Discussion
Half hood are they as good as they look... are they qwick to put up and do they stop most of the rain... oh and whats the visabilaty like??
I must admit they look like they would go up qwick and stop most of the bad weather .. just wondered how many of you out there would recommend them??
I must admit they look like they would go up qwick and stop most of the bad weather .. just wondered how many of you out there would recommend them??
For three years I persevered with the full hood, but in the end I bought a half hood.
The reasons were:
1. Quicker to put up (especially if you keep the straps attached but loosened slightly.
2. When the rain stops and you want the hood down, you have a lot less wet material to store away.
3. Better visibility, because the rear screen of the full hood gets plastered in muck
4. You don't boil
5. Much easier access if you get the easy in zip
Drawbacks:
1. If you are parked you need a shower cap to stop rain blowing in the back
2. Some spray comes in at high speed, but it is dryer than I expected in serious rain.
I asked on Blatchat and ended up getting the Softbits For Sevens version, easy to fit and very secure at speed.
I would buy from them again.
The reasons were:
1. Quicker to put up (especially if you keep the straps attached but loosened slightly.
2. When the rain stops and you want the hood down, you have a lot less wet material to store away.
3. Better visibility, because the rear screen of the full hood gets plastered in muck
4. You don't boil
5. Much easier access if you get the easy in zip
Drawbacks:
1. If you are parked you need a shower cap to stop rain blowing in the back
2. Some spray comes in at high speed, but it is dryer than I expected in serious rain.
I asked on Blatchat and ended up getting the Softbits For Sevens version, easy to fit and very secure at speed.
I would buy from them again.
Never used the full hood on current Seven and didn't on previous after getting HH(and that is about 50k miles plus ); I have SBFS HH and draught excluder. Latter not so good with draughts but very good at stopping any ingress of mist/spray from behind. Have driven many hundreds of miles through torrential rain in Highlands without any problem . But shower cap essential for overnight parking .
Somebody will be along shortly to tell you that there is nothing wrong with full hood and undoubtedly it will keep you totally dry. Disadvantage is it took me (maybe not others) several minutes to erect rather than 30 secs for HH . Also get very hot and noisy- HH preserves some fresh air obviously and not as stupidly noisy (diff can be deafening with full hood ). Aesthetically I prefer the HH too.
Somebody will be along shortly to tell you that there is nothing wrong with full hood and undoubtedly it will keep you totally dry. Disadvantage is it took me (maybe not others) several minutes to erect rather than 30 secs for HH . Also get very hot and noisy- HH preserves some fresh air obviously and not as stupidly noisy (diff can be deafening with full hood ). Aesthetically I prefer the HH too.
I haven't used the full hood since buying my half hood.
It's quicker to put up, takes less room to store, and it means you can get rid of those hoodsticks from the boot.
The half hood give you more air and far less noisy.
As has been mentioned, the only down side is that you need a shower cap (I recommend the lone nose one) to keep the car dry when it's parked up.
It's quicker to put up, takes less room to store, and it means you can get rid of those hoodsticks from the boot.
The half hood give you more air and far less noisy.
As has been mentioned, the only down side is that you need a shower cap (I recommend the lone nose one) to keep the car dry when it's parked up.
IBDAET said:
Get one from Oxted Trimming. They make the best ones and do the job in a day or two if not a stock item. That said, they cause a low pressure area inside the cockpit which sucks all the spray down the back of your neck.
Oxted (or Thundersport as they're also called) made mine and it's been fantastic. I like the fact it's vinyl to match the boot cover too.The Soft Bits ones are good too, but generally they take a bit longer to deliver. Soft Bits did make my boot cover though, and the fit and quality of finish is excellent.
Just to provide some balance, I've got a half hood and used to have a full hood on the old car and given the choice, would go full-hood.
My full hood had a zip-out rear screen and a sunroof panel, so it made airflow manageable and the space less dark. Once practised, I could put it up at a decent speed, no more than 15-30 secs longer than a half hood. They both popper on at the front, so the difference is only at the back and to get the straps out from the boot means you have to popper the boot down again too, so it's more popper work, not less!
Anyway, the main reasons for preferring the full hood (and I used my Caterham daily for six months) were it offered good weather-proofing moving and parked, gave a measure of security when parked, made the boot more watertight (I find water runs down my half-hood straps), made the spray from other cars avoidable (try overtaking a lorry with a half-hood...) and took up no more space. I had a hood bag that attached to the roll-bar.
Just my 2p and I know I'm in a minority!
My full hood had a zip-out rear screen and a sunroof panel, so it made airflow manageable and the space less dark. Once practised, I could put it up at a decent speed, no more than 15-30 secs longer than a half hood. They both popper on at the front, so the difference is only at the back and to get the straps out from the boot means you have to popper the boot down again too, so it's more popper work, not less!
Anyway, the main reasons for preferring the full hood (and I used my Caterham daily for six months) were it offered good weather-proofing moving and parked, gave a measure of security when parked, made the boot more watertight (I find water runs down my half-hood straps), made the spray from other cars avoidable (try overtaking a lorry with a half-hood...) and took up no more space. I had a hood bag that attached to the roll-bar.
Just my 2p and I know I'm in a minority!
The correct and quickest way to use a half hood is to leave it rolled up in boot but connected to the 4 main straps. Then when you need it you just undo 4 boot poppers, pull out the half hood, unroll it and popper it to the screen, then attach the 2 side straps. Job done really quickly. To put it away just pull off from the windscreen, undo side straps, step back from the boot to keep the hood taught, fold in the sides and roll it up as you walk back to the boot and put it away, dead easy!
I used my full hood when I left the car parked up in the open when I toured the Alps a few years ago, but not since.
I used my full hood when I left the car parked up in the open when I toured the Alps a few years ago, but not since.
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