Duraflex Body Parts
 

Just installed a Duraflex heat extractor type hood and am minimally happy. Yes I agree the concept of flexible fiberglass blend makes good sense but in my opinion Duraflex needs to improve the quality big time. The hood looks awesome from 20 feet away but when you take a close look there is several waves that are easily noticeable. At least to me. There is a center raised rib that also has a dip to it. The open grilles required a ton of filling, shaping and buffing before you would even consider priming. Even the flat areas required a mess of spot putty that before painting looked like a major case of flesh eating disease. OK now I am exaggerating a bit but the point is this is not an out of the box ready to use product. Expect major labor of love time to get a finished product. Additional work that should have been incorporated into Duraflex's designs include a notch for the hood prop, which only took 30 minutes to cut in myself, routing holes to run the washer fluid lines and pre drilling for the washer nozzles and providing a clip of any sort to attach the nozzles. I had to epoxy the nozzles into place as the Ford clip wouldn’t work since the Duraflex hood is thicker. Also I had to modify the hood latch mounts on the car in order to get both sides of the hood to align with the fenders. If I were to do it again would I buy a Duraflex hood? No way! But then again what do you expect for $500. Personally I would have gladly spent double to get a higher quality product. Every one of us loves their Stang and it hurts to use sub standard products or products that you know could have been better. A tear is now dripping from my left eye lol.

Oh wow dude, that sounds rough. Thanks for posting this, I imagine people will take a second thought before buying. I was wondering myself what it would be like but you put it pretty clear.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't mean to give the seal of death to my view of Duraflex. What I mean is that if you are going to buy this product go in with your eyes open and prepared to put effort into bringing it up to an acceptable level. Everything in life has advantages and disadvantages. In reference to my experience with Duraflex their advantage is some pretty cool looking body components at a reasonable price point. The disadvantage is the detail stuff which they appear to have left up to the purchaser to do. Overall I am fairly content with what I got but when the sun is shining, I am cruising with my sweetie and look down the hood to see a ripple staring back at me I just want to rip the heart out of inspector # 17 at Duraflex. I am sure that 75% of the people who get this product are thrilled. However if you are an SOB like me you would appreciate if Inspector # 17 layed off the crack just a bit lol.

Crazy!!Any pics of the hood.
I know when i was choosing my hood,i wanted a hood that needed very little hours,if any at all.But having a new edge stang,there are more options compared to the S197's.

Damn that does sound nuts. Duraflex ... never heard of them when I was shopping for my hood - thank gosh for that I guess. Any pics???

Pics of the hood , Super charger and Enkei wheels with Falken F452 rubber.

I am not very Knowledgeable with how to post pics so hope it works lol

http://http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/1329/dscf1728p.th.jpg

http://http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/196...pics009.th.jpg

http://http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6...pics006.th.jpg

http://http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7482/dscf1730w.th.jpg

It doesn't look to bad.Looks really good.Are you gonna leave the hood as is,or do you plan to re do it later?

A hood like that would require me to take it straight to a body shop as I have no finishing skills. I do like the style of the hood mind you. Good luck.

Granted also it could've been a defect from the factory. My DF parts that I got came out fine, I still have yet to get them painted and installed but I was very pleased unboxing them and just seeing how ready to use my kit was and that the cobra R body kit. course in a few places I saw some kinda scar or marks but I doubt it is anything to seriously worry about.