I recently had some damage done to the hood of my '03 WRX and will have to replace the whole thing at my expense. (Note to others: Dont park your car near a high school.) I want to keep my car looking stock, but still dont want to pass up the chance to upgrade parts if i can. I am thinking about going with a CF hood for the car, but I want to paint it to match the car. I am not experienced with body parts, so are there any problems with painting a CF hood? And if this is acceptable, what would you recommend for manufacturers or places to purchase the hood?

 

CF is easy to paint, just make sure you take it to a good body that knows what they're doing. If you're getting a CF hood for weight reduction, there's no real need since the stock aluminum hood is already very light. In this case, you'd just be getting a CF hood for style I assume?

Some good brands: C-West comes to mind immediately. There was another good Japanese brand, but I can't remember off the bat. When I recall, I'll post. Seibon's okay, but avoid VIS.

 

[QUOTE=Choku Dori]If you're getting a CF hood for weight reduction, there's no real need since the stock aluminum hood is already very light. In this case, you'd just be getting a CF hood for style I assume?QUOTE]

Really I thought CF was always lighter than stock. So for the 04 models is aluminum also????

 

[QUOTE=Vince25RS]The aluminium is in the 04 models yes, but carbon fiber is lighter, but to any normal driver you will never notice. To feel any weight at the throttle you need to remove somewhere near 50lbs and the hood may be 8-12 lbs lighter.

Back to the original question, What color is your car ? It may not matter but I think black w/ carbon fiber looks kinda weird. To each his / her own. If you are doing it as a styling option then keep the paint off it, if you want the weight but to be sleeper, get out the paint guns !

Rush

 

I dont think the '03 does have aluminum hood. I compare weights of the hoods between my buddies 04 STI and mine, and there is a world of difference in weight. I do want to keep it a sleeper. I dont mind small modifications to the car to improve its looks, but definately dont want a "bling" factor for it.

 

Carbon Hoods produced in Japan are processed using vacuum molding... this minimizes the resin content and equaly saturates the carbon material to a 70/30.
All hoods produced in Japan have UV protective additves in the resin and gel coating.

Cheep quality Carbon hoods, made in China or ricer shops in the US, use a wet layup. Basically staurate the material with resin... overall you get a heavy ,very un-even, resin rich product.

BTW... Sleepers own the street... paint that sucker!

peace
Drew

 

I've got an '02 and it's aluminum, stock.

Just remember that 2.5RS's have steel hoods though, so if you're in a 2.5RS, yeah the hood'll be heavier be than a WRX or an STi.

The STi's hood doesn't seem any heavier than mine, so as to what you said

 

yeah, you are right. bad memories on my part