eeterp

I've seen cars with and w/o hood pins for their carbon fiber hood. Also, I've heard many horror stories about hoods flying off because they didn't have hood pins. However, some people swear that they don't need pins and drive 100mph+ with no probs.

Personally, I don't like the look of the pins but, better safe than sorry.

thoughts?

protetype

this may sound stupid... but they don't latch the way the oem hood does? or can't be made to? :\

Bumble_G

Even if it latches the same way the oem hood does, I would put some pins on it. Why better safe than sorry. All it takes is some kind of defect in the hood were the latch is secured, or the latch not being aligned just right and voila the hood comes flying open.

but that's just me.

like it was stated before, "better safe than sorry"

eeterp

I guess my question is: "is there a risk"? How likely is a CF hood to fly off? Most CF hoods have a latch similar to the stock hood.

Eric F

Jeremy, I don't think it's very likely at all. If we ever get the Fiber Images CF hood purchase to go through, I certainly wouldn't install hood pins in the hood. It does mount exactly the same way the stock hood does, and I haven't heard of a Mazda recall stating problems with the stock hood flying off. There's a reason we want to go with Fiber Images, remember. Their hoods are true carbon kevlar weave, not carbon material on a fiberglass shell. They should be significantly stronger than the stock sheet metal.

biknman

Hay guys,

Check out these locking hood pins : Locking Hood Pins I plan on getting these and then powder coating them black. I'll probably be but some type of custom paint job on part on the CF hood any-who.

Bumble_G

I know a guy who had those on his car and they broke after a couple of months. well they looked like those. Don't know if it was the same brand name.

eeterp

Good responses guys. All good points.


biknman, good find. Those hood pins actually don't look bad and powdercoating them black would be a great idea.

personally, I'll more than likely get the pins. eventhough, the hood shouldn't fly off, as Pseudo stated, it's not worth losing $600 to find out the hard way.

I wonder if fiber images recommend hood pins for their CF hoods or not???

MikeD

JEEEZ.......DO IT!!! It's not smart to sacrifice your safety, others safety, and your hard earned money for the sake of pleasing asthetics. CF hoods weigh a fraction of the stock counter part (duh). All it takes is for wind produced at highway speeds to catch the CF hood like a sail in the wind and make it a part of your windshield. I've personally seen it happen at the track on 2 different occasions (in cars running less than 100mph traps). All you have to do is look around and see that 99.9% of people with CF hoods have em pinned, and not becuase it looks cool to have it pinned. There are reasons company's make these pins and reasons people use em. Spend the 35 bucks and save yourself alot of trouble. Those that don't use em are just not smart.

protetype

I would end up doing it anyway... I was just curious about it as well. Since I've never had to do it before... where would you mount the pins under the hood on our cars? Also, how much would it cost to have them powder coated black? I don't know of any local places that do that stuff, and wouldn't want the silver look.

RODSCALIP5

Well I drive more than 100 miles everyday at no less than 80+ mph. I have CF hood with no hoodpins and I havent had a problem. The latch is the same as OEM and it seems as if it is stable like an Oem. Plus CF hoods look cleaner without hoodpins

biknman

RODSCALIP5

To some not every body as the same view. I personal like the look of hood pins epically since one can tell that the car has some modification anyway. Plus here in the D.C. area a Carbon Fiber Hood is sure to get stolen if you don't take extra measures to secure it. I had a buddy you had a riced out S10 and on different occasions had the tailgate stolen then the hood, then the wheels, and lastly had his windows busted in and they just took what wasn't bolted down i.e. stuff in the glove box, his sun glass, and some CDs.

FYI powder coating the lockable hood pins we'll cost me like $10.00.

Eric F

Visual clues to modifications make a car more likely to be a target for theft, rather than the other way around. You must take steps to protect your car regardless, but many, ig not most hood pins don't have a good provision for locking the hood. To install hood pins you need to drill a hole in the upper radiator support sheet metal under the front of the hood. The trick is making sure you line up the holes in the support with the holes in the hood. I've mounted them on previous cars and it wasn't too hard. Drill the holes in the radiator support first. Mount the pins and grease or chalk the top so when you close the hood it marks the correct position to drill the holes in the hood. At least that's how I did it. Measure twice, drill once! I'm still not a big fan of hood pins due to my past experience with them.