I'm gonna be painting my 4Runner in March and my hood is in bad condition , so I have three options 1) buy aftermarket hood for around 175 shipped to my door, 2) buy a new oem 375.00 plus like 120.00 for shipping , 3) find a used oem for like 50.00-100.00 , I like the idea of having a new aftermarket hood for under 200.00 but don't know how the quality will be , I like the idea of a used one but like the one on my truck its loose from the framing under it and wonder if I find a good used one will it just be a matter of time till that one comes loose as well , then there's the like 500.00 oem new hood with no issues but $$$$$ , so my question is what's your thoughts about the aftermarket hoods out there anyone have any experience with them good or bad ? Are they just like the oem ones ?

 

Some are poor quality. I just replaced a damaged fender and when I removed it from the truck, it said it was made in Taiwan. At first I always thought Taiwan stuff was junk but it was CAPA certified and if it wasn't for the damage, I would of kept it. It is CAPA standards it has been great quality in my experience. I am not so quick to write off Taiwan made materials anymore. I actually think the Taiwan fender I had on mine was better then the factory fender.

But I have seen some aftermarket stuff that does not have all of the brackets or holes punched out like it should be.

 

I bought some replacement front fenders for a 87 toyota 4x4 truck from Rock Auto and the fit is terrible.It was my first time dealing with them and will never buy from them again!No antenae hole in passenger fender,had to trim a lower monting bracket so the lower mounting holes would barely line up.The gap between the front fender and the door was not stamped correctly as the gap is bigger in the middle than the top and bottom.I tried contacting them on this and they wanted to make it a hassle to return them for my money back.So my advice is if you go aftermarket buy the aftermarket local so its easy to return when they don't fit.I have much experience in doing bodywork and these have been the absolute worst body panels i have gotten so far.The only good side to this is at least they are not rusty.I would try to find a good used oem hood if it was me.I have one off a 86 truck but the shipping would be the killer and they would probably damage it during shipping.

 

Thanks for the tip but just checked and the only capa certified hoods I could find are for newer 4Runners

 

Well I located a used oem hood in perfect condition only thing that sucks is it got drive 3 1/2 hours to pick it up !! Oh well it will be worth it in the end.

 

Hey clok good find on the hood,hope the price was good.Did you look to see if the inner structure was coming unbonded from the outer skin?

 

Forgot to mention you can fix the problem with the inner structure coming loose from the outer skin.You can rebond that.

 

nice I will keep that in mind. The hood I found is in perfect shap condition for only $25 can't go wrong but it's gonna cost me about 60 in gas thou lol.

 

Good score on the hood. At least by you going and picking it up yourself you won't have to worry about it getting damaged in the shipping process.