Logan24

Oh you haven't heard my story yet. I parked at work one night and didn't look up....long story short, a 60 pound chuck of ice fell 12 feet onto my hood. I was sure my hood was caved in. To my surprise it wasn't. At first I didn't even notice a dent and thought I was lucky. When the sun came up in the morning I notices about a two finger sized dent. Barely noticeable. So I go to my manager and get everything figured out. I take my truck to an auto body shop and get a quote. Apparently these aluminum hoods are super hard to get dents out of. They decided it's better off with a brand new hood. After everything the quote came out to $2400. I'll post pictures when I get home and the car that was parked next to me that got hit too. I'll take a picture of the quote too.

Logan24

This is the car. I Haven't taken pictures of my truck yet. I'm surprised at how the hood held up tho. So I'm gonna have to disagree with the OP when he says they are easy to dent. Im not looking to start an argument. Just my opinion. By the way the car was a rental and he just got the bill. $1700 for his car.

zero419

My 99 Ranger has an Alum. hood.
They have been doing it for many years.
I don't see the problem.

neons4012

The main reason they went to the aluminum was to save weight. I am the asst parts manager at a dealership and you can always tell the difference between an aluminum hood and a steel one. It's crazy how much of a difference it makes. The only down fall is it costs 2-3 times as much. So a steel hood may cost about 300 bucks and the same hood in aluminum us going to cost about 800-900. It's crazy how big the price difference is.

faster_than_u

First I heard of alum. hoods. But I have always driven older vehicles. Even my 2000 focus had a steel hood.

Power Kid

The aluminum hoods started in teh F150s with the (all new) '97.

Two reasons: Save weight and no rust.

I recall watching my 98 being hit my hail, about 1.5" dia and boucing about 6 feet back into the air.... No dents. Couldn't belive it at the time as everyone on the forums (yes even way back then) told me they would dent easier!

Perhaps it was the angle? Wasn't coming straight down.

geabis

You could see the obvious difference on my 09 f450 . There were absolutely no dings in the roof (crew cab) and the hood looked like someone took a ballpeen hammer to it. I'm certain it wasn't due to the farther distance the acorns had to fall. So that only leaves the difference of materials.

fossilfuels

Aluminum is better in my opinion. It won't spot rust when rocks chip at it, then the road salt gets in there. It would be good for those who have white trucks. JMO I guess its all a give take with anything.

F150Lasso

Aluminum probably dissipates heat better also.

mikegs1952

My 03 Ranger had a fiberglass hood. You could see the glass strands turu the paint on the under side. Not sure when they started that