Carbon Fiber on 2000 Protege
 

Hey, ive got a green '00 Protege ES and have hood problems. The clear coat is distintegrating (previous owner was in accident and apparently did a terrible job re-painting)...i had it quoted at a body shop and they said it would be ~$800 to either repaint or replace with an OEM hood. SO, ive been looking around and found a few carbon fiber hoods for ~$600 shipped. Does anyone have any experience with carbon fiber hoods (especially if purchased from Vis Racing-thats the only place ive found OEM carbon fiber) or any advice about buying carbon fiber, help me out here...thanks!

I hear VIS is good, you should pm "anarchistchiken" he's got one and it looks real good.

one thing to watch for is DO NOT BUY A HOOD THAT REQUIRES HOODPINS.

i bought my hood from vis racing it came pretty quick about a week and a half since i'm from canada. here is a link to see it on my car enjoy!

http://members.cardomain.com/jengz
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FELLOW MAX

How durable have you found the gelcoat finish to be? Does it chip or scratch easily?

I've heard great things about VIS, a lot of people have their products, and i plan on buying the CF evo hood and CF trunk for our cars from them. I also bought a protege body kit from them which turned out to be excellent quality, I am however selling the kit, but it was very good qaulity nonetheless lol =D

Hey thanks for all the help, ive got a couple more questions now...

one about the hood pins...ive been warned about them in the past and definately wouldnt want to have to use them, but is the lightweight CF really secure at high speeds without them??

also, for jengz...i see you got the evo hood, i was probably just going to get the OEM hood, but did yours come with pre-drilled holes for the washers? cuz for a daily driver thats definately important...thanks

I've never met a person whos had their hood fly off liek that, the latch is the exact same as ur current stock hood, and carbonfiber is not a weak material thats gonna snap, ur hood isnt going to come flying off unless u chop off that latch but that would just be stupid lol =P

well i've only had it on for a summer and so far so good. still looks mint to me. everything was predrilled when i recieved the hood so that was a plus. well the hood is definitely lightweight, as for hood pins personally i haven't had any problems with it going high speeds but i'll keep you all informed if it does.
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Jing gong g608 airsoft electric

I disagree...although the hood SHOULDN'T come off...stranger things have happened. When I bought my hood for my Eclipse it was a VIS hood....I had heard stories on the dsmtuners.com forums about hoods flying up and smashing into their windshields at high speed. I took the precautionary measures and installed some hood pins myself....it took only a few minutes. However, with what I know now, I'd probabaly get the key lock hood pin set rather than the 'import style" ones. The key lock type lays flush with the hood and can be painted to match or left silver. Although it may look good without it, God forbid that thing flaps up...you're screwed, CF hoods are CLEARLY marked for "off-road use only" Your insurance would have a fit....
http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/data/502/511vis.jpg
You can't really see it, but the red area I'm pointing to states what I mentioned above.

so a few more questions then...

jengz--do you have your CF on for the cold weather or just the summer months, cuz i definately need a hood for all weather...

also, jdm-p5 do you have any pictures of what your hood looks like with the pins in it? basically i want to know if it makes it look tacky or not...thanks.

Now, mind you, this is on my Eclipse...not the P5. :)

http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/dat...11S2010025.JPG
http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/dat...11S2010044.JPG

See more here

-Phil

VIS hoods come pre-drilled BTW! Excellent quality and fitment! I had to do a little fabrication to get the tubing to slip over the nozzle ends though....nothing 2 minutes with a drill won't fix! You can check the write ups I did here:WRITE UPS!
just look under the interior/exterior section...I did a write up on the hood install/painting the stock wheels & a PS2 w/a tv install....97dsmbishi is my name on there.
Hope that helps you out bro...good luck w/everything!
-Phil

i only put my carbon fibre hood on during the summer months and when winter comes around i slap on my oem hood. i just would recommend it that way cuz it's winter and i just don't understand why somebody would leave their cf hood on during winter it might get scratched up when you remove the snow off your hood.
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Subaru Ef Engine

Thank God it doesn't snow down here...and I highly agree with that...the hood will scratch very easily...especially when it's early and you gotta rush to get it off....you don't take the time out to pay attention to detail when you are freezing your ass off. :bt:

vis discontinued the cf hood for the 99-00 protege.. fiber images makes an evo hood for our car for about 700