I get comments,
Reader Robyn writes:
I am wanting to find out what make and model car that Ashley Judd drove in the movie the YAYA Sister Club?
Sorry Robyn, that movie falls under the general definition of a "Chick Flick," and as such falls out of the area of expertise of the At Home Mechanic.
Regular Reader Dave Darling writes in response to my fitting a Carbon Fiber hood to my hobby car, a 19987 Honda CRX Si:
CF hood? Sweet, man! How much weight does that save? Saves it from the front, too, which is where most of the weight is in that car.
I think few things look nicer than a well laid-up piece of carbon-fiber bodywork. Sadly, they don't stay that way if you leave them unpainted. :( At least, if what I have heard is true, the sun's UV rays will start to break down the carbon strands over time, which will mar the looks and the strength of the panel.
Thanks Dave for returning the discussion on this site back to stuff I can respond to. The stock hood on the lightweight CRX model only weighs 20 pounds so there is not a lot of weight savings to found with a CF hood on that car. But as you said, any weight you can take off of the front of nose heavy Hondas is a good thing. And this hood is the "One Piece" design which means that the early CRX's plastic body panel between the headlights (called the header piece) which is prone to unsightly cracking can be eliminated. The new hood leaves a slight gap between the hood and the bumper cover so I have cut the plastic "grill" from the header piece and put that back on the car which nicely fills the gap that the new hood leaves.
I do not know much about Carbon Fiber's long term endurance in the sun, but I have also heard that it is best to keep it out of direct sunlight. Fortunately, my hobby car is always garaged and sun damage in not going to be a factor for me. But it seems to me that many cars are coming from the factory with Carbon Fiber pieces and maybe the CF parts they sue will survive sun exposure pretty well.
Painting a CF part would help to protect it from sun damage, but then no one will know that you have a CF body part if it is covered in paint. The best solution to this problem is something I have seen on a few street cars. The owner would paint all of the CF hood except for one corner that would be left exposed in its raw state, so he got the credit for the Carbon Fiber hood with the clean look of a painted part.
Keep those comments coming, I love to respond.