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

[talonalex92]

My VIS hood made it to my door, on my car and down my about an 1/8 mile before it shattered the piss poor latch they rivet onto the cf, and shattering the hood. This was at about 30-35mph. Never again. Its a great feeling though, the feeling you get when 5-600+ dollars gets f'd in front of you, in plain sight.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

i just put my VIS hood on and it is very hard to catch the stock latch but when its in its rock solid, i dont think ill need hood pins but ill still be installing them. seems very very stiff, and i cant even yank it up if i pull it pretty hard.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

id just like to say for the record, i went 100mph with no hood pins and have had no issues, although i do have it tied with some slack to the radiator core JUST incase. but i have not seen any wobbling, raddling, movement of the CF hood on the stock latch, it IS VERY VERY difficult to close but once it is its rock solid. will be putting the pins in when i have time BUT i just wanted to say that i dont think i will be NEEDING them..

 

[Ghost_92TSi]

I've had a stock hood fly up on me and smash my windshield. Needless to say, my vote goes for hood pins.

Better safe than sorry.

I've seen a stock hood/frunk? on a porche pop open and destroy a windshield.
At least you have a reason to have pins, I hate cars like this stock v6 mustang around here that have hood pins on thieir stock hoods for "looks".

 

[Cirus_93TSI]

running a CF of fiberglass hood on any car without hod pins is definitely not a good idea. they are not rigid like a stock metal hood, they can flex and dont always fit 100% like factory, if wind gets under it at high speed the metal latch is going to separate from the hood and its going to come flying up.

my buddy had a CF hood on his 1g for about 2 days, without hood pins, and it had a metal latch (was vis too i believe). installed it 1 day, drove it on the highway the next and opened it up and went well above 100 mph a few times. the air caught under a corner of the hood at around 100- 110+, ripped apart from the metal latch, and it flew up. thankfully he was going so fast, that instead of the hood smashing into his windshield, it cracked and broke off at the hinges and went flying off the car like a giant frisbee (we never found the hood).
edit- and you know what the realm kicker was? his hood already had holes drilled for pins and the metal plates attached to the hood, as the hood was installed on another friends car that never saw and driving. sheer lazyness and not installing the pins almost killed him and/or destroyed his dsm.

keep in mind this all happened at 110+ mph on a highway in the afternoon with traffic all around. thankfully the hood didnt smash up into the windshield blinding him while speeding down the highway, thankfully he didnt lose control at the shock of the hood flying up without warning and run off the road or crash into another car, and thankfully when the hood tore off the car it flew into the woods past the shoulder and didnt hit another car driving at highway speeds and cause an accident.

bottom line is its not worth it to drive without installing hood pins that cost next to nothing and take 30 min to install(more time and money foe high end latches obviously). yes, iv also seen people drive for years with a CF hood with no pins and not have any problems, but your gambling with your life that you will be lucky. you could easily end up dead of your hood smashes into your windshield at a bad time, or end up causing an accident and possibly injuring or killing others. (imagine for example, my friends hood could have landed smashing into an suv's windshield on the highway and caused a pile up crash, theres no controlling that no matter how good of a driver you are even if you can 100% avoid crashing your own car at all times)

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I've has a VIS CF hood (no hood pins) on my car for over 3 years... drove it in all seasons with it on there and never had a problem with it popping up on me. It was driven on the freeway most of the time, as well.

A thing to note on this is that the underside panel of these hoods are fiberglass and not CF. So this, may, in fact, as a little bit more weight than some other hoods out there and perhaps why it does ok. My hood was damaged when I got it, so that's how I found out its made of both carbon and fiberglass.

its kind of obvious the skeliton is fiber glass.. they even say so in the product discription.. actually most are a fiberglass mold with CF fabrick layed INTO the mold. i think the difference here is metal hood latch, also seeing a trend with vented hoods having no issues at all.

KEEP VOTING ON THE POLL GUYS

running a CF of fiberglass hood on any car without hod pins is definitely not a good idea. they are not rigid like a stock metal hood, they can flex and dont always fit 100% like factory, if wind gets under it at high speed the metal latch is going to separate from the hood and its going to come flying up.

my buddy had a CF hood on his 1g for about 2 days, without hood pins, and it had a metal latch (was vis too i believe). installed it 1 day, drove it on the highway the next and opened it up and went well above 100 mph a few times. the air caught under a corner of the hood at around 100- 110+, ripped apart from the metal latch, and it flew up. thankfully he was going so fast, that instead of the hood smashing into his windshield, it cracked and broke off at the hinges and went flying off the car like a giant frisbee (we never found the hood).
edit- and you know what the realm kicker was? his hood already had holes drilled for pins and the metal plates attached to the hood, as the hood was installed on another friends car that never saw and driving. sheer lazyness and not installing the pins almost killed him and/or destroyed his dsm.

keep in mind this all happened at 110+ mph on a highway in the afternoon with traffic all around. thankfully the hood didnt smash up into the windshield blinding him while speeding down the highway, thankfully he didnt lose control at the shock of the hood flying up without warning and run off the road or crash into another car, and thankfully when the hood tore off the car it flew into the woods past the shoulder and didnt hit another car driving at highway speeds and cause an accident.

bottom line is its not worth it to drive without installing hood pins that cost next to nothing and take 30 min to install(more time and money foe high end latches obviously). yes, iv also seen people drive for years with a CF hood with no pins and not have any problems, but your gambling with your life that you will be lucky. you could easily end up dead of your hood smashes into your windshield at a bad time, or end up causing an accident and possibly injuring or killing others. (imagine for example, my friends hood could have landed smashing into an suv's windshield on the highway and caused a pile up crash, theres no controlling that no matter how good of a driver you are even if you can 100% avoid crashing your own car at all times)

thats the general jist of what most people understand about CF hoods without pins anyway

 

[4g63tc]

I ran my CF Vis Vader (OG) hood for years without Pins, 50k miles of commuting through mountain Twisties. Tons of flexing involved.

Over the years I did notice cracks developing around the metal latch loop, I'm assuming from vibration. To keep my hood in pristine condition I went ahead and installed AeroCatch pins. now I love having the peace of mind that the hood won't fly up, and damage anything.

Can you get away with it? Sure, if it goes it will always happen when it's the least convenient.

@ Chris_93TSi that idiot with the porsche probably hit the hood open button the key fob when trying to unlock it. it's common, but not when the hood is properly latched.

my experience with that is 172MPH at california speedway during the Annual POC meets. Never had my hood fly open.

 

[4GTSiMAN63]

I have a VIS Carbon Fiber hood on my 04 Nissan Maxima and I have done over 100mph and up to 130mph for about 4-5 miles without it flying up and mine doesn't have hood pins, the latch is metal and it has about 1/8 of inch of play and bobbles while cruising on the highway but it still pretty sturdy on the car. I will be getting them installed soon as to be safe but its been a couple of months I've been riding around with it like that. Also my hood has a few vents so most of the air I'm sure escapes thru them. Good luck !

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I have a VIS Carbon Fiber hood on my 04 Nissan Maxima and I have done over 100mph and up to 130mph for about 4-5 miles without it flying up and mine doesn't have hood pins, the latch is metal and it has about 1/8 of inch of play and bobbles while cruising on the highway but it still pretty sturdy on the car. I will be getting them installed soon as to be safe but its been a couple of months I've been riding around with it like that. Also my hood has a few vents so most of the air I'm sure escapes thru them. Good luck !

1/8th inch of play and i would have pins on my car before i even put it into first.

my hood has 0 play 0 wobble but i have it saftey tied with p-cord and metal caribeaner things for saftey but i dont think it will fly up at all

 

[my98gsx]

Ive had 4 cf hoods on my car. 2 VIS, 2 JSP... stock latch, no problems.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

Ive had 4 cf hoods on my car. 2 VIS, 2 JSP... stock latch, no problems.

so why did you go through 4 CF hoods then?

 

[bullettdsm]

I'll play. VIS with stock latch 125mph, multiple times. Not sure how long I had it on.

BUT I made sure of adjusting my latch to be sure that it caught properly and fully.

MB

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I'll play. VIS with stock latch 125mph, multiple times. Not sure how long I had it on.

BUT I made sure of adjusting my latch to be sure that it caught properly and fully.

MB

what adjustments did you do? mine is solid as well i didnt even think about people not checking that the connection was solid.

 

[my98gsx]

so why did you go through 4 CF hoods then?

First i had an invader vis hood, it cracked because my girlfriend sat on it. the second faded. And then i switched companys. I never had any problems due to the latch.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

First i had an invader vis hood, it cracked because my girlfriend sat on it. the second faded. And then i switched companys. I never had any problems due to the latch.

good to hear, which one were you happiest with, looks like you switched to JSP after vis, never heard of that company, but hey as long as it stays down!

 

[Redshark]

I got the vis extreme hood for 5 years now and got it to 255km/h with.no problems. Last year I installed hood pins due to local track regulations.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I got the vis extreme hood for 5 years now and got it to 255km/h with.no problems. Last year I installed hood pins due to local track regulations.

keepin this thread alive!! votes to the polls guys!

 

[NathanCarlK]

I just got my CF hood today, it said it would fit in just like OEM, we will see.

 

[LandoAWD]

Hope you bought pins. Post pics when it meets your windscreen...

 

[Cirus_93TSI]

Could always get lucky and not trash the windshield, the CF hood on my buddys dsm broke the latch at 110, snapped right off the hinges and flew off into the woods like a giant frisbee. We never found it, just glad it didnt hit any cars and cause a pile up on the highway. Oh, and it was in the car 36 hours before that happened.

 

[LandoAWD]

^^Lucky AND avoidable.

 

[ed1380]

I didn't have the hood latched all the way down. Just the first click, and it flew up at 25-30mph. Windshield was fine. Hood got a few cracks.

 

[3kgt2nv]

after having a cf hood on my cars for the last 10 years i can say you will quickly develop spider web cracks around the hood latch area and you run the risk of ripping the latch off the hood at highway speeds due to the flex that cf/fg hoods inherently have in them.

 

[jcart953]

Could always get lucky and not trash the windshield, the CF hood on my buddys dsm broke the latch at 110, snapped right off the hinges and flew off into the woods like a giant frisbee. We never found it, just glad it didnt hit any cars and cause a pile up on the highway. Oh, and it was in the car 36 hours before that happened.

Sorry to hear that but what kind of carbon fiber hood did you have?

after having a cf hood on my cars for the last 10 years i can say you will quickly develop spider web cracks around the hood latch area and you run the risk of ripping the latch off the hood at highway speeds due to the flex that cf/fg hoods inherently have in them.

Had my hood for 3 years and the person whom I bought mine from had it for 2 yrs and I've seen none of that (although im sure it could happen). What kind of CF hood did you have?

I think people who've had there hood smack into the window should state which kind of Carbon Fiber hood was it ie: Vis, regular Oem looking one (no hood openings) etc etc...

 

[rEclipserGST]

Pulled into autozone, did the battery & alternator pack test. Was having starting issues, decided it was the starter. Forgot to put hood pins back in & even latch the hood. Even though the latch part is breaking off, which is what made me decide to get hood pins.

No more than 2 blocks later near a Kroger, 35 mph hood comes up. I could see out the vents I cut in the hood haha. Terrible. No damage to windshield. But my heart, & my hinges were slightly bent. I couldn't imagine actually going somewhere fast or with traffic.

Safe or sorry?