Seibon TS looking for advice
 

About to pull the trigger on a Seibon TS hood. Anyone have experience with THMotorsports? They're a forum sponsor and gave me a very attractive discount - mostly bc they have to ship the hood a mere 30 miles lol.

Also, hood pins. I'm assuming Aerocatch. Should I go with the recessed version? I'm definitely having a shop install these.

I'm going to have the hood painted to match the car after the summer. Does this impact the type/coating of rivet I should have used for the pins?

Is there anything else I'm missing?

Thanks in advance folks!

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Flush aerocatch catches would be my first choice. I want to say thmotorsports is the place that gave me a really good deal on the hood too.

Pretty much everywhere dropships directly from seibon directly since stocking hoods is cost prohibitive

The issue is seibons fitment is hit or miss. If using get a bad one, good luck. Shipping it back is impossible, and they may not have a replacement in stock

The aerocatch latches have a backing plate with a nut for the bolts on top. Shouldn't be any issues with painting the hood. I bought a CF Seibon hood that was painted and replaced the latches myself. No issues. Now I just have to figure out how to install the hood pins properly with the latches already in place :ugh2:

I got my Fortune Auto coilovers through THMotorsports, they were awesome to deal with and got me a great deal also.

I bought PasswordJDM aluminum backing plates, I'm not comfortable with the plastic/fiberglass ones that come with it.

What issues are you running into with the hood pins? I'm trying to gather as much info as I can... no do-overs with this install.

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I dealt with thm, no complaints.

Don't know anything about THM, sorry i know that's no help.

But I do know that Aerocatch pins will work well however I dont think they are necessary. I had no problems transferring the stock latches over to my old Seibon TS hood and never had an issue with the hood seeming like it would pop open and take flight. Tracked on the Seibon hood for about 2.5 years at sustained speeds up to 140 mph at Autoclub Speedway Fontana and all the other road courses here in So Cal.

Get the Aerocatch pins if you need that peace of mind but, I don't see why they would be absolutely necessary.

Thanks! My concern is that while tracks are nice and smooth, the streets are much bumpier. And I am all about that peace of mind - so much so that I bought the locking latches lol

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On previous Z’s I have had the wet version Seibon TS hood for street and other style dry carbon fiber hoods as well. Overall I would say Seibon hoods have excellent quality carbon fiber and gel coating. Fitment was great no issues with fitment. As for dealing directly with Seibon Carbon I was not impressed with their customer service in my experience and they were always trying to charge you as much as they can and customers beware they have a restocking fee of 20% so, be careful what you purchase from them they will not wave their restocking fee. Honestly I seen no reason for the hood pins I never had an issue with the hood flying off my Z or the hood shaking like it was going to come apart. Get hood pins for peace of mind if you really think you need it. At the tracks I have visited before I have seen 130-140+ mph and I have never had any problems. I installed the Aero Catch Carbon Fiber version hood pin kit before installing is just time consuming. Aero Catch is the only brand hood pin kit I would really consider using the Seibon hoods. Definitely use the Password JDM backing plates though they are well worth it. If you can not do the installation yourself have a shop you trust do your install. Shop around if you are interested in purchasing a Seibon hood and even check eBay their preferred vendors have deals on their hoods.

Aero Catch hood pins installation.

You're going to want to install the hood pins first. Then use them to locate the latches on the hood. My problem is I bought a hood with the latches already installed. So now I'm trying to figure out the best way to install the hood pins to make sure they will latch properly.

i am going to echo my earlier sentiments

I have had bad experiences with Seibon.
I had a handmade Garage Seigo hood on my S14, got smashed in an accident. Bought the Seibon copy to replace it instead of throwing money at japanese shipping a second time. Had massive gaps all around. Sent Seibon pix, they wouldn't refund me and didn't have a second hood in stock. Had to wait months for a replacement. Terrible experience

Two different body shops independent of each other have said they're hit or miss

If you're set on seibon and pins, have a professional shop do it. there may need to be "modifications"