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My CF hood is about a third the weight of the stock hood. It needs a re-clear before it goes back on though. I want to say stock was around 42 lbs. and my VIS CF is right around 11.
Been with me for 16 years...
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Wish i had more time to play with her
My CF hood is about a third the weight of the stock hood. It needs a re-clear before it goes back on though. I want to say stock was around 42 lbs. and my VIS CF is right around 11.
can I ask where you ordered yours from and how it fits?
im trying to get rid of AS MUCH weight as possible before spending money on the engine and power upgrades
aluminum can be almost as light as cf, but it has the pluses of being metal.
the hood on my rx8 is aluminum (as are most of its panels) and it weighs 14lbs. cf hoods weigh 12. saves a whopping 2lbs. i believe for the e30, oem hoods are ~45lbs, genuine cf is 12, frp or cf frp is 16lbs.
30 lbs less is very significant. That's about the same as deleting all the AC stuff. I can't think of any single thing that would reduce that much over the front axle. It's easy to remove weight from the middle and rear with all the sound deadening, heavy exhaust, heavy seats... It's the over the front that's hard.
Shaw CF hoods are under 10lbs. His FRP hoods are around 15. Prices (if he's willing to sell you one) are north of $1000 for cf and about $1000 shipped for FRP. VIS hoods seem to be hit and miss for fit, finish and weight. I have heard the fiberglass/"cf" ones for $500 are around 20lbs while the full cf ones are close to 15 but both have poor fit and the resin clear coat looks terrible within a year. So VIS is an ugly way to spend $500+ saving only 20lb. If you go with hood pins though, you can save another 5lb by removing all the support metal by the radiator
go to like turner or VAC's website. they tell you how much lighter the fiberglass hoods are.
only the cheap garbage ones that are actually fiberglass hoods with a CF overlay. also, the super light FG hoods are flimsy as hell. fine for a race car, but you wouldn't want one on a street car (not a nice one, anyway).
My CF hood is about a third the weight of the stock hood. It needs a re-clear before it goes back on though. I want to say stock was around 42 lbs. and my VIS CF is right around 11.
what VIS hood do you have? did they come out with a new one? as far as I knew, the VIS hoods were fiberglass cores and not all that light (maybe around 15-20lbs). It appeared that they'd stepped up their quality lately though, at least in comparison to a certain other cheap CF parts vendor..
aluminum can be almost as light as cf, but it has the pluses of being metal.
the hood on my rx8 is aluminum (as are most of its panels) and it weighs 14lbs. cf hoods weigh 12. saves a whopping 2lbs. i believe for the e30, oem hoods are ~45lbs, genuine cf is 12, frp or cf frp is 16lbs.
i'd prefer an aluminum hood and trunk to cf tbh.
Quality CF is going to be 10lbs or less. I don't know where you're going to find an aluminum hood - they did exist, but only on south african cars. Yeah, good luck with that.
the difference in feel is more significant than I expected.
Shaw CF hoods are under 10lbs. His FRP hoods are around 15. Prices (if he's willing to sell you one) are north of $1000 for cf and about $1000 shipped for FRP. VIS hoods seem to be hit and miss for fit, finish and weight. I have heard the fiberglass/"cf" ones for $500 are around 20lbs while the full cf ones are close to 15 but both have poor fit and the resin clear coat looks terrible within a year. So VIS is an ugly way to spend $500+ saving only 20lb. If you go with hood pins though, you can save another 5lb by removing all the support metal by the radiator
the full CF version isn't even on their site anymore (last I checked). I paid $900 shipped for mine in 2007.. dang! I think you can get a similar one from competition concepts, but it's not cheap either. However, the quality, weight, and especially the fitment were worth it to me. you can't even tell it's not metal/stock on the outside.
and yeah.. the box it came in quite literally weighed more than the hood.
Quality CF is going to be 10lbs or less. I don't know where you're going to find an aluminum hood - they did exist, but only on south african cars. Yeah, good luck with that.
expanding on this point because i'd prefer an aluminum hood to a cf one. im sure custom making an aluminum hood is also insanely expensive.
what was your source for a CF hood? also seeing how it is CF what about the ground cable that connects to the stock hood. did that effect anything when you went to CF?
also doesn't the stock shock ultimately bow the hood up?
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