Vis carbon fiber hood-experience with high speed no hood pins

[Archer Fabrications]

hey guys, just like the title says, i want to hear your experience with the VIS carbon fiber hood specifically without hood pins ON A 2G. i just recieved my VIS OEM carbon hood today and it has a metal latch and is reinforced with carbon fiber (as opposed to a fiber glass latch on other brands) which looks quite a bit more sturdy then the Carbon creations hood i recently had to destroy due to defects. i am aware it is RECOMENDED to use hood pins; but id like to hear from all of you that are running a vis hood specifically with no hood pins and what your experience is going fast, good or bad with the stock hood latch.

i guess i would like to hear from all CF hood owners about this also. im sure there are some people running CF hoods with no pins and arent having any issues with the hood flying up or anything at 100mph. but if you HAVE had it fly up id also like to hear about how fast you were going, what brand hood you have, and what the damage done was.

if you are running the stock latch id like to hear how fast you have tested it at.

all in all, i will probably end up installing my sparco pins anyway but am curious about this.

Vote the pull above!

 

[SupremeDsm]

If you want a very nice set of hood pins get a set of aerocatch hood pins. They are super clean looking and lock with a key.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

If you want a very nice set of hood pins get a set of aerocatch hood pins. They are super clean looking and lock with a key.

you must not have read anything
i already have a set of sparco hood pins.. but i dont want to install them if i dont ahve to. i like the clean look of no pins. my buddy has the aero catch pins on his hood and they work good for him, but i didnt want something so bulky, wanted to go old school pin style. i want to know others experiences without hood pins more or less for the VIS hood specifically, although ill welcome experience from other manufacturers CF hoods.
all i can say is carbon creations/extreme dementions=sh!t

 

[Imback]

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[LiquidX]

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This thread is not dumb, nor an idiotic question.

I am interested as well in this. Also, if you have cracks, take a picture of what going on and is it the same brand?

 

[dsmpat95]

I had a seibon CF hood, it took out my windshield one random day at 55mph. I use hood pins now. Needed a new hood and windshield in a matter of seconds.

The latch was fiberglass.

 

[Imback]

If the manufacture of the hood recommends it why not follow there advice? It's a risk and a stupid one to take. Mine was a brand new seibon and the cracks developed over time.

 

[TSiAWD666]

Try it. See if your hood waves around as you drive at speed. I'd bet it does. Imagine all that flex going through the area where the flimsily attached hood latch is and think about whether you'd want to risk your expensive hood smashing into your glass and roof and the repair costs of that, let alone the chance of an accident and even worse damage.

Really shocked you think the aerocatch are bulky when they're about the least bulky body panel latch there is. They're not that hard to install (will take you a 2-3 hours if it's your first time doing them), and if you order from Merlin Motorsport race parts, accessories, spares & equipment you can get better prices than here in the US typically (unless pricing has gone down here, I know I saved a decent amount). If you do get them, get the backing plates to match as they make the install MUCH easier.

I had a carbon fiber hood once from... Deft Racing I believe. OEM style, where the underside has a fiberglass skeleton. Not even close to race quality carbon fiber (but at I think $500 or whatever it was you can't expect that), but you'd think the extra skeleton would have made it rigid. Did it? Maybe, but no where near close to enough as the thing waved around at speed. Very unnerving. There's a lot of aerodynamic effects going on in the hood area (with an OEM design at least) with plent of lift trying to get that hood up. I picked up Aerocatch plus flush locking latches and that solved that problem immediately.

 

[LiquidX]

If the manufacture of the hood recommends it why not follow there advice? It's a risk and a stupid one to take. Mine was a brand new seibon and the cracks developed over time.

Manufacturers state those things for liability. Like how warranties won't cover parts unless installed by an ASE certified technicians. Same with how a downpipe is for 'off road use only'.

 

[Sebba]

These are the cleanest hood pins I can find, by a company called Quik-Latch Products. I would have no problem putting these on my car...

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[TSiAWD666]

I'll admit I only took a cursory glance at their site but my two thoughts on why those might not work are that their protrusion into the engine bay looks pretty huge, and with the typical placement of latches and pins on 2gs they might not have the tolerance to allow the angles needed between the pin and locking socket. Something to at least doublecheck before going with these.

Oh, there doesn't appear to be a lock either and for me I prefer to have a lock so people don't randomly open my hood and screw with things.

 

[bmoha7321]

TSIAWD666; you put aeorcatch latches in your extreme downforce hood?
I have a VIS EVO style hood. It is very rigid. Doesn't flap in the wind at all. The underframe is fiberglass but the catch is cf. I don't have hood latches. Don't suppose it matters as the hood is sitting in the closet. I don't run a vented hood in the winter.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

If the manufacture of the hood recommends it why not follow there advice? It's a risk and a stupid one to take. Mine was a brand new seibon and the cracks developed over time.

well i got hood pins right next to me and my hood is in my bedroom... and as stated in post #1. i will probably end up putting them on.

i was thinking about putting some kind of rope so it doesnt fly up all the way, but would give me a good idea if the pins were absolutely needed.

 

[dsmspick]

I have a no name cf hood and have done about 110+ mph with no issues, i don't use hood pins and the latch is fiberglass. Probably a bad idea now I think of it. I think I'm gonna go look for some pins now . My dad has a VIS on his 1g, it has a metal latch and he runs no hood pins. He has also done 110 plus with no issues.

 

[Timechg]

Isn't question 1 and 2 asking the same thing?

 

[Archer Fabrications]

Isn't question 1 and 2 asking the same thing?

no question 1 is has it flew up on you while driving
question #2 is has it stayed down with no issues (so far)

I have a no name cf hood and have done about 110+ mph with no issues, i don't use hood pins and the latch is fiberglass. Probably a bad idea now I think of it. I think I'm gonna go look for some pins now . My dad has a VIS on his 1g, it has a metal latch and he runs no hood pins. He has also done 110 plus with no issues.

yeah mine has a metal latch also, im definitly going to rope or bungie something loosely to see if it does wiggle at all at high speeds.. if it does wiggle or pop up at least it will have a rope on it to keep it from damaging stuff. but if it stays then hey i guess the metal latch works ( in the mean time)

 

[dsmspick]

no question 1 is has it flew up on you while driving
question #2 is has it stayed down with no issues (so far)



yeah mine has a metal latch also, im definitly going to rope or bungie something loosely to see if it does wiggle at all at high speeds.. if it does wiggle or pop up at least it will have a rope on it to keep it from damaging stuff. but if it stays then hey i guess the metal latch works ( in the mean time)

Yeah a metal strap bolted to your hood and to the frame, but with enough room so you could remove it to allow you to open it fully. Just seems better than rope idk

 

[Archer Fabrications]

Yeah a metal strap bolted to your hood and to the frame, but with enough room so you could remove it to allow you to open it fully. Just seems better than rope idk

the point was i dont WANT to drill the holes.. this thread is mostly for information of other people who maybe have the same question as me..

 

[Imback]

I feel you . No one want's to cut into there pretty new hood but honestly the thought of it flying while driving on the parkway scares me more. In 3rd gear alone i hit 115 while tunning and after hearing and seeing the damage of people driving in the 50's i could only imagine the damage at the speed. But like other people have mentioned in this thread the aerocatch are your best bet for making it look clean. From a far you can't see them it's only until your within 10 ft they stand out but not in a bad way and people always ask about them.

 

[dsmspick]

the point was i dont WANT to drill the holes.. this thread is mostly for information of other people who maybe have the same question as me..

Well then rope it is

 

[Sebba]

The rope is a stupid idea. If the hood is flying up then the car must be at speed, meaning considerable wind resistance. Hood pops up, now it's a ####ing massive air brake with 3000+lbs behind it. That hood is going to fold so damn fast.

 

[Yamahaulin]

I agree with the previous post. I used aerocatch on my Vis gspeed hood.

 

[4g63tc]

I have a ViS Vader 1 (best CF hood ever made IMO, too bad it's no longer available), it's roughly 8 years old, still looks good, and never had hood pins, but all these years of exposure to sun, vibration, etc. I'm installing the Aerocatch hood pins. I just don't trust the "Glassed" in metal loop anymore and would hate to have such a rare, hard to find hood smash itself to bits, breaking the windshield, denting the roof, and possibly be the cause of an accident.

 

[Sebba]

That hood makes me want to go blind.

 

[danielsl1999gsx]

On my last GSX, I ran a VIS carbon fiber hood without pins for about 3 years. I do have to point out that i never really tracked the car or drove it hard. It was just my DD to school (28miles) and back, and topspeed i drove with it would be like somewhere around 95. I did this because i never knew CF hoods needed pins when i owned the car. It never gave me any problems, but i did hear a bit vibration every now n then. Guess i was just lucky all the time.