Purpose of a blacked-out hood?

[asteffes]

So I've noticed some LR owners paint the center 3/4s of the hood black. Is there a particular reason for this? I would guess it is to reduce glare. Any other benefits or any reasons not to?

 

[UncleChris]

Supposedly it cuts down on glare reflecting off of the hood into your eyes. Kind of like the way Fighter jets used to have a black area in front of the cockpit.

A friend of mine did that to his already black XJ.

I guess that it could make a difference in some situations.

 

[BajaTaco]

I think it's kind of one of those "signature" expedition mods. Yes, to reduce glare, and a pretty cool look to it. However, I would think the benefit wouldn't override the drawback for a rig that will see lots of sunny days with high temps - it would make the heat trapped in the engine bay much greater than it otherwise would be. Probably very useful for a far north (or far south) rig in very cold temps.

 

[gjackson]

I think it, like limb risers, came from the Camel Trophy. Or at least the Trophy made it look cool. Does look good on a Discovery.

cheers

 

[Blair G]

So I've noticed some LR owners paint the center 3/4s of the hood black. Is there a particular reason for this? I would guess it is to reduce glare. Any other benefits or any reasons not to?

I painted mine black because it was the only color paint I had. I needed to replace the orange bonnet and found a purple one in LA. The 110 was already green and orange. Did not need to add purple to the mix.
The black also is less reflective when you have over head lights (which I don't)
Blair

 

[ShearPin]

Black Hood Paint

I painted the bonnet of my Series III matte black when the peeling of the original paint got bad. I did it for the ease of touch up with cheap and easy to colour match paint. No matter how careful you are taking the spare tire of the hood it's brutal on paint. Also, when working on the old Rover the bonnet is easily removed by opening it fully and lifting. Makes tight jobs easier but unless your real careful the corners get paint chips etc.

Henry

 

[60seriesguy]

Blacked out hoods have been around forever with the expedition crowd in Venezuela, I remember seeing this mod way before I could even drive. I agree, the Camel trophy might be the origin, but in any case, it does work! I've had mine blacked out for over a decade and I've never seen any adverse temperature effects, even while living in the desert!

 

[Scott Brady]

They can also help reduce glare from roof mounted lights.

 

[GeoRoss]

However, I would think the benefit wouldn't override the drawback for a rig that will see lots of sunny days with high temps - it would make the heat trapped in the engine bay much greater than it otherwise would be. Probably very useful for a far north (or far south) rig in very cold temps.

I can't remember where I saw this and it may be bunk (Consumer Reports or some internet goofiness), but it was a "car color vs interior temp" kind of study. Granted this is for the interior, but the take home was that car color didn't effect interior heat build up.

This is important for me as the center of my hood is loosing/has lost its clear coat and I am thinking of a black racing stripe or hood.

Ross

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Yes, this is the real reason that my black primered replacement OEM hood hasnt been to the paint booth and doesnt match the rest of the truck!

Honestly, i swear!

Well, now i have a good reason not to paint it at least!

 

[Grim Reaper]

My last truck was painted Desert sand. Hood got damaged and I replaced it with a better one. I decided to do the center in flat black. With a lighter color it did seem to help with glare in the afternoon sun. Took some of the eye fatigue away.

Not sure I would do it again. That truck anything done with a rattle can was an improvement. LOL

 

[upcruiser]

I'm planning on doing this to the hood of my 80. The main motivation though is because I have some many rock chips on it that it needs to be painted anyway. Flat black is something easy that I can do.

 

[flywgn]

Here's an interesting article from Car Talk re: car colors and interior heat.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/links/carcolor.html

If you want more, just do a search with 'car colors interior heat' as your parameters. You'll get a BUNCH. Seems that there's no concensus on the subject.

Allen R

 

[BajaTaco]

I think common sense and experience tells me that if the sunshine makes contact with any surface, black will heat up more than white. And all colors in between will be according to where they fall on the lightness to darkness spectrum. In the expiriment that Allen linked to, the black hood was 56 degrees hotter than the white hood, and that was on a Sept. day with 84 degree air temp. I think in July with temps in high 90's to over 100's would make an exponential difference. (add a hot running engine to the mix and the "exponential" factor probably goes waay up)

 

[BMAN]

Being that my 60 is bright white and my eyes are very light sensative, my intentions have always been to black out the center hump of the hood on this truck. My paint is in perfect condition though, so I won't be using paint to do this. Instead I will be using a matte black vinyl aplique over the paint. I figure the vinyl will also be a little bit of added protection for the clean paint beneath it.

I'm sure Scotty and Chris can attest to the glare that comes off the hoods of their rigs on a sunny day. Either one of them would probably be amazed at the difference a blacked out hood would make. Fatigue on the eyes has got to be lessened by this application.