What are they actually for and are they really worth it?

they're to hold down the hood or to hold the corners of the hood down....


fiberglass hoods are weaker, so they have to be held down somehow.. a "pin on" hood, is held on by the pins....

some of the "bolt on" hoods still arnt too strong... so when the air cups under the headlight pocket, it lifts the corners, and cracks the hood.... putting pins on the corners holds them down so they dont crack...



if you dont need them, dont get them.

Ditto on what MrDude_1 said.

Another thing is depending on the brand and quality they can be pretty hard to take off. I've seen many people actually scratch or scrap paint off. Along with minor rusting on scuff plates... etc. Few members here running the lock style ones that have a key for enforcement of fiberglass corners.

I've also seen a few "bolt-on" advertised hoods for other cars that had all necessary holes for the hinges and hood latch but didn't have a spot for an actual tension bar. We don't have that problem though since ours has a giant spring.

Also heard of horror stories about people working on their cars and forgetting to put the pins back in before taking a blast down the strip. Hoods peeling back and hitting the windshields and sheet metal... etc. Not Good.

I use them even if I don't need them. As said earlier, they are used to hold down the front corners of the hoods. I also had a horrible experience with a cervinis hood. They did not put enough reinforcement around the latch and the wind continuosly pulling it up, finally pulled it up. Broke the windshield, dented the fender, broke the hood, scratched the paint and tore off a hood hinge. Ever since then, I use hood pins/latches/locks.

At $10 for a set, it is a minor set back.

so basically they are only needed on fiberglass hoods?

Yup, that and the carbon fiber and kevlar hoods.

Well im hoping im not alone, but my hood wouldn't open easily, i would have to mess with it for 10 minutes just to get my hood up. Pull the latch, pull on one corner, wiggle, jiggle, hit it in the center, push down, then pull up... I thought this was a common thing?
And I just like the way they look. Kind of make it seem like a race car. but im just

Grease the hood release thing really well. I gurantee that'll solve your problem. Also, tapping your hood in the center about a foot from the front repeately will release it when it's stuck.

I agree with Adrenaline,, and I spray cleaned and greased the heck out of the stuff. It's not the release, you can hear it pop, darn thing just won't lift up. Tried adjusting it every which way, finally gave up on it. Now, pull two pins and up it comes. There's only so many stupid things I can take for so long.

i use a chain and lock on my elco.

an opinion that i'd heard about hood pins, was that for any hood (usually fiberglass, but others as well probably), was that during road racing, if somehow you ding the car ahead of you (ie. nascar), or if your latch mechanism fails, the pins keep the hood from flying up and smashing out your windshield, or just flipping up and blinding you while driving.

on race cars, like road racers, or NASCAR, the hood pins are the only things holding the hood on.
there is no latch.

I had my ford truck hood fly open on me doing 70 on the interstate. Once you've had that happen to you, things change. I run hood pins on all my cars.

i run 4 of them on my camaro with a pin on hood.

quick question if anyone can help. i just got a fiberglass bolt on cowl hood and im going to install hood pins for the extra support because there is a little gap from the bumper to the hood and creates a air pocket. when installing the hood pins will it cause my hood to crack, chip, break, etc. like drilling the holes and putting the screws in to hold down the metalm part on the top of the hood.

Sorry this is a little off topic but why the hell would you need a bullet proof hood?

If memory serves for the same reason as a CF or FG, lighter than steel I believe, just because something is kevlar doesn't mean its to make it bullet proof, its a strong lightweight material when compared to steel for example.