Anyone ever install alum diamond plate on their hood...similar to LR

[dewhorse]

I have been wanting to install one of the vinyl sheets on the hood of my white Xterra Pro4x to cut down on the glare of the roof lights. Then I started thinking about the old Land Rovers and how they had the diamond plate on their hoods and was wondering if anyone had done this to a vehicle with a less than flat surface. Not sure how easy to would be to bend the slight curve to mate up to the xterra hood?

Thinking if I could bend it I could rivet it in place, not sure how to seal it from moisture though?

 

[anickode]

Most aluminum diamond plate has a plasticy clear coat applied to it. It doesn't last very long out in the weather. Ever see someone with diamond plate tool boxes on their truck? They look like crap after a few years. WAY WORSE in the salt belt.

If you install a bright shiny polished aluminum Hood, you're going to want to gouge your eyeballs out if you find yourself driving west during the last 2 hours of daylight. All the little raised diamonds will likely catch the glare from your lights too, and be worse than your white hood. Flat black = glare buster. Get some plasti-dip and try it out.

 

[madmax718]

You just silicon it for moisture, You also have to make sure that there is adequate backing. Its not enough just to rivet some diamond plate on.

 

[Sabre]

Land Rovers with flat-topped fender wings (series and Defender) can benefit from the chequer plate because their owners often kneel and stand on those flat fenders. It's much less commonly applied to the hood.

There are certainly much better ways of reducing glare from your roof lights, chief among them being to relocate the lights down to the front of the truck. Another idea would be to fit glare shields to the underside of the lights or to move them farther aft. Certainly flat black would be the hood color that would most reduce glare, and you could get this easily from paint. The Plastidip idea isn't a bad one; I don't like the stuff but it's possible you'd like to remove it later and that is possible with Plastidip. Another thought is to have the hood wrapped in flat black.

I would not even consider the diamond plate idea. It's far more expensive, heavy, and difficult than all of the above ideas. I doubt very much that you could match the compound curves of the Xterra's hood unless you were working with a true craftsman. And after all that time, trouble and expense you'd still have to paint it flat black!