There are a few reasons that carbon fiber has taken off in the past few years. It is a lightweight, rigid, visually exciting material. It has a unique textured look and a smooth finish. It is surprisingly strong, and doesn't flex much.
Take carbon fiber hoods for example. A lot of tuners like to add a carbon fiber hood on their cars. Opposed to the steel factory hoods, these carbon fiber hoods can sacrifice the weight of the vehicle by as much as 40 or 50 pounds on some applications. This modification, when added to other weight reducing modifications, can slightly decrease 0-60 times and marginally improves handling and acceleration.
Hood
The other theorize is the cool textured looking finish. Add a few carbon fiber touches as a theme throughout the vehicle and this can score some major style points.
These carbon fiber hoods are fairly expensive for their weight reducing capabilities, but add a lot of style for the money. Once you have purchased the hood you want, it's time to get it installed. You may need a hand removing the factory hood due to its weight, but once it is removed, you should be able to handle the much lighter carbon fiber hood.
The factory is fairly easy, so here is a quick guide to help you get it installed.
Start your factory by removing the windshield washer jets for the factory hood. Disconnect the tubing that runs to them by unclipping or unscrewing them. If there is a light attached to the hood, go ahead and take off it, as you may want to reuse it on the new hood.
With these removed, and with some help on the other side, prop the hood up with the hood prop if applicable. take off the 4 bolts retention the hood to the hinges. If your hood has gas shocks, take off them before removing the hinge bolts. Be faithful to reserve the weight of the hood when removing the hinge bolts to sacrifice the risk of damaging the fenders or the windshield. With the hinges and gas shocks unbolted, this will free up the heavy factory hood. Carefully take off it from the hinges by pulling it away from the windshield and set it aside.
Set the new carbon fiber hood in place. It will be significantly lighter than the factory steel hood. Line up the bolts on the hinges and tighten them down. Reattach the gas shocks if applicable, or set the hood prop in place. Reattach your windshield washer jets if your hood permits, and run the lines on the underside. If you saved your light and want to reattach it, you can do so at this point. It can be attached using some 3M adhesive duplicate sided tape, or you can Carefully screw it in place, making sure to use screws small sufficient to not penetrate the top of the hood.
Close the hood and check for alignment. If you need to adjust the alignment, lift the hood and loosen the hinge bolts slightly, just to where you can make small adjustments. Lower the hood and make any adjustments and re-tighten the bolts. This should perfect your carbon fiber hood installation.
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