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I just wanna let you guys know that at Ardperformance.com, in the sale section it's 300 bonez. Just thought I'd drop a dime to you guys if ya didn't know.

 
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What's the "K" count of the hoods?

 
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what's a "K" count?

 
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How many fibers per square inch. All companies claim that they have Grade A hoods with clear coat and rolled edges. But that doesn't mean jack if the "K" count sucks. Any good quality hood should be 6000K + .

 
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you don't work for them, right? good. i heard some really bad things about ARD. plus they ripped firesnake off (charged him WAY too much for an AEM CAI). anyway, i can't tell you from personal experience, but from what i've heard, i'd stay away from them

 
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i dont give a flyin f*** bout "K" count. i got my Ebay hood shipped to my door last year some time, and im happy wit it. Shines awesome with my Merguiars Gold Class. Strong as hell, and looks damn sexy, especially wit my reflection shining in it!

 
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just remember that some manufacturers, in order to save money, count the ammount of fibers from left to right, rather than from front to back (the important fiber count in a hood) I personally would only buy a 12K weave for a hood, due to engine temp/ climatic temp, which could cause the resin that was used used to become slightly plastic and start to get waves over the surface if it is made from a lighter grade carbon.

Also, from a racer's standpoint....all those "grade A" hoods and parts that are so sought after for the looks of the car, are actually the weakest parts you can put on your ride. though a clear coat makes the part look beautiful, its just extra weight on your car and weakens the part in respect to the strength/weight ratio. remember there is a reason why most WRC/ GT cars paint over their carbon fiber body parts.

for instance, I am currently working on a replacement for a ford escort cosworth group A car's side mirror, wich is painted blue. I personally thought it was made out of fiberglass, but it was too light and strong. so i took a razor blade, scraped off a little and, lo and behold, it was carbon. Now, if Ford racing believes that clearcoat is unnessessarry for a painted part, I would be inclined to believe them.

The only benifit of a clear coat on a carbon fiber part is to protect the resin from UV damage/yellowing, so if you were to just paint an non-clearcoated part, not only would you save on a lot of weight, and <depending on the color used> will actually reduce surface temp of the part and make it less prone to warpage and glass transisition <T-sub-G> of the part.

I guess it all comes back to whether you want to go fast or look good. 20" rims are beautiful, but they could hardly be considered a proformance mod. For instance, we are working on a project 92 RX-7 that we have formed every body panel out of single ply 12k and, though we havent weighed it yet, we have eliminated well over 200 lbs of weight off the car. weight reduction is the best mod for your car. It's free horsepower that your engine dosen't have work harder to produce over stock.
I remember reading about a dodge neon that some import racing mag removed every body part, other than the engine and body, from the car and it ended up running a 14.2 with a stock motor in the 1/4 mile.

 
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if you are talking about SCC, it was 200SX, i think.

 
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oh, your right, it's too late for details

 
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Well i am concerned about the look as well as the products funationality. If the carbon fiber hood is light wieght but looks like **** im not gonna waste my money. I want it to look good as well. You get what you pay for. Fiber images or VIS for my car.

 
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Damn, I have never heard anything to bad about ard although some prices suck, but you gotta shop around. This was just a quick 411 but I learned somethin new about the fiber per square inch.