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I've got no personal feedback but the only criticism I've ever heard about CF hoods on 92-00 SC's is that perhaps if you have a monster of a high powered turbo engine and push the chassis up to 160mph there might be a potential issue with hood lift. A CF hood being significantly lighter than the stock steel hood may not handle the wind resistance forces at that speed. In at least one case some guy with an SC300 sporting a very high powered 2JZ had a CF hood blow backwards at that speed because it wouldn't stay down. Hood pins or latches were then fitted but the same issue of hood lift seemed to crop up to a lesser but still noticeable degree so he eventually switched back to the factory steel hood and had no more issues like that.
However since most people aren't planning to hit a dragstrip or a runway to blast up to a minimum of 160mph it shouldn't be an issue outside of such a scenario. I've never heard of any other complaints of CF hoods on SC300/400/Soarers. The few options that are available (Seibon, etc.) tend to be very good quality.
idk what hood i have but it's trash, it's all fiberglass with a single layer of carbon on top. carbon and fiberglass have different tensile properties so they just try to separate from each other as they flex different amounts. Whatever you do, make sure it's a solid carbon hood which means it's expensive, and as ^ Kahn said, hood pins are an absolute must. Some hoods don't even come with a latch glued on. Here's a before and after of the hood i restored.
I'm 95% certain the hood oldManTan has is a DMAX hood.
As for quality, all the carbon hoods fit similar. They are not perfect and they all have gaps.
They all lose their clearcoat due to UV and acid rain exposure. Ceramic coating will slow/stop the acid rain effects but it won't stop UV rays from yellowing the hood.
If you intend to drive your car hard, it's highly recommended you run hood pins so your hood doesn't fly up on you. Almost all the carbon hoods require you to remove the safety latch.
The vented hoods are pretty functional, however all of them don't come with rainguards. That means rainwater flows down the hood into the vents and onto things that don't like to get wet. Like accessory pulleys and the alternator. Other hoods channel water into the motor itself and water can pool in the spark plug valley.
I'm 95% certain the hood oldManTan has is a DMAX hood.
The vented hoods are pretty functional, however all of them don't come with rainguards. That means rainwater flows down the hood into the vents and onto things that don't like to get wet. Like accessory pulleys and the alternator. Other hoods channel water into the motor itself and water can pool in the spark plug valley.
true that, i think mine is a dmax replica because it's 99% fiberglass with a single layer of carbon on top, it's super floppy and soft and the inner layers are all splitting, not a good good at all. as for the water getting in, yes, i need to replace an idler because of the water getting in. i'm gonna build a rainguard out of some ABS or Polycarbonate, not sure which handles heat better i need to do some research.
true that, i think mine is a dmax replica because it's 99% fiberglass with a single layer of carbon on top, it's super floppy and soft and the inner layers are all splitting, not a good good at all.
No, that's sounds about right. I've seen DMAX and Origin hoods in person, as well as had 2 Seibons on my SC (as well as a trunk) and a VIS hood on my Integra. All the carbon fiber hoods for our cars are wet carbon overlayed over a fiberglass frame.
That's just how it's done.
There isn't anything really special about the DMAX hood other than it's rarity and its aggressive looks. They were also insanely popular with the drifting community.
Before the Recession, the DMAX hood was the 2nd most expensive carbon FRP hood a SC owner could buy at $1200
Now there was one company that did make a pure wet carbon fiber hood: VARIS
I believe it is still offered today but is custom order.
At the time I bought my first Seibon hood, which was about $699 at the time, the VARIS hood was 3.5x the price ($2100-2400)
maybe it is real, if it is it's pretty ****, the whole thing is cracked in every place possible. my restoration is already falling apart, the carbon is starting to crack and pop through the paint. i wanna mold it and make my own eventually because the only thing good about it is the fitment.