paint it or not?? help me decide

[M42Technik]

Stated this in another thread based on a car Josh found at the E30 picnic this past summer:

He had the carbon fiber hood sprayed with clearcoat, mixed with the car's paint color, tinting the CF hood the color of the car.

I tried looking for the picture to explain how it looks, but Josh seems to have removed it. Hopefully he can post it here, it was a blue E46 with some tasty mods...

[DanGillan]

i vote paint it, but leave some kind of CF exposed on the hood. there's definitely a way to make that look clean. or paint the CF.

[4ce30]

Do Not paint it! Re-paint the stock hood that came on the car with the car and keep the carbon fiber hood to switch it up a little
-Brandon

[AdironRider]

I say put the old one back on and paint that, then if your so inclined in 20 minutes you can have a carbon hood. The VIS hood really does fit pretty crappy.

[Justin B]

ok tough choice..... i like the black CF, its a great contrast to the red of the car, however with more and more people doing CF hoods, its becoming played out and looks, well in my opinion, untasful. I have the vented DTM Gr A mirrors and Im leaving them unpainted along with a rear evo flap and a splitter one day, but i think a hood is way too much to be in CF, especially on our red cars. my 2 cents that is.

So i guess I would go with painting the hood, however maybe only on the outside. leave the underside exposed so that it hints at what its all about and reminds you of what you really have. cus in the end its all about you and your car. tough decision IMO, but im sure one way or another your M will still look great.

Exactly, paint the top but not the bottom.

[VAPORBLADE]

If the car were black I would say leave it - other than that....I would paint it. However I have heard how the VIS hoods do not fit correctly - if that is the case...leave it.

[cramer]

I don't like unpainted carbon hoods on light colored cars so my vote would be to paint it... now if you don't plan on racing the M3 competitvely, I'd put the stock hood back on for the better fitment and a few extra pounds. You'll have a much nicer looking result after paint. :)

[Koony]

I'd like to see it painted but mask off the center rise or maybe just the side profile of that rise and leave it clearcoated carbon fiber.

[ZinRot325i]

Paint it. Exposed CF is lame and makes it look like you've got something to prove.

Leave the underside unpainted if you like.

[Widm3r]

paint the sides and leave the center exposed, i would think that would look the tits!

[bwanac]

^^^

Dont like the idea, but like the looks of the laguna m3.

[nlped]

Clear it with a red candy tint in the clear. It would look deep red at a distance and at night but up close the Cf would still be obvious. Just my .02

[uofom3]

i'm really likin some of the ideas i'm getting here - anyone want to pchop some of the suggestions?

[96 Cosmos]

All I can say is I seriously love the last shot looking out of the garage with the 02s in the background. Very cool.

[uofom3]

All I can say is I seriously love the last shot looking out of the garage with the 02s in the background. Very cool.

Thanks!

One of the things that is leaning me twoards painting it is that bassically everything that has been modded on the car has been done with OE parts. Nothing is knock off, aftermarket, etc. with exception of the hood. I aggree with the idea of using the stock hood again and forgeting about the few pounds savings... but if I did that i would likely just paint it white and put it on my track car :)... so it might as well go on the more modified of the two. I figured if I got a CF sunroof and a CF decklid, i'd be pretty close to as far as I'm willing to go on the CF parts - except for an intake as some point :).