Hood blackout

[bmxer06pa]

I am getting ready to put the hood blackout on my D2. It has a few nicks in it. My question is if I put it on and decide it is in too rough a shape can I take it off easily?

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

BMXER06pa-

I have installed several of these- SOAPY - SOAPY water is your friend when putting the thing on- I use dawn dish detergent and lots suds - hot water ... and lots of it- I can go several spray bottles (large) of soapy water when installing.
Once you start squeegy-ing - you can't go back easily.
Best bet is to lay it out on the with the soapy water and if it looks to rough . abort.
Did I mention, I use soapy water?

It helps to have a friend helping and you need to be REALLY GOOD FRIENDS! When installing and trying to get into the right position, you need to continually lift and spray and it will stay "slippery" and move around. Once any portion becomes "un-slippery", it will grab and then you are done and committed to the place it has grabbed.

AND - I had my first one tear because of a piece of grit on the hood in the paint while using the squeegee, so I not longer use a squeegee- rather - a micro fiber clothe to smooth the soapy water out from under the blackout.
Hope that helps.
D

 

[bmxer06pa]

That is a huge help! It was damaged in shipping, but I can't convince myself to throw it out without at least giving it a try. At least I sell soap for a living so I have plenty of that laying around.

 

[Ray_G]

I tried a decal once on one of mine-failed miserably-and then decided that painting is a much easier way to accomplish the same thing.

Once you put the decal on and it goes through a summer you'll have a multi-color hood anyway, so its not like you are preserving the stock appearance any.
No reason not to try the decal, just the follow up of doing the blackout with some good paint is always an option.
r-
Ray

 

[tacr2man]

IIRC the D1 camels just used low gloss black paint , not matt , also called low sheen (eggshell) HTSH

 

[Ray_G]

I used SEM bumper paint for the blackout; not totally flat-more akin to a low/semigloss, has good texture but doesn't collect dirt quite as bad as flat black seems to.

 

[dcarr1971]

Doug,

Make sure it goes on correctly and the the surface hasn't been breached. Pulling one off is a PITA. I picked up a D1 with a hood blackout earlier this year. It had started peeling in a number of spots it was pierced and it was a huge mess wherever it was peeling.

 

[fishEH]

I installed a Vigg blackout on my D1 by myself s couple years ago. Was fairly easy. The hardest part was getting the vinyl to adhere underneath the hood on the curved part near the windshield. I had to use take to keel the edge from curling up till it dried. About two years later its holding up well. The front save has some nicks and is barely starting to come up from tree branches scraping up the hood. If I had to do it over again I'd probably opt for the $5 rattle can blackout and touch up as needed.

 

[bmxer06pa]

The one I have has a small puncture and a crease. Does the little hole make it not even worth trying? Will it just peel up pretty fast?
Dave...tell me you are not abandoning the d2 club?!

 

[dcarr1971]

.LOL No, not abandoning the D2, just expanding the fleet.

I picked up a '96 D1 5-spd in late December for my wife, and since then I've picked both another D1 parts truck, and a D2 that needs a HG but which is really too nice to part out... (Yeah, that means I somehow have gone from 1 Disco to 4 Discos. My wife is ready to stage an intervention. ;-) )

IDK how old the hood blackout was on my D1, but it was peeling badly anywhere it had a hole in it, and taking it off truely sucked. Next time, I'll just paint it on...

 

[Rippin'AV]

Another option that is not permanent like spray paint are the Plasti-dip spray cans. Its a sort of rubber spray coating that is very durable. It can last for years and in the event you don't want it anymore you can peel it right off.

Check it out...I know a bunch of people who have used them on hoods, roofs, wheels, interiors, etc.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=E9JsT8jjJOWbiQKW5IWNBQ&ved=0CHEQ8wIwBw

 

[cydonia-jacc]

I absolutely love the look of the blacked out hood, but does it have function?

 

[Ray_G]

I absolutely love the look of the blacked out hood, but does it have function?

To a degree. Lights on the roof rack throw massive glare off the hood when illuminated; hoodblackouts help reduce that effect. Likewise on a sunny day your hood's reflection will cause eye fatigue-making it non-reflective cuts back on that; or at least that's the theory.
r-
Ray

 

[maxingout]

This is how I do hood blackout.



From the driving position, all I see is the blackout.



It's easy on the eyes, but limits forward visibility on trails.

There is more than one way to do black out to make reflected light less of a problem so it is easier on the eyes.

 

[usmcxd]

+1 on what Ray G said. but there is still some glare from the over head lights....still trying to figure out a fix for that. I just taped off the hood and used spray paint.