I had my Jag dealer install my after market Mina Gallery chrome hood vents and love the look.


My car has had sporadic acceleration issues, bucking and kicking at low speeds and RPM. Check Engine light came on so took it to dealer.


They told me that water drains differently on the after market than with OEM and the ones I had them install allow water to drip right onto parts that shouldn't be. They said THAT is what's leading to my driving issues so they are re-installing my OEM ones


I love the look of chrome - but they said long term it could create additional issues so away they go - ay my cost to swap and also to clean and dry whatever was wet .....


FYI...

 

Do the vents really need to be functional? Or can you just block them off so they don't allow any water through like the standard XF hoods? Even though the XFR has vents, I don't think the XF Supercharged has vents does it? If not, then the vents are probably more for looks than function.

 

That's an excellent question that I don't have an answer to but will look into.


I really like the look, and have now paid to have them installed, and paid again to have them taken out! The OEM go in and out easy but these have these bars that hold it in place and are tedious to install.

 

I have had them for a long time here in Houston. It really rains hard here and I have never had a problem.

 

Sounds like you have a boat load of problems from your other thread...

 

+1 for blocking them off/sealing them shut and re-installing.

 

I have Mina Gallery carbon hood vents and have never had any water drainage issues...I'm pretty sure they are identical in shape to the stock ones. Are the chrome ones made differently?

 

Yep, but not caused by hood vents. Vents have been on the car since October, 2011.

One thing about the chrome vents that I didn't like was that I had to cut the hood liner and where it was cut the fiberglass separated. Also had to paint the edges of the hole in the liner as you could see it (yellow) through the vents.

 

They are NOT identical. They fit perfectly but are different aesthetically and the whose, etc are different.


Oh, and they are chrome and look much better

 

Interesting they would be that different.
Gonna disagree on looking better than carbon fiber, but everyone has different taste! Chrome aftermarket bits look cheap to me.

 

Hey, I resemble that remark!!!

 

+1 - hell I'm going the opposite and am having all the chrome trim on mine painted black. Chrome is for Harleys noot British saloon cars.

That said do you have any pictures? I can't imagine it looks good but I will reserve judgement until I actually see it. At the end of the day what's important is what YOU like - and if you like it better then I salute you for modifying your car into something you like better than stock. I'm a huge black car fan and have always loved the murdered-out look. I plastidipped all the chrome/silver on my Exige, Pathfinder, RS4, Legacy Spec.B, 350z and now my XFR. Just love the black/sinister look.

Post up some pictures if you have them...

 

Utter rubbish. Do your homework and see how many British saloon cars over the years have used plenty of chrome.

 

One thing I don't understand about the murdered out look is that all the individuality of the car goes away. So in trying to modify the car to be different, you actually made it the same as every other blacked out car.

It becomes a dark mass that has no real lines or character. Great for poorly styled cars, but to me a real disservice for something as pretty as an XF.

 

+1 No need to be embarrassed with the look and brand of an XF. I personally would leave the blacked out look for a Kia.

 

Oh let me be clear - you're totally right that *many* cars, especially British have used chrome for many years. This is just my very humble opinion - I suppose I should have said "I think chrome should be for Harleys, not British sport saloons"

Again I couldn't disagree more - I think leaving the chrome make the car look like every other XF so changing it makes it look like something different and far more sinister. Personally I've never seen an XF-R murdered out like I want but hell for that matter I've never seen another black XF in person (which is one of the things I love about these cars, how rare they are). I only know of one other owner in the entire state of Colorado.

Embarrassed? Dear lord, there isn't a thing about my car stock that I'm embarrassed about - as you know it's a *stunning* car as is. As for a Kia I suppose the difference between us here is I wouldn't consider owning a Kia. That said I have to admit the new Kia Optima is one amazing looking car for the money, I'd venture to say if it didn't have a Kia badge on it people would have no idea it's a cheap car, but I digress.

Again let me be clear I'm not at all saying you guys are wrong as clearly we're talking about taste and opinions here - there is no right/wrong. Well that's probably not true, putting say a huge wing on the back would clearly be wrong. But for me this is how I prefer to style my cars and trust me you guys aren't the only ones to try to talk me out of this over the years. When I bought my Exige it was full murder for a few years and while friends tried to talk me out of it before I did it they all agreed it looked amazing after (or at least that's what they said to my face!)

At the end of the day the great thing about using plastidip is that if I don't like it I can just peel it right off. I'll post up pictures when I'm done and you guys can feel free to either rip me to shreds (with your jealousy) or pay me compliments on how good it looks. I suppose we'll see.

I still maintain that chrome hood vents are a horrid idea, again IMHO.

-Ross

 

Update on my original post.


The sputtering that led the dealer to take my after market vents off happened again for the first time last week which supports my belief that it wasn't from the vents after all. So, at some point I'll have my chrome vents re-installed and I will live happily ever after


And I STILL love the look of chrome on black!

 

That's good to hear - well in that you can put your chrome back in and be happy. I would have been *shocked* if the vents could have caused something like that.

And BTW nice choice on basically all black cars, seems we at least have that in common!

-Ross