Top Secret Hood Pictures

[Racer_X]

no, I haven't given him a call (don't know his number). Honestly, I don't see much to be able to come from this (call it my lack of hope I guess). I just don't have time for the run-around with sending things back and forth (if that is even a possibility).

If Bill would like to take the hood back and exchange it, that is fine. I still have the box, but if not, I will just have to live with it. I don't know if this is the quality of all his hoods, or if I just happened to get the fluke since it was a new type. I just posted what I found by installation. Plus, I bought this hood at the end of last year, so even if there was a warranty, I don't know if it is still effective.

Bill, feel free to post up here once you get a chance. If the answer is "tough", oh well then. I guess I am stuck with a crooked hood, but if you can help in the situation, please let me know.

[94TTinga]

Armond. I bought the cheap brand. the fitment was ok.. not the greatest, but when Alex looked at it, said it was about the closest I could hope for. It is at the bodyshop now getting painted, will send you pics of completed work. (it also was repaired and strengthened due to not closing it properly and I blew it off the car).

Shane

[deft spyder]

I am always happy to help with issues. Instead i got notifed later that a thread has been posted with no chance to render any service or help at all. Sort of the ambush method

What the guy said about CF over FG is true, and yes, just about every hood is that way. If you are not paying over $1800 or so for it, you are not getting CF on CF. Thats reserved for F1 cars, and the difference in weight would be about 8 pounds. So, we are at about 18 pounds from, what 70 on the stock hood? I'd think full Cf might be about 8. Not worth the difference in price, and the extra rigidity FG affords will calm the people who fear the flexibility of CF when driving.

Aftermarket hood never fit exactly as stock. There is adjustability in the front fender, side fenders, and hood that have to be addressed. It seems in this instance you have aligned it completely to one side, which caused a bigger than normal distance between the fenders on one side, and almost no room on the other.

The answer is not "tough".... i dont know how after me being here for so many years you would think that. Please send these pictures to my email address you sent a link to this thread in, and I will forward them to fabrication.


This hood is from the exact same mold on my car. Notice that the space on each side is not OEM, but when you have it equal, then it looks great:

[Racer_X]

I will try to maneuver my hood latches this evening. Thanks for the tip. as far as fender adjustability goes, I don't know what else to do in that aspect. The hood sticks above fender level everywhere except the front driver side and rear pasenger corner if I take every bumpstop completely out. Right now, the car only has one bumpstop (front driver side) installed to level out that point. I honestly don't see how anything could be accomplished through E-mail that hasn't been accomplished in your customer forum (quick notification and resolution suggestions).

It's really my fault for not test fitting the hood when I first recieved it. If you wanted to exchange the hood, there is nothing keeping you from doing it at this time. I haven't slammed you or your company, or any of your other products. All I did was say "my hood fits bad. Here's pictures" as straight forward as I possibly could. I just figure I have bad luck. If there is no chance of resolving the issues on your end, I will put the box out for trash pickup this week, and continue on. If you want to exchange it or something, I will package it back up and have it ready for pickup, but can't pay to ship it back to you. I would rather live with it.

Edit: Just your your second contact. I appreciate you helping me out on this and the quick responces. You are a more stand up guy than other businesses I have dealt with in the past. I think we can make this thing work! The hood was standing up in the box in a public storage until last week. This may have caused the bowing I am seeing. I will work with the hinges also to see if I can get the hood centered between the fenders.

[Racer_X]

Well, after some helpfull tips from Bill, I was able to tweak the hood and get the fitment VERY close to perfect. here are some pictures



Here is the front passenger corner



Here is the front driver side corner. They are now EQUAL . I figured out what was giving me the MOST problem......my hood latch was more to the passenger side than the hood laatch on the carbon fiber hood (by about .25 in). How do you fix it....bend it just slightly, and VOILLA! Good fitment. cost me zero dollars. Thanks to Bill for that tip .

I also had some slight interference with the body of my strut tower on the fiberglass frame. I asked Bill about that, and he said notching the frame in a smal section won't hurt anything. so, got out the dremel and clearanced that spot in the hood. No more hitting. good stuff.

THe hood bump stops in the front now needed to be installed but they wouldn't go down far enough to level out the front of the hood properly.........so I cut the groove around the bumpstops so they would thread farther down. Problem resolved.

The rear driver side still sat up kind of high. Bill mentioned tweaking the hinges a bit due to some variance in different cars, so I checked it out, and the contact surface of the hinge on the hood was raised a bit, so I got the dremel and the grinding wheel out. the hood BARELY pokes up in the corner now and it is not noticeable anymore. Problem resolved.

The bowing in the middle section could have been caused by how the hood was stored. so I pressed on it a bit. That seemed to relieve it a bit, but engine heat will most likely solve the issue for good. (tips also from Bill).

here are some pictures of the sides of the hood



THe driver side has a SLIGHT raise in it near the rear, but it isn't noticeable



Here is a shot of the driver side seam. it is pretty freaking even with the fender



ditto for the passenger side. The hood now looks like a 800 dollar hood should. The fixes cost me 0 dollars

Bill was VERY quick to help me get this hood sorted out and went well out of his way to make sure that my setup was correct. His customer service is obviously above my expectations. Hopefully my post is proof that if you buy a Deft product, and it has a problem, Bill will get you sorted quickly!