Carbon Fiber Hoods?

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Hmm, not that I know of... I suppose you could just wrap the hood in fiber if you wanted that look? Not sure how much the weight savings would be worth.
 
RunninInGA said:
Kind of a douche-y comment to make. His 2nd post coulda been a bigger doozie but we might never know now.
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Agreed.

OP- Hopefully you stick around long enough to discover that weight savings isn't something that 4runner owners focus too much on. Matter of fact we all end up adding alot more weight to the trucks with racks, bumpers, light bars, and wheels.
 
But weight is your enemy with any vehicle so I think it would be kind of cool to have a carbon fiber hood.
 
BOSMECH said:
But weight is your enemy with any vehicle so I think it would be kind of cool to have a carbon fiber hood.
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Ditch your spare, carpet, most interior paneling, then get back to me on hood weight saving.

Ironically, the 5th gen section is full of people *****ing about the thinner, lighter hood shaking and being deformed by car wash dryers.
 
I get that for a first post that it's (in my opinion at least) a rather aloof question for a forum mostly centered on the off-roading aspect of the 4Runner. But he's a new member trying to have his question answered, we've all been there; some of us have good questions and others not so good, but we're all here to get them answered. Keep in mind that some people on this forum actually do build street/racing rigs, so maybe that's what he wants to do? I dunno...
 
As someone who's owned a couple of CF hoods - they're generally not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. They will tend to get spider cracks in areas of high stress since they flex more than the clear coat will tend to move.

They also yellow over time on the clear coat. Clear that doesn't yellow is really $$$.


Lastly, you're looking at a ~25-30 lb weight savings on a hood the size of a 4Runner. That's about 4-5 gallons of gas. Can you feel that in yours? I generally can't, and I'm pretty sensitive to these things after going to the track for about 15 years. I can tell the difference in <20 lbs of weight changes on my S13 for instance, because it weighs about half what my 4Runner does.
 
RPS13 said:
As someone who's owned a couple of CF hoods - they're generally not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. They will tend to get spider cracks in areas of high stress since they flex more than the clear coat will tend to move.

They also yellow over time on the clear coat. Clear that doesn't yellow is really $$$.


Lastly, you're looking at a ~25-30 lb weight savings on a hood the size of a 4Runner. That's about 4-5 gallons of gas. Can you feel that in yours? I generally can't, and I'm pretty sensitive to these things after going to the track for about 15 years. I can tell the difference in <20 lbs of weight changes on my S13 for instance, because it weighs about half what my 4Runner does.
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This is on point. There's a lot of force on the hood at higher speeds, so if you do get a carbon fiber, expect some bend, wobble, flex, rattle from the wind, in addition to everything RPS mentioned.

What's your motivation for a carbon fiber hood? If it's fuel economy related or appearance related, I would steer another direction. A new hood will help your MPGs about as much as taking out the floor mats.
 
RPS13 said:
As someone who's owned a couple of CF hoods - they're generally not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. They will tend to get spider cracks in areas of high stress since they flex more than the clear coat will tend to move.

They also yellow over time on the clear coat. Clear that doesn't yellow is really $$$.


Lastly, you're looking at a ~25-30 lb weight savings on a hood the size of a 4Runner. That's about 4-5 gallons of gas. Can you feel that in yours? I generally can't, and I'm pretty sensitive to these things after going to the track for about 15 years. I can tell the difference in <20 lbs of weight changes on my S13 for instance, because it weighs about half what my 4Runner does.
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Agree with most of this, except one thing: Weight reduction is not a one-bullet solution. Doing various reductions around the vehicle add up. 25 lbs here, 10 lbs there, a few here and around. I've dropped ~60 lbs from my Aston and I *do* feel it, mostly because of where I lost the weight (particularly dropping 18 lbs going from 1-piece to 2-piece brake rotors). I can realistically drop 120 lbs from the car with absolutely no loss of drivability or comfort.

That said - it doesn't make much sense on a 4Runner because we generally add weight to them (gear, stereos, larger tires, bigger suspension, and especially armor). For style... what's the point? exposed carbon hoods were a thing of the '90-'00s. They look tacky and unfinished.

Generally, there's no reason for a company to offer a CF hood because this is not the market for it.

...Unless someone was tracking theirs, but who would do that???

SkylineGTRracer said:
want the cf hood.
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the one guy I expected to chime in for one with legitimate reason lol
 
RPS13 said:
As someone who's owned a couple of CF hoods - they're generally not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. They will tend to get spider cracks in areas of high stress since they flex more than the clear coat will tend to move.

They also yellow over time on the clear coat. Clear that doesn't yellow is really $$$.
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This, they're definitely not good for a DD vehicle, or something robust like a truck honestly. I have a CF hood for my garage queen, and I keep the stock hood on it most of the time, because it's so flimsy and brittle.
 
RPS13 said:
As someone who's owned a couple of CF hoods - they're generally not a good idea on a daily driven vehicle. They will tend to get spider cracks in areas of high stress since they flex more than the clear coat will tend to move.

They also yellow over time on the clear coat. Clear that doesn't yellow is really $$$.


Lastly, you're looking at a ~25-30 lb weight savings on a hood the size of a 4Runner. That's about 4-5 gallons of gas. Can you feel that in yours? I generally can't, and I'm pretty sensitive to these things after going to the track for about 15 years. I can tell the difference in <20 lbs of weight changes on my S13 for instance, because it weighs about half what my 4Runner does.
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I felt better turn in losing 20 pounds in my truck switching to a lighter battery as it dealt more in weight distribution (since most on the weight on a 4runner is on the driver side). So I would feel that this would also be a improvement by reducing front end weight (depending on variables of established setup). However for all practical reasons I do not see anybody making a cf hood for a 4th gen 4runner, as the demand would be so low. Shame.
 
telum01 said:
Agree with most of this, except one thing: Weight reduction is not a one-bullet solution. Doing various reductions around the vehicle add up. 25 lbs here, 10 lbs there, a few here and around. I've dropped ~60 lbs from my Aston and I *do* feel it, mostly because of where I lost the weight (particularly dropping 18 lbs going from 1-piece to 2-piece brake rotors). I can realistically drop 120 lbs from the car with absolutely no loss of drivability or comfort.

That said - it doesn't make much sense on a 4Runner because we generally add weight to them (gear, stereos, larger tires, bigger suspension, and especially armor). For style... what's the point? exposed carbon hoods were a thing of the '90-'00s. They look tacky and unfinished.

Generally, there's no reason for a company to offer a CF hood because this is not the market for it.

...Unless someone was tracking theirs, but who would do that???



the one guy I expected to chime in for one with legitimate reason lol
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I agree that weight loss is one of those things you need to continually strive for in a car to get it significantly below the stock curb weight, but on something as heavy as a 4Runner, you're not going to really see much percentage decrease before the thing gets unstreetable.

And yea, lightweight brake rotors are nice - I made my own for my car to get the weight advantage. The 2" larger rotor and 6 piston setup weighs much less than the stock dinky single piston setup!!!
 
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