I'm thinking of going with a 'glass hood, and am wondering how their durability and how the paint holds up as the car is driven regularly in the summer. I know alot of it has to do with prep, but are they more prone to paint cracking or chipping? I want to go with the bolt-on Sunoco, should I use different struts? Hood pins? Sorry for all the ? but I'm new to the fiberglass arena.

 

I picked up my 4" cowl hood for $75 in Dallas two summers ago, some guy roll primered it so I spent 2 whole days with a da sander with 120 grit paper getting it all off there and then used 4 coats of primer and sanded two coats off probably. I let it sit for 5 days in the sun to cure really good and sanded again. Another coat of primer, sat for a day, sanded again then I put 3 coats of color on and did some more sanding in a couple spots then hit the whole thing with some light paper one more time and did 2 coats of clear then sanded, then 1 more. My hood weighs 6 pounds and I believe it was custom made because of some rather odd markings and I've never seen another quite like it. I used my stock struts and latch assembly. My hood is damaged now because some redneck in west texas inspected my car last summer and reached up and slammed the living hell outta my hood, cracking a spot above the passenger side strut and right above the latch assembly. I nearly shot that bastard. But mine has held up really well, I had to go back and wetsand and buff it a few months after the paint to get ride of the shrinkage and sanding scratches that showed after the paint dried. But yea it still looks good 2 years and 40,000 miles later. Alot of the color and clear coats were to level out my stenciled graphics that we cleared over, smooth as glass over my lettering. Also one coat of color was Silver then we layed my lettering over it and sprayed 3 coats of color and peeled the letters off then we cleared, so a lot of my work was unnecessary if you're doing a solid color... took me 7 days total to paint my hood. I know long post... sorry.

Yes with good prep they're fine. 2 years and mine still looks good. Used factory struts and latch assembly.

(:

 

Thanks for the input! My friend has a 'glass hood on his and it hasn't given him any trouble. My body guy doesn't want me to use one though.

 

Most people are against them, so am I. Steel hoods are ALOT better. Even if they weigh 10 times as much as mine I'd still pick steel or aluminum. But I'm surprised that mine fit almost perfectly.

 

And lots of body shops are scared because if they do bubble up or flake, which fiberglass hoods are sometimes known to do, they don't want to be responsible. But if you can get a steel hood, perfect fit and no worries about the paint.

 

As of right now I think it's gonna be a stock replacement. Anything we are finding is way more than we have to work with. The insurance company quoted $1000 for hood replacement, so I'm hoping to find either something out of the boneyard or an aftermarket steel one?

 

For a grand you can probably get a genuine SS hood (used), painted. Those aren't fiberglass, they are SMC (sheet molded compound). It's denser and more stable than fiberglass.

 

This would be an ideal way to go. Any ideas whrere else to look? There's none to be found around near me. We've already tried a few late model junkyards.

 

I have the ultra z hood on my car and it is daily driven and the paint still looks awesome!