hey folks... well, i'm a little ways out from having the cash to buy a carbon fiber hood, but i'm still looking at them and all... heres a question though, i live in texas and my car is parked outside... how long will carbon fiber with its pretty clear coat last in long hot summers with a lot of sunshine?

also, related to cf hoods... why the hood pins? if the hood has a oem latch, why the pins? just for looks?... i talked to a guy once at a gas station with a cf hood and he looked at me like i was a moron and just said, "dude, highway speeds with just a factory latch...that'd be scary".... hmmm, so scary that 99.9% of cars do it just fine....

i mean, if the cf hood didn't have the oem latch, then yeah, its a no brainer...

 

Well don't know the sunshine question. But the pins is to make sure the hood doesn't come flying back at you like the guy said when you are traveling high speeds. Remember carbon fiber is lighter than the oem material so that means it has more chances for the wind to lift it up and so forth. So hood pins are a safety net to make sure it doesn't come flying back at you

 

well no finish in the world can withstand the harsh abuse from being in the sun all the time! my advice park the car in a shade when you can!!!!!!

as to the hood pins ive seen some really nice looking hood pins that dont look gay at all!
http://www.importprecision.com/aeroc...od_latches.htm
AND THEY HAVE ONES WITH LOCKS!!!!!! thats very nice for security as well!!!!!!

if i ever put in hood pins thats what i would use!

 

could always use a car cover. my hatch is from austin texas is the roof is all kinds of messed up lol

 

ya you can always tell when a cars been parked outside all its life. the paint just gets burned right off and it peels badly!!!!!!
my truck sit out in the sun for about 6months and its new paint started to brush off and change color alittle i had the car painted for ruffly a year with no problems when it was parked inside or in the shade. but i got a new car and parked it outside and the paint went to hell

 

carbon fiber and sun don't mix, trust me, just keep the factory painted hood, it will do you well.

 

try to stay out of the sun, but it also depends on the quality of the hood. go for name brand carbon fiber. ex. vis. also the hood pins are important because the latch alone does not guarantee the hood from flipping open

 

Or just use a cover or park in shade ...

 

sun has faded my hood rather quickly, instead of pins I went with installing factory weather stripping underneath, CF hood isn't much lighter than the factory hood, gues I'll end up painting the hood, used headlight defogger to restore the hood, worked fairly well

 

For the cf hood try using wax on it like once a week...a buddy of mine has one on his VW and waxed it once a week and it lasted longer than it definitely should have....i have mine on now and i use turtle wax ice.....but i also live in maine so i take it off in the winter...