Carbon Fiber and weight reduction

[otterman]

I'm just curious if a CF hood will really help out my time in the quarter or really help the over all performance of the car. I know it's weight off the car but is it enough to really notice any gains?

Also, is a CF trunk really a good idea? Don't you want a little more wieght on the back sense the car if RWD?

[penpen-commander]

alot of people get cf stuff for looks.too expensive for me.i prefer frp but i can't find an frp hatch anywhere and an frp hood that's a perfect fit.

for drag time, i honestly don't know.some people say they can feel the difference on a nice road with lots of turns. you know, the good o'butt dyno.

[180fan]

if you're racing, every little bit helps. carbon vs stock parts yeah no brainer. 30lbs to 10lbs can make a difference. Especially when you start reducing the weight of other parts and that 20 here and 10 there can add up to alot of weight saved.

[mr2lickit]

I would have to say yes! But I also have to agree with penpen that on a drag strip I think $500 dollars could be used on a few more extra ponys. If your into roadracing and you wanna be able to go into turns a lil hotter and reduce the wear on tires I would say any weight reduction is usefull. I would also say ur safe with getting a rear trunk. They arn't that big (lil weight savings, but looks cool) on these cars (unless you have a hatch). I know S14's are similiar to supras in the fact that they both have bad traction problems (supras a lil worse) B/c theres no weight in the back.

[otterman]

Yeah, I have a hatch and that thing is pretty damn heavy. At first I wanted a CF hatch but then I started thinking that maybe I'd want the weight on the back.

[Alfador]

The weight from the hatch is due to the ginormous friggin window. Replacing the hatch with CF/fiberglass wont do crap unless you get rid of the glass window with plexi or lexan. If there is one part on almost any car that CF will make the biggest difference its the hood, but currently fiberglass is just about as light and cheaper from what I figure, especially if you get real CF and you have to be careful because a lot of crap especially from ebay and the like is just ABS plastic wrapped in an ultra thin layer or CF, and chances are thats immitation too.

[180fan]

Yep, definitely with the shortage that's being reported for the real deal carbon fiber world wide. Rule of thumb, you'll always get what you pay for.

[otterman]

I imagine enjuku, phase2 and those companies would be carrying the real stuff though right?

[mr2lickit]

Yeah enjuku is a great shop, but if you want to just get a good brand then VIS is fine. Every car I've owned I just buy new vis cf hood. I also heard siebon hoods are great too. Both of those companys make full CF hoods (not fake ****).

[drifter_for_life06]

ive always gone by the rule of thumb that every 100pounds = .10 off your ET

so CF hood and some light gutting and tire removal will net you a good .1.-.2 faster ET dependong on how much gutting you do