Sam Higashi

hi check this site out, they have carbon fiber hood for A4. I had a chance to take a look at the hood and very well made.<ul><li><a href="http://www.faspacracing.com">http://www.faspacracing.com</a</li></ul>

Psyence

From the picture, it looks exactly like the Vortrag hood... except for half the price.

I wonder if it actually fits the S4 (the Vortrag one doesn't)... hmmm

I wish they'd post the weight of the hood... the shipping weight isn't very informative.

D.C. Lee

... If you're going to do a hood, it's mainly to save weight, and this one doesn't save enough of it. Sounds like maybe fiberglass composite with a carbon-fiber overlay. Price is decent, but the product seems mainly cosmetic to me. Who are these FASPAC people?

Lee in D.C.

Sam Higashi

actually, the hood weights about 14-16 lbs when I lifted. it must be all box and other stuff they pack for shipping. I did not purchase the hood, so not really sure how they ship it.
thanks

Cameron

... the carbon shell hood from Vortrag Motorsports is ~5lbs. The difference between 15 and 5 in the total weight of the car may be minimal, but the difference in workmanship and effort required to reduce the weight another 60+% is significant...

Just my $0.02,
Cameron

A. P.

That the hood is reinforced with a secondary layer of CF and some structural crossmembers.
I have also heard that of some problems with the Vortrag hood (quality issues). It was mentioned a while back on the A4 forum, if anyone wants to check it out.

JoeyM

yeah but with all the cash you save...you can join jenny craig

Psyence

The FasPacRacing hood retains stock mounting points which makes it analogous to the "street" Vortrag CF hood... which also weight ~15 lbs but costs more than twice as much...

Hard decision I know.

Cathleen

It may or may not be true solid carbon fiber. I have seen some ripoffs of the Vortrag vented hood design and they used fiberglass and sandwiched it between two sheets of carbon to make it appear to be solid. The cheaper materials used by this knockoff company saved them money but not weight and I could tell because it was in fact heavier than even the Vortrag FULL STREET hood.
The vented A4 hood design was designed and built by Todd Candey (first customer was Cameron) a few years ago and it's interesting to see that the design has now been copied by a couple of companies including this one.
I seriously wonder about the price on this hood on the Faspac site because I know the costs of materials and labor involved and the price is too low to be full carbon fiber. Even the true full carbon parts that you can get from some other companies cost way more than this - the material is expensive.
The SGI vented hood in Fiberglass costs more than this 'carbon hood'. I can't help but wonder how they can sell even a mixed composite part for so cheap. They must pay their mold/part builders $.50/hour.
-C.

Cathleen

I'd like to clarify something because this is how people get the wrong information spread.

There is no quality issue with the Vortrag hoods. There was some talk on this site because a customer ordered an un-prepped race hood which means that it is not paint-ready. He apparently was then comparing this to a 'finished' full-street Japanese hood of but that part was not a true solid carbon part and was a completely different type of hood.

The customer had ordered a RACE hood (no underside, no mounting points - just hood pins) to be PAINTED vs. show quality. These hoods save maximum weight and weigh about 4-5 lbs. He had been given all the options and types of hoods available.

He said he planned to have his shop do all of the sanding and prep work therefore he did not want a paint-ready part, which comes completely prepped from Vortrag. Vortrag will do the prep work but will sell the part fresh from the mold for those who would prefer to pay their body shop to do the prep work and then prime and paint it.

Vortrag sells a show quality, street hood with full mounting points and complete underside as well. This is a fantastic hood and has won many a concours and car shows. Vortrag could have done that work but the customer did not want that - he wanted the paintable RACE hood version and to have his shop do the prep work.

A 'show hood' is a part that will have the carbon clear-coated and the weave is exposed. If you are buying that kind of part, a pristine sheet of uninterrupted carbon is used on the top of the hood. The material and time costs more to produce a show part. The A4 hood also has a complex curve at the nose as opposed to many of the fiberglass/top skinned carbon hoods on Japanese cars which are flat and don't have the nose piece/complex curve.

A paintable carbon hood is a part that may have a less than perfect weave pattern and may have seams. This makes it no less a quality piece, it merely means you can save money by buying a part that will be painted and does not have a show perfect weave pattern.

These things were explained upfront to the customer but I believe he still did not quite understand, although he said he did. It was a misunderstanding and Vortrag regrets the customer chose to vent on-line about without first calling and asking why he had misunderstood what he was buying. It was unfortunate, as I believe that sometimes a language barrier and communication gaps can create an issue that neither party would hope for.

Vortrag stands behind it's parts and was willing to work with the customer. The quality of the parts are excellent and those who have seen the finished products would and have proven that they agree.

Thank you for allowing me to make this clarification.

Regards,
Cathleen