BenzoAMGpower

Man, with all the times I have to open my hood for an extended period of time, i need shocks!!

you knwo that little square bump they put so you could screw in these little ***** to pop teh stock shocks on... i modified them, used the screws off a VW and made the shocks fit, the hood works like OEM. Now I just need to find a way to reduce the shock rate b/c the hood jsut pops str8 up FAST when i open it and those shocks rated for the stock hood push that light CF hood up!!

Vomit

Benzo/Silva, I would greatly appreciate a couple of more pieces of info before taking the CF plunge:

Is it true what the VIS site says, that the CF hood weighs about 15 lbs? What was the stock hood weight?

How structurally sound is the CF hood? Would you be comfortable hitting, say, 170 MPH with the CF hood?

Do you think that the unpainted silver CF hood would look "ricey" on a black C32? They make the CF hood in black carbon fiber as well? Which would you guys go with?

Other than the initial purchase expense and the issues with the support shocks, what is the downside of the CF hood (i.e., any vibration/resonation of the hood? increased engine noise?

Thanks alot for the info! This seems like a great mod.

BenzoAMGpower

The CF hood is great but requires you take it to a good bodyshop to patch up what its missing and modify it a bit to fit like OEM. It is definately 1/2 if not less then 1/2 of the weight of the stock hood, w/e the stock hood weights. The hood is reinforced extremely well, that is comparing it to other CF hoods Ive seen on BMWs, Audis, and others. I have hit well over 170mph with the CF hood on and no problems.. its not as light or thin as a honda's CF hood so its pretty secure. No, I dont have hood pins. We modified it to fit just like OEM. Get the black CF hood, I think black CF and black cars looks great...if somebody says its ricey, tell them to go chew bark. I see no downside with having the hood besides the fact that its really lightweight and the hood shocks were made to support a lot more weight. After the CF hood was put onto my car i saw no changes in sound nor did i feel any vibration, I did feel however while taking hard corners taht I had noticably less weight up front. That is my experience for the past 4 to 5 months Ive had the hood. I would love to hear Silva's experience with his.

Vomit

Has anyone actually weighed the stock (metal) hood?

rguy

Stock weight would be awesome. I think we can do this if we get good information and a good guarantee of quality. My color preference is black, to be honest, but I don't know if running two colors is more expensive or not.

What modifications are needed to make it fit like stock, and would these be done prior to shipment? I want to just clearcoat the hood, I don't want to paint it. this should save even more weight and look *****in' too.

Keep up the info. Thanks for the hard work.

Vomit

Actually, the main reason (for me, at least) for going CF is weight reduction. I am guessing that the stock hood weighs roughly 40 lbs. and that the CF hood weighs roughly 15-20 lbs., but this is a guesstimate. In any case, it seems like the CF switch will drop at least 20 lbs.. Switch the stock battery out for an Optima, and you will have dropped over 50 lbs. of elevated weight. These two mods should substantially improve handling (or return handling to stock, for those of you supercharging your C55).

rguy

I don't know if I was misunderstood or not, but what I meant earlier was "knowing" the stock weight would be awesome, not that having the CF hood be the stock weight would be awesome. Sorry for any confusion.

Weight reduction is my primary reason and a million-kajillion miles away in second place is that it would look pretty cool too.

How much do our stock batteries weigh? How much does an Optima battery weigh?

To get a 50/50 weight balance you have to either move ~4.5% of the weight to the back, or ~10% of the weight has to go that is over the front axle. The effect of removing weight that is so high, actually (to me) is kind of like removing unsprung weight, the poundage might be the same, but where it is makes removing it a much bigger deal than the actual weight would indicate. Methinks the center of gravity would be lowered significantly by removing weight from here.

Weight being that high up is an aweful thing to have. Presumably this is why the new M6 and the old M3 CSL have C/F roofs. I think the M3 CSL had C/F hood and trunk deck lid too, but wasn't sure.

For our purposes, I don't think a C/F decklid would work out well because I think this would undo any balance correction of the car and would lighten our load over the rear axle, thus reducing already precious traction.

Vomit

Sorry, I misunderstood you. The Optima weighs in at 31 lbs versus the stock battery weight of 60+ lbs. The best part is that the cranking amps and reserve capacity are higher on the Optima than stock. If I remember correctly, the Optima model that I have is the 35R (reversed poles). There has been alot of discussion about the battery swap (search "Optima").

I called VISRacing for a C32 hood quote. The black CF is slightly less than $600.00 and the silver CF is slightly less than $700.00. The black is in stock and the silver is a six week special order.

rguy

That is much more than I was expecting. 60+ pounds? That sounds like an aweful lot, but who knows, it could be possible. I haven't tried to take the thing out. I wonder what the utility of all that extra weight is? Thanks for the info.

To the rest of us, any news on the group buy?

Vomit

I weighed my (C32) stock battery when I removed it. It was 62 or 63 lbs! My best guess is that the porky battery was substantially cheaper for MBZ to use.

rguy

I think it is to make the AH capacity soar to commercial duty levels.

rguy

That Odyssey Battery is like 26lbs, but only 25AH which is 1/2 the optima and 1/4 stock.

BrabusClK04

If the hood fits the W209 CLK, then I am interested. Please keep me updated. Thanks

BlackC230Coupe

I didn't forget. I just had not heard anything new. Still looking into a few things. Should have a definite answer and details next week. I will let you all know once i hear some news.

rguy

Gravy. Thanks for the work.

amgpimps

The CF hood is dope. Im going to get one soon.

rbaker

I would buy a black CF hood if someone has one with factory fit & mounts, of good quality, if the price is around $700-800.

rguy

I think a ton of us would, which is why I am eagerly awaiting news from blackc230coupe.

BlackC230Coupe

update on the CF hood group buy on this thread i just started. Its not down to 20 orders.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...54#post1149954

BlackC230Coupe

i dont understand?????????? my thread was deleted???

AMG PWR

<Best Yoda impression>hmm....I sense a higher force there is behind this <Best Yoda impression>

BrabusW203

Of course it was you gook. It was a commercial post soliciting commercial sales by a non-sponsor

heh. Need a hug?

BlackC230Coupe

haha!

dude, this was not threw my damn business. it makes no sense, there are regular members starting group buys here all the time. now they somehow delete mine?????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????

BrabusW203

Dude I feel your pain, but don't oppose the MB *****. tsk tsk they'll pop one right into your *** asap.

Ask the mods, I'm sure they will listen to reason if you take the effort to inform them about the g-buy in advance. Just a thought...

BlackC230Coupe

i emailed them. already got nothing!!!!! i wanna know who deleted it and didnt even take time to PM me a reason why this was deleted???