Darkside323
forum member
Hello everyone. Well in reality it is a little over a year old now but I removed it from my car at 1 year (March 2013) because it looked horrible. Yes horrible because it began cracking at different locations. This was a sad day for me because hands down this was the most favorite Mod I installed on my car and Paul Brown is one of my Hero's. He was a really cool guy whose idea is totally functional and looks BAD ASS.
The most severe of the cracks are around the center inside section. The 1st crack began at around 4 months after initial install. It was small and I thought nothing of it but as time passed on the crack grew and new ones developed. My painter and I initially thought it was just the paint cracking but when the hood was sanded down we discovered the cracks going passed the primer and into the hood. Basically they start from within.
Since Paul Brown passed (RIP) I have no real direct contact to get the hood warrantied. Bill Garrett at Rehagen racing tried to help me out (thanks man) and pointed me in the direction of John at Chicane23. Once I was able to talk to John he informed me that the hood could not be warrantied because the Carbon Fiber version is not meant for daily driven use, only for race purposes. He basically said that the daily flexing of the hood at freeway speeds causes the cracking. I found this interesting because my daily commute to work consists of a 20 minute drive on the street. I'm pretty sure the stress a hood goes through in a race environment is substantially greater than on my daily drives. He did offer to give me a discount on a new hood but I could not take that offer.
I've talked to many race teams that run this hood and none have had this problem. Looks like I may have just gotten a bumb hood. Some say the problem may be in the resin of the bonding process. Guess we will never know. My purpose of this is not to scare people away from buying this hood but to vent because I am a really disappointed on my results with this mod. Any suggestions on how to fix it are greatly appreciated. I have spoke to Carlos (racebronco) and he mentioned that he might be able to fix it.
The most severe of the cracks are around the center inside section. The 1st crack began at around 4 months after initial install. It was small and I thought nothing of it but as time passed on the crack grew and new ones developed. My painter and I initially thought it was just the paint cracking but when the hood was sanded down we discovered the cracks going passed the primer and into the hood. Basically they start from within.
Since Paul Brown passed (RIP) I have no real direct contact to get the hood warrantied. Bill Garrett at Rehagen racing tried to help me out (thanks man) and pointed me in the direction of John at Chicane23. Once I was able to talk to John he informed me that the hood could not be warrantied because the Carbon Fiber version is not meant for daily driven use, only for race purposes. He basically said that the daily flexing of the hood at freeway speeds causes the cracking. I found this interesting because my daily commute to work consists of a 20 minute drive on the street. I'm pretty sure the stress a hood goes through in a race environment is substantially greater than on my daily drives. He did offer to give me a discount on a new hood but I could not take that offer.
I've talked to many race teams that run this hood and none have had this problem. Looks like I may have just gotten a bumb hood. Some say the problem may be in the resin of the bonding process. Guess we will never know. My purpose of this is not to scare people away from buying this hood but to vent because I am a really disappointed on my results with this mod. Any suggestions on how to fix it are greatly appreciated. I have spoke to Carlos (racebronco) and he mentioned that he might be able to fix it.