Need a Viper Hood expert

[RTTTTed]

or the insurance is going to fix my hood.

My 99 TT GTS has a fixed hood and last year the ripples came out in the paint. Tim Anglin had his car in shop and refixed his repaired hood on his 97 GTS. Dave Clark is busy repainting his repaired hood. I have never heard of a good hood repair lasting longer than 5 years.

Any knowledgeable Viper expert on these hoods or people that own repaired hoods would certainly be helpful towards getting my hood replaced instead of repaired. The bodyshop says he'll repaint it whenever the repair shows through. I would prefer a new hood that only needs to be painted once.

Ted

[dave6666]

Ripples as in cracks?

[RTTTTed]

No cracks, ripples. Car's hood was perfect when I bought it year before last and last year I could see slight waves around the hood scoop. This year the ripples are obvious and surround the scoop. Fiberglass cures forever and that's why the hoods have the fumps in the factory paint that looks like orange peel. Doors that are perfect on a Gen 1/2 are not factory. Fix a hood means making it perfect because it gets wetsanded. Rest of hood can be wet sanded and it'll be good for a few years before the weave shows through again. Since the weave wouldn't be matched with a repair ... it will be obvious in a few years. One or two bodymen were saying "shrinkage" but all I know is what I see and what people tell me. If my Roe Viper was Black the color match would be easy, but since my damaged Roe car is Deep Sapphire Blue it isn't going to blend well. A Black car with a lifetime warranty on waterbased paint might be good to respray the rock chips every few years ... but not Sapphire.

[plumcrazy]

had it been repainted ?

[RTTTTed]

Yes, the hood was fixed. Underhood pad was badly frayed for the front few inches

[RTTTTed]

No experts here?

[drewsss]

Curious...wasn't your hood just smashed by a deer? Sounds like your ripple problem may already be solved if that's the case.

http://driveviper.com/forums/threads...616#post141616

[RTTTTed]

No, the 1999 TT Viper GTS hood is rippled which appeared last year and is more pronounced this year. That car is a straight Black GTS.

The Deer hit my Sapphire (Roe supercharged) GTS. That is the hood that the bodyshop wants to 'fix'.

I own two Vipers, 3 Stealth TTs a Cummins pickup and a bunch of other cars (only 2 off brand).

[eucharistos]

RTTTTed, dave6666, plumcrazy, and euch in the same thread in 2015

it's daja vu all over again





(nice to meet ya drewsss)

[VENMPWR]

No cracks, ripples. Car's hood was perfect when I bought it year before last and last year I could see slight waves around the hood scoop. This year the ripples are obvious and surround the scoop. Fiberglass cures forever and that's why the hoods have the fumps in the factory paint that looks like orange peel. Doors that are perfect on a Gen 1/2 are not factory. Fix a hood means making it perfect because it gets wetsanded. Rest of hood can be wet sanded and it'll be good for a few years before the weave shows through again. Since the weave wouldn't be matched with a repair ... it will be obvious in a few years. One or two bodymen were saying "shrinkage" but all I know is what I see and what people tell me. If my Roe Viper was Black the color match would be easy, but since my damaged Roe car is Deep Sapphire Blue it isn't going to blend well. A Black car with a lifetime warranty on waterbased paint might be good to respray the rock chips every few years ... but not Sapphire.

Said no Vette owner ever!

[RTTTTed]

I do know that corvette bodies go bad/rotten if they get too much Ultraviolet (sunshine). I'd have an opinion on "ordinary" fiberglass construction ... like the antique vettes used, but I just never looked that close at one.

I think that may be part of why Vipers have plastic quarter panels and rears as well as the bumper covers?

[RTTTTed]

Good to see the 'old crew' posting again.

[AutoformSteve]

You can give me a call tomorrow and I will share what I know...I'm not an expert...but I have a lot of experience through the years with these hoods.

Steve
Autoform (616) 392-4909

[drewsss]

RTTTTed, dave6666, plumcrazy, and euch in the same thread in 2015
(nice to meet ya drewsss)

Thanks...nice to meet you too, E!
And a big hello again to Phil (PC), who checked out my last RT from Arman in NJ a few years ago. (I still owe you one for that!)

[plumcrazy]

Thanks...nice to meet you too, E!
And a big hello again to Phil (PC), who checked out my last RT from Arman in NJ a few years ago. (I still owe you one for that!)

Hey bud, how ya been. glad to see ya here. didnt recognize the username. next time you come to NY/NJ, buy me a beer !

[drewsss]

Hey bud, how ya been. glad to see ya here. didnt recognize the username. next time you come to NY/NJ, buy me a beer !

I owe you (at least) a six pack. That RT was sweet and was sorry to let it go, but family additions put things into perspective pretty quickly and that toy came a close second.

Thanks again!

[RTTTTed]

OK! Guess that I'm now the Viper Gen 1/2 Hood expert. After getting nothing from the Viper community I was forced to go to the competition. Here's the other guys' correct proceedure to fix a Viper hood.

Grind, prep, glass, bake 3 - 4 time during the repair process. This gives the best chance of your hood staying fixed for more than 3 years! If the bodyshop doesn't mention baking the hood in an oven several times during the repair go somewhere else or get new hood. The new hoods are easily available and JonB has one avialable within probably a week for under $4000! NEW!

I'm changing body shops and it looks to be a 500 mile journey for my GTS to get to a proper bodyshop. Wasted a month argueing with bodyshop so they've done nothing yet.

Mutual agreement is that I take the car somewhere else.

[RTTTTed]

Just spoke to Steve at Autoform. I think I'll call him the "expert". Definitely need to defer to the Road Race guys as far as body repairs go...

I also leaned a bit more Viper hissstory from Steve as well as stories on some of the custom parts I have.

Thanks for the info and offer to help Steve.