BMW M2 Build - Hood Repaint

In the category of “more show than go” I wanted to paint my Agency Power carbon fiber vented hood in OEM alpine white. The carbon fiber is a nice look but a little too Tokyo Drift for me. So I took my hood to a local paint shop and I had them paint the hood except for the vents which I kept in exposed carbon fiber. I have been letting the paint fully cure before getting it wrapped in clear Xpel to protect the paint from the track marbles. The hood now looks like it came from the factory as a GTR option. Its a nice throwback to the E36 and E46 M3 GTRs of past.

BMW M2 Build - Carbon Fiber Vented Hood

As you can tell I have tried very hard to get the SVMC M2 to look and perform like a GTS, just in M2 form. The meaningful mods have all been performance oriented, but I have done some cosmetic mods along the way to achieve the right look. Most of the time I don’t have heat issues with the M2 but every now and then I will get an error message. It has never gone into limp mode but those error messages are annoying nonetheless.

So I started to look around at heat management solutions which got me thinking of getting a larger intercooler, radiator, oil cooler, and DCT cooler. I have that all picked out but have decided to wait a bit before doing that project as the cost gets up there pretty quick. Seems like a great winter project to keep me busy.

Another option for heat management is a vented hood. While this usually doesn’t “solve” a heat issue it can help increase air flow to the engine bay as well as let the heat dissipate better. I had looked at just buying vents and cutting into the stock hood but that is involved, runs some risk of it not looking clean, and does not have other benefits like cutting down on weight. So I looked for carbon fiber vented hoods for the M2 similar to the ones found on e36 or e46 GTRs. There are a few options out there but most try to mimic an M4 GTS hood which has a power dome + 1 small vent. It looks decent but the vent is so small I doubt it will do much (if anything) for heat management. So I went with the Agency Power Carbon Fiber Dual Sided Vented Hood. It has three good sized vents, full carbon fiber, plus a power dome for some M3/4 style. The fit and finish is very good with only modest gaps along the body seams. The vents are the largest I have found for the M2 and there is the added benefit of some weight savings compared to the stock metal hood.

The plan is to paint the hood in OEM Alpine White but to leave the vents in gloss black carbon fiber. Once that paint job has fully cured for a few weeks I will wrap the hood in Xpel to protect it from the abuse of the track. So far I am very happy but I won’t know if it actually helps with heat management until I get back out on the track and do some sessions and compare my heat measurements. Stay tuned for details.