2g CF hood with dampers

[Boomdeeze]

I bought some hood dampers off of ebay awhile back but now I might be able to score a VIS CF hood for cheap. It says not to use with a lightened hood like a CF but I was just wondering why it is bad to put a lighter hood on the shocks? Here is the link to the hood shocks:

95 96 97 98 99 Mitsubishi Eclipse Gas Hood Shock Damper - eBay (item 110652638793 end time Feb-23-11 15:44:13 PST)

 

[knochgoon24]

The shocks are pressurized to help lift the weight of the hood. With a lighter hood, it will want to just fling open.

Plus, with a CF hood, you should be using hood pins. I really wouldn't want my CF hood flinging open when I pop the hood pins loose. And extra force on the already fragile striker on CF hoods might not be the best thing either.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Many hood dampers exert too much force like knochgoon24 said with a lighter than stock hood can open them very quickly and tear themselves off the mounting point.

Redline Tuning's dampers work very well on my "carbon fiber" hood. I did a lot of research into this before going with theirs and have been very pleased.

edit - above's comment about needing hood pins or latches in lieu of the stock center latch is very true for most of these "carbon fiber" hoods on the market. Most (can't say all since I haven't seen every hood out there) are flimsy and a single central latch point is not sufficient to keep them from wobbling around. Also the latch included is usually poorly done and prone to breaking, resulting in a hood smashing your windshield while driving. I'd suggest Aerocatch latches if you can afford them.

 

[Boomdeeze]

Well looks like I need to choose between the dampers and the CF hood w/ pins. How are these shocks different from other gas shocks that are compatible with a CF hood?

Edit: ^^ posted same time as me.

 

[knochgoon24]

Be careful with the Aerocatch hood pins. They require the angle between the hood and the pin to be within a certain range. VIS makes a CF hood (the Invader, IIRC) that won't work with those latches.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Won't work... at all? There's no orientation whatsoever that could work? I really find that hard to believe but it sounds like you had firsthand experience with them. There's a lot of leeway in the angles allowed by the latches. I'd think at a minimum aligning them front to back would work.

 

[knochgoon24]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/app...-hood-pins-merged-11-8-a-3.html#post151106003

The carbon fiber base hood pins didn't work on my hood [VIS Invader], but then again my angle is a lot steeper than the OEM hood.

The Aerocatch have an allowable 5 degree flex, so the bolt has to be within 5 degrees each side of the latch/pin for it to work.

 

[tazndrew04]

i have these on, and they are way to pressurized for any carbon fiber hood,

 

[mattsGSTeclipse]

I had a set of the redline tuning hood shocks on my OEM hood and loved them. I then got a CF hood and the shock had so much pressure that they ripped the brackets right out of the hood. I tried different shocks that redline tuning built me and they did the same thing. What are you guys doing that use these shocks with a CF hood?

 

[phunny]

I had a set of the redline tuning hood shocks on my OEM hood and loved them. I then got a CF hood and the shock had so much pressure that they ripped the brackets right out of the hood. I tried different shocks that redline tuning built me and they did the same thing. What are you guys doing that use these shocks with a CF hood?

Exactly what he said. CF can be temperamental at times as to the type of forces exerted on it.

I wonder if you could find some way to bleed some fluid off and lower the tension.

 

[TSiAWD666]

I had a set of the redline tuning hood shocks on my OEM hood and loved them. I then got a CF hood and the shock had so much pressure that they ripped the brackets right out of the hood. I tried different shocks that redline tuning built me and they did the same thing. What are you guys doing that use these shocks with a CF hood?

Well, every hood is different so it's hard to say why it works for some and not others. My "carbon fiber" hood has a fiberglass skeleton much like the stock skeleton on the underside. Terrible for weight, but necessary for a modicum of rigidity as the "carbon fiber" layer up top is a just a sheet of carbon fiber covered in a thick gel coating which is terribly flexible. My Redline Tuning struts are holding fine on that hood by attaching to the skeleton with the included rivets, and open/close very smoothly without any shock to the hood when it opens.

I'm guessing by your "so much pressure" comment you mean the pressure required to close the hood? The shocks definitely don't have enough pressure during the opening motion to do any damage. The opening movement is nice and slow... very controlled. However I could see the initial pressure requried to close them putting stress on the rivet holes in some hoods if the material in the hood isn't up to the task. Definitely a good point and some reinforcement by the owner on install might be warranted. Works fine on my hood. Not every hood is created the same, and I'd bet none of the hoods on the market were designed specifically to take a riveted hood strut mount on the underside edge.

 

[mattsGSTeclipse]

I have a seibon OEM style carbon fiber hood.