My Yellow Stang

I agree with most everybody if you buy a Fiberglass Hood be prepared to spend at least two times the price hood to make it look good. Last winter I purched a Trufiber looked good in the box. So I could not wait to get it on. A freind helped me bolt it on when I lowered the hood the body seem passenger side was off by at least 1/4 in. No problem just loosen fender move to make seem look good. Atter that was done closed hood and the next problem was the hood buldged in the center by about a 1/4 in. Now on my to body shop ran the car up to about 110 mph and about 60 mph the hood started raising inthe center. I went to six different shops two off which didn't want anything to do with it. Otherwise prices ranged $800.00 to $1500.00 with no garantees. Was going to use it as a two person Knee Board at the Lake but couldn't find a good place to put your knees. Just beware of cost to make it right. Please forgive me sound nasty but I should done more research.

Andretti

That sounds like a pretty ugly experience. What did you end up doing about the hood? Did you ever try to contact Trufiber to see if they would be willing to do something about its obviously bad casting?

Andretti

pascal

I hope you didn't pay too much for this thing...
Sounds to me like it's a $100 hood!!
Anything more than 2 hours prep is junk IMO.
Please, don't take offense, it's not your fault.

I did a Cervini last week and although I blocked it once, it didn't need it.
I just wanted to be on the safe side.
Here are the pics...

CruizinConcepts

We have been selling and installing body components for over 8 years. The amount of time spent on a hoods preparation time depends on several variables.

-- First, even if you buy 3 hoods, all of which are the same brand, the amount of prep time will slightly vary.

-- Second, it depends on the experience of the shop.

-- Third, its depends on how much money the shop intends to make on the project! For example when they set the labor price in advance, your simply looking at a set rate for the labor rather than the actual time spent on the job. However, this is common for many shops.

-- Lastly, it depends on how specific the customer is about the end look. If the customer specifies that the hood can be nothing less than SEMA Show Las Vegas Trophy Winning Quality, then any technician will spend much more time in there preperation work to insure the smallest of flaws won't be seen after the hood has been painted. Much of this also depends on what your shop considers quality.

A good preparation job can adversely effect the outcome of your paint job. Its also common sense to price shop and "ALWAYS" ask to see a portfolio of the shops work. This will let you know if the one doing the work is fully qualified to take on the job at a fair price.

I can truly comment as to the quality of many of these types of products based on experience. I have actually seen the hood. Unfortunately, I have not seen this newer designed installed by us, but I have seen several others in which we have worked with in which come from the same manufacture. All-in-all, the quality depends on the manufacture as well. Don't buy a hood from a company you have never heard of if they cannot inform you of the brand, as it could have come straight out of Mexico. Moreover, some no-name hoods have been known to not even fit at all. This is the worst case scenario because many times this cannot be fixed and means that you are simply out the total cost of the whole hood and possibly shipping.

Another thing to bare in mind when buying an aftermarket hood is that there are not many options in regards to material. Fiberglass for example takes up about 96% of aftermarket models. Steel is extremely uncommon and Carbon Fiber is not as widely used as fiberglass. If you want a perfect finish though, on the top side of the hood at least, that requires "NO PREP WORK", carbon fiber is the way to go. However, these are also gel-coated on the bottom side and are not perfect. Thus, if you want the hood to be perfect on both the bottom and top side you will have some preparation work even with the best materials like Carbon Fiber.

If by chance you receive a Carbon Fiber VIS hood or other brand that is perfect on the bottom side you are one of the lucky ones. But even though they require some prep work, VIS for example is world renowned for there carbon products.

Just some advise and information from little old me. Take care guys!

pascal

I will agree with you Mike...
They are a lot of variants on fiberglass and consistency is hard to achieve.

My beef is, that some products should never leave the warehouse, period!
Some Companies (Not talking about yours) sure don't inspect anything before shipping out!!

I had hoods shipped to me that were separated from the brace...
It wasn't a shipping damage either, one could see that there wasn't enough resin to make a bond. How could some like that pass inspection, if there was any?

Anyway, as long as the customer is happy, even if he spent a bundle.
Like you said, it's the shop job to price accordingly to the quality.

Pascal.

underbird10

I asked for a factory smooth finish top and bottom. Removal of the boxes under the top vents and for prep and painting of those inside and out. For those specs, it'll cost me about $600 for the prep and paint job.

I don't think that's unreasonable, and it's very comparable to what I've seen posted by others on these forums. I'll be plenty satisfied as long as the quality of the finished product is to my satisfaction.

UB10

pascal

Very reasonable, considering it takes about $400 minimum to paint a hood (top and bottom).
You did good sir...