lighter wheels ($$$ obv, but every lb of unsprung weight saved is the equivalent of like 25lbs sprung or some crazy shit like that), rear hatch shocks, lot sof other useless junk…but you need to know where you’re going with the car, take all that shit out and it’s not so much fun for dd duty.

I think you just wanna join the cf club :cool

38

i wanted some backround on it, never did i say i WAS going that was. but i one day want to get a lighter trunk (hatch)

39

k

40

benny you need

Benny, can you name this kind of pot. (not pinapple express :lol)

took it down, it was Jamaican haze