Installed CF Hood Vents.

Swancoat · 09-01-2009, 08:28 PM

I bought some Carbon Fiber Hood Vents from Kubo here on the forum.

There's pics below.

The vendor was good to deal with. He shipped the vents promptly as soon as my payment cleared, and they were packed well. The vents are the real deal. Dry CF, not wrapped stock pieces. They match the roof perfectly.

This is both the best and worst aspect of the vents. Fit and Finish are not one in the same here. Finish is wonderful. The vents simply look great. As I said, they match the hood roof perfectly. Fit was a bit of a different story.

After I got the original vents out (believe me, at this point, I am a PRO at removing and reinstalling these things), I tried to put the new CF ones in. They don't pop right in like the stock ones. This is reasonable as they are a different material, and not as flexible. However, as I fiddled with it more, I realized I was not going to get them to fit. They seemed to take way too much force and still seem really tight. (Tough to convince yourself to pound on your hood to fit a trim piece).

I contacted the vendor, who assured me they just needed force and that ALL pieces were test fitted on a car before they left, and that I may need to install the vents before I put them in the hood. (That last point made no sense. I assume he meant install the honeycomb grills, but it is impossible to install these onto the trim pieces before they are fitted to the hood, as the two pieces must slide in opposite directions).

I told the vendor I'd try again, and dragged my wife out with me. She also decided that the parts just didn't fit. After waiting a day, I decided to give it one more shot. This time, I dremelled a bit off of the rear-most tab on the CF vent. This seemed to help. I now have the vents fitted. Well, almost. Some of the tabs, I just couldn't get in all of the way. The vents look good, and I'm not worried about them flying out, but I just couldn't get them all the way in. (Let's just say, I'm not going to be throwing out my stock vent trims.) Also, I've attached some pics showing the fit of the drivers side piece. It just doesn't quite fit. It doesn't fill out the corner quite right.

So in conclusion.

Vendor: 8/10 (Good shipping, etc... but I have a hard time believing these things are test fitted).
Finish: 9/10
Fit: 5/10

montreal red · 09-01-2009, 10:50 PM

well at least you made it fit pretty well.. your little modifications must have helped a lot cos it looks pretty flush with the hood in the picture... too bad it doesnt fill the hole perfectly like you mentioned but i dont think most people would notice this. as with almose all aftermarket parts, fit isnt usually 100%. i've seen and bought parts that were much worse than what you have.

E92-Lighting · 09-03-2009, 02:19 PM

great shots thus far

mike2016 · 09-03-2009, 03:09 PM

wow... i guess i'm sticking with the oem wrapped pieces then

Swancoat · 09-03-2009, 05:32 PM

I'd have to assume OEM pieces fit even worse, since the tolerances are pretty tight already. If you add thickness with some CF around the piece, they'll never fit.

M3_LIN · 09-04-2009, 03:22 PM

hrm, im wondering if kubo made the mold out of the E90M instead of the E92M.

Wierd. I know they are different tho in the inside.

Can you take a picture of where you trimmed off and what did not fit?

Thanks

Ed Lin

Swancoat · 09-04-2009, 03:58 PM

I'll try. I'm heading to Austin for a couple of days so you'll have to wait.

Unfortunately, I have to remove the grills anyway, since I (stupidly) tried to install them 'better' the other day, and used a bit more pressure, which bent the tab on the honeycomb insert and pushed it lower into the hood - so the whole thing has to be removed. to straighten it out. I'll take some pics and maybe shave some more tabs down to help the fit.

Swancoat · 09-06-2009, 10:33 PM

Ok, so here's some updates.
My grill trims now fit excellently. I had to remove one because I pressed the honeycomb grill in too far as I tried to fit the CF trim. When I had it out I took a good look at all of the tabs. They're too wide. They barely fit the slot they're supposed to fit in to. I took out my dremel and VERY SLIGHTLY just narrowed down the tabs. Now the grill trims went in much better. All of the tabs are actually inserted now for the first time.

Anyway, the first pic is of the rear most tab as requested above. This tab was narrowed with all of the others, but it was also shortened just slightly.

After that, there's a couple of pics showing why you can just use more force or pressure to fit the tabs. One of the tabs on the honeycomb grill (rear most on the inside) bends very easily and pushed into the hood (see tab in center of last pic). These pics are of the passenger side vent.

HD Auto Salon · 09-08-2009, 06:24 PM

Hey Swancoat,

Im glad everything worked out ok.
Kubo brought this issue to my attention and let me know that he offered to send you a replacement set. My apologies for any inconvenience that the tabs may have caused you.
I am glad that you brought this up to our attention so that we may address it properly and continue to deliver quality products.

We have sold over 40 sets and this is the first I am hearing of this issue.
The tabs are machined on a cnc, then sprayed with a clear coat after wards. I suspect that maybe too much clear coat was left on the tab. I was assured that every piece was QC'd.

Thanks for your feedback, great review and pics

Swancoat · 12-09-2009, 05:14 PM

I'm following up my review now that it's been a few months.

Finish: Still rocks. Saw some CF overlays at a recent M3 meet, and they did NOT look as good as these ones. They really look factory and match the roof bang on.

Fit: Less awesome. After my dremel mods seemed to fix the pieces enough to let them fit, they simply don't stay put. Since the pieces are juuuuust a touch too big for the hole, one side keeps popping its tabs out of the slots. No trimming will fix this, it seems like the tabs on each side of the piece are just a tiny bit too far apart, and internal stress on the CF piece causes it to pop out.

My solution was to order some spare black grills from Tischer (always great service and shipping). Now I'm going to glue my grill trims right into the black grills. I'll have to cut through the glue to remove them, but I still have my factory white trims, and a spare set of black grills, so I can go back to stock any time.

(This follow-up review was inspired by rldzhao's 'Public Service' thread).

09-01-2009, 08:28 PM	#1
Swancoat Lieutenant 136 Rep 504 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Houston iTrader: (0)	Installed CF Hood Vents. I bought some Carbon Fiber Hood Vents from Kubo here on the forum. There's pics below. The vendor was good to deal with. He shipped the vents promptly as soon as my payment cleared, and they were packed well. The vents are the real deal. Dry CF, not wrapped stock pieces. They match the roof perfectly. This is both the best and worst aspect of the vents. Fit and Finish are not one in the same here. Finish is wonderful. The vents simply look great. As I said, they match the hood roof perfectly. Fit was a bit of a different story. After I got the original vents out (believe me, at this point, I am a PRO at removing and reinstalling these things), I tried to put the new CF ones in. They don't pop right in like the stock ones. This is reasonable as they are a different material, and not as flexible. However, as I fiddled with it more, I realized I was not going to get them to fit. They seemed to take way too much force and still seem really tight. (Tough to convince yourself to pound on your hood to fit a trim piece). I contacted the vendor, who assured me they just needed force and that ALL pieces were test fitted on a car before they left, and that I may need to install the vents before I put them in the hood. (That last point made no sense. I assume he meant install the honeycomb grills, but it is impossible to install these onto the trim pieces before they are fitted to the hood, as the two pieces must slide in opposite directions). I told the vendor I'd try again, and dragged my wife out with me. She also decided that the parts just didn't fit. After waiting a day, I decided to give it one more shot. This time, I dremelled a bit off of the rear-most tab on the CF vent. This seemed to help. I now have the vents fitted. Well, almost. Some of the tabs, I just couldn't get in all of the way. The vents look good, and I'm not worried about them flying out, but I just couldn't get them all the way in. (Let's just say, I'm not going to be throwing out my stock vent trims.) Also, I've attached some pics showing the fit of the drivers side piece. It just doesn't quite fit. It doesn't fill out the corner quite right. So in conclusion. Vendor: 8/10 (Good shipping, etc... but I have a hard time believing these things are test fitted). Finish: 9/10 Fit: 5/10 Attached Images
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09-01-2009, 10:50 PM	#2
montreal red chris 278 Rep 12,144 Posts Drives: White Boat Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto iTrader: (31)	well at least you made it fit pretty well.. your little modifications must have helped a lot cos it looks pretty flush with the hood in the picture... too bad it doesnt fill the hole perfectly like you mentioned but i dont think most people would notice this. as with almose all aftermarket parts, fit isnt usually 100%. i've seen and bought parts that were much worse than what you have. __________________ Current: 2013 F10 M5 & 2016 Mini JCW 2013 GLK350 (gone), 997.1 GT3RS (gone), 2009 WRX STI (gone), e92 M3 (gone)
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09-03-2009, 02:19 PM	#3
E92-Lighting 860 Rep 35,253 Posts Drives: Next Generation LED Lighting Join Date: May 2008 Location: Walnut iTrader: (324)	great shots thus far
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09-03-2009, 03:09 PM	#4
mike2016 Private First Class 23 Rep 155 Posts Drives: E92 M3 MW ZCP Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: city of industry, CA iTrader: (0)	wow... i guess i'm sticking with the oem wrapped pieces then __________________ 11 e92 M3 mineral white ZCP DCT
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09-03-2009, 05:32 PM	#5
Swancoat Lieutenant 136 Rep 504 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Houston iTrader: (0)	I'd have to assume OEM pieces fit even worse, since the tolerances are pretty tight already. If you add thickness with some CF around the piece, they'll never fit.
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09-04-2009, 03:22 PM	#6
M3_LIN LM-R Whore. 125 Rep 854 Posts Drives: 2009 White M3 Sedan Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: LA iTrader: (1)	hrm, im wondering if kubo made the mold out of the E90M instead of the E92M. Wierd. I know they are different tho in the inside. Can you take a picture of where you trimmed off and what did not fit? Thanks Ed Lin __________________ 09AWE90M: Light headlight tint, Full front end clear bra wrap(Harris@InstyleGraphics), Ceramic tint(40%), Piaa GTX H3 bulb, HID 8k AE, 6k Low, INT Luxer1 lights, RD springs, LMR 20X9 +8, 20X10 +18 (Dave @ Status), Vertice CF hood Ducts(Dat @ VertexUSA), Tecnocraft FULL Envy Intake system+plenum(KEVLAR)+cabin filter covers, Meister GTC exhaust, Arkym F LIP.
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09-04-2009, 03:58 PM	#7
Swancoat Lieutenant 136 Rep 504 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Houston iTrader: (0)	I'll try. I'm heading to Austin for a couple of days so you'll have to wait. Unfortunately, I have to remove the grills anyway, since I (stupidly) tried to install them 'better' the other day, and used a bit more pressure, which bent the tab on the honeycomb insert and pushed it lower into the hood - so the whole thing has to be removed. to straighten it out. I'll take some pics and maybe shave some more tabs down to help the fit.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-06-2009, 10:33 PM	#8
Swancoat Lieutenant 136 Rep 504 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Houston iTrader: (0)	Ok, so here's some updates. My grill trims now fit excellently. I had to remove one because I pressed the honeycomb grill in too far as I tried to fit the CF trim. When I had it out I took a good look at all of the tabs. They're too wide. They barely fit the slot they're supposed to fit in to. I took out my dremel and VERY SLIGHTLY just narrowed down the tabs. Now the grill trims went in much better. All of the tabs are actually inserted now for the first time. Anyway, the first pic is of the rear most tab as requested above. This tab was narrowed with all of the others, but it was also shortened just slightly. After that, there's a couple of pics showing why you can just use more force or pressure to fit the tabs. One of the tabs on the honeycomb grill (rear most on the inside) bends very easily and pushed into the hood (see tab in center of last pic). These pics are of the passenger side vent. Attached Images
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09-08-2009, 06:24 PM	#9
HD Auto Salon 58 Rep 554 Posts Drives: white 335i coupe/ E92 M Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: SF/SJ iTrader: (10)	Hey Swancoat, Im glad everything worked out ok. Kubo brought this issue to my attention and let me know that he offered to send you a replacement set. My apologies for any inconvenience that the tabs may have caused you. I am glad that you brought this up to our attention so that we may address it properly and continue to deliver quality products. We have sold over 40 sets and this is the first I am hearing of this issue. The tabs are machined on a cnc, then sprayed with a clear coat after wards. I suspect that maybe too much clear coat was left on the tab. I was assured that every piece was QC'd. Thanks for your feedback, great review and pics
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12-09-2009, 05:14 PM	#10
Swancoat Lieutenant 136 Rep 504 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Houston iTrader: (0)	I'm following up my review now that it's been a few months. Finish: Still rocks. Saw some CF overlays at a recent M3 meet, and they did NOT look as good as these ones. They really look factory and match the roof bang on. Fit: Less awesome. After my dremel mods seemed to fix the pieces enough to let them fit, they simply don't stay put. Since the pieces are juuuuust a touch too big for the hole, one side keeps popping its tabs out of the slots. No trimming will fix this, it seems like the tabs on each side of the piece are just a tiny bit too far apart, and internal stress on the CF piece causes it to pop out. My solution was to order some spare black grills from Tischer (always great service and shipping). Now I'm going to glue my grill trims right into the black grills. I'll have to cut through the glue to remove them, but I still have my factory white trims, and a spare set of black grills, so I can go back to stock any time. (This follow-up review was inspired by rldzhao's 'Public Service' thread).
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