Is it just me or has carbon fiber gone stupid?

jcosta79

I will give you an example of what I am talking about:

If you look on E-Bay you can find "carbon fiber" hoods for the 370Z for around $350. I can tell you without even looking at all of them that the hoods are garbage. They weigh more than your stock aluminum hood and are not as strong. They just have a couple layers of carbon fiber matting to achieve the "look" and so that they can legally call it carbon fiber, but the rest is all resin and FRP.

What I don't understand is why someone would buy a hood like this. If it's for looks, just wrap the hood you have now in CF vinyl. (Still gay, but whatever) If you think you are getting a better quality piece because it's "carbon fiber", you are unfortunately very mistaken. The fit and finish of the piece is going to be horrible, the strength is much less than stock and it will be heavier than stock. There is nothing "better" about it versus your stock aluminum hood.

A quality carbon fiber hood would cost around $4K-$5K and will still look and fit like garbage because it will most likely be built for racing. Race car body panels don't "bolt on" and fit like panels built for street cars do, they just don't. They also don't look pretty because they are built for racing and nobody cares. They are likely going to get painted or wrapped and soon after crashed anyway.

My take is, unless you are going racing and spending big dollars on "real" carbon fiber to reduce weight, CF parts are just for show and pretty lame (IMHO).

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