carbon fiber hoods... illegal?

[Slash4824]

...

[Snow White IS]

It doesn't crumple like metal... it shatters... therefore less damage to your car.
I haven't heard anything about it being illegal here in Canada.

[Nick]

i read something somewhere about once its smashed the fibers and glue/epoxy stuff that holds it together burns really good

but i can't confirm this

most cars have little hooks that stop the hood from coming back, although lots of people instead of dremeling a couple slots in their hoods they'll cut off the hooks, thats probably not the best idea

[VVT-i Owns]

Snow White IS is right it shatters into lil bits and pieces of carbon fibre.

Don't u guys watch F1 or (does NASCAR use fibre?)

Well it changes the way the car will crumple on impact....so maybe it doesn't meet the standards?

[mr2freak]

thats bullshit, standards arent all that high. at least, a carbon hood wont make much of a difference

[Velocity]

Not sure about the legal issue of it but i doubt they're DOT approved. I havent been harrassed about it though. I was thinking about the matter of comming head on in a crash too. The hooks on the back that cuffs the hood from comming towards you in a collision was designed for metal/steel hoods. But in this case its fiberglass thats being substituted. So I was thinking that the OEM hooks would just rip and tear right through the skeleton of the CF hood which wouldnt do any better than cutting off those hooks and hoping that it goes over the top of the car in a hard collision.

On the other hand, I do have hood pins to keep it from flying open and just thought about the idea as I am typing this, of its assistance in keeping the hood in tact in case of a collision. Hmm......

[tinman831]

dont quote me on this but i always thought the legality of the hoods was in question due to the fact that oem hoods helped retain the structural integrity of the frame during a collision and helps absorb some of the impact?

[grapefury]

i like my head where it is..

[Sportivo Concepts]

technically, any hood that is made without crumple zones is illegal, trust me I got ripped a new hole about not having the design meet or exceed the OE safety specs (maybe its just like that here in NY). That is why the now any hood I produce will have the OE crumple zones as well as any OE safety spec that can be introduce into the hoods.

Like anything esle dealing with a car it has to meet or exceed DOT specs, reason why all clear tails are illegal and APC got fined heavily and ripped a new hole for their taillights headlights and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I have learned from everybodys else mistake and dont plan on making any of those.

[mr2freak]

hood doesnt retain structural integrity, its there for aerodynamic reasons.A hood will bend if you just look at it for too long.That being said, the deceleration of the car in a head on collision could vary slightly from an original hood, wich would fuck the calculations of the airbag computer(calculates the deceleration and how much time it needs to take to deploy the airbag) wich could make your airbag deploy too soon or too late wich could cause permanent injury or even death.Thats the only problem i'd see.But then again, i dont think it would make any noticable difference in deceleration, but thats just the way the people who take the decisions think.
By the way, i do bodyworks, so i know a bit about crumple zones, airbag systems and collisions

[dejacky]

I've seen street legal cars with custom made carbon fiber hoods that are designed with "crumble zones" so the cf hood breaks properly upon impact. So, I guess these are legal if they're done properly.

[CamNub]

I was talking to my friend about a carbon fiber body because of a thread and i was saying someone said it shatters but he says its fiberglass which shatters..

[Rolla97]

Originally posted by CamNub
I was talking to my friend about a carbon fiber body because of a thread and i was saying someone said it shatters but he says its fiberglass which shatters..

yes but most of these "carbon fiber" hoods are actually made using a fiberglass base, they arent 100% Carbon Fiber

[prana]

when f-1 cars wreck it jus shatters, course they wreck at 150 mph...

plus nothing is approved by DOT they just say what cannot be used...
jus paint the hood to match the car no one will give ya any trouble

[MRQtwinturbo]

^^the only probs is that most ppls don't really use a c/f hood mainly for weight reduction....its more the "look" also thats why u wont see a whole lot of ppls painting over their c/f hoods.....