Textured hood on 2017 PIU

[Eltee]

Went to where they install lights, sirens, etc. on police Explorers today. I saw a 2017 with a strange, textured hood. It was either a composite / synthetic material but seemed like someone sprayed it with a really coarse bed liner material. I'll take pics and ask about it if it's still there today. I was asking the guys about where to mount fogs on my Ex.

 

[Eltee]

The textured hood is coated in something similar (not exactly the same) as Rhino-Hide pickup bed material. It is for command vehicles so they can put stuff on it, use it as a desk/table, etc. without destroying the paint. I was there when they had a hood off to work in the engine bay. Here are a couple of pics of one of the command PIU hoods.

 

[Jon M]

I kinda want a whole vehicle covered in that. Wouldn't have to worry about scratches, ever!

Is that a Ford option, or something the department did?

 

[Eltee]

It looks darker in person but I used flash to get the details and texture. You don't notice it from a distance, looks more like a matte black vs. the gloss black of the rest of the vehicle. I was told it's done locally.

 

[traveler]

I've been wanting to do my roof in a material like that. Keep it safe from scratches, and doesn't require waxing (hard to get to the roof!). Hadn't thought about the hood.. hmmm...

 

[peterk9]

What's it like to clean and/or keep clean?

 

[Eltee]

Apparently hoses off and goes through the departmental car wash w/o any special handling. It's smoother and blacker than my photos portray. From a distance it looks like a regular black hood. It was kind of like the surface of my OEM Ford Sport Trac bed topper but more of a matte finish.

 

[Sgt1411]

That's really odd because there is a whole upfitting industry of Command Vehicle setups for the rear of any typical SUV or like vehicle. Which includes very functional pull out tables and shelving for just that purpose of putting stuff on or writing.

Tactically speaking, standing around the front of the vehicle is odd too......not sure about that.

 

[Eltee]

That's really odd because there is a whole upfitting industry of Command Vehicle setups for the rear of any typical SUV or like vehicle. Which includes very functional pull out tables and shelving for just that purpose of putting stuff on or writing.

Tactically speaking, standing around the front of the vehicle is odd too......not sure about that.

Naww... we have all the drawers, gear cabinets, etc. that are common in the back of SUV cop cars but for decades the hoods of cars have served as field expedient desks and tables. Of course those vehicles are not in the hot zones so we don't worry about being targeted while looking at a GIS printout or playing with gear on a hood or trunk.

Our tactical stacks and deployments have marshaling areas in "green zones" and I imagine that's were that hood would be used.

Also, great place to put a pizza, flat of water, and box of Krispy Kremes (or Timmys up north).

 

[champco]

My Guess why? To prevent the paint from pealing. I have seen a few PIU's with the paint bubbling off.

 

[Sgt1411]

Naww... we have all the drawers, gear cabinets, etc. that are common in the back of SUV cop cars but for decades the hoods of cars have served as field expedient desks and tables. Of course those vehicles are not in the hot zones so we don't worry about being targeted while looking at a GIS printout or playing with gear on a hood or trunk.

Our tactical stacks and deployments have marshaling areas in "green zones" and I imagine that's were that hood would be used.

Also, great place to put a pizza, flat of water, and box of Krispy Kremes (or Timmys up north).

TH sucks now........Yum Yums or DD only now! LOL!

 

[Eltee]

My Guess why? To prevent the paint from pealing. I have seen a few PIU's with the paint bubbling off.

The actual justification for budgeting and reason stated for this is to create a work surface.

Plus, in daily police work we have folks empty pockets out on to the hood of our cars or pile stuff we pull out of their cars. Guns, booze, drug paraphernalia, dope, stolen property, pocket dumps, etc. get piled on the hood during many stops.

 

[Eltee]

TH sucks now........Yum Yums or DD only now! LOL!

We don't have DD or TH down here so we get our Timbit fix when we visit the in laws in Canada. We bring back a couple of 20 count boxes when we fly home. We have Winchell's and Krispy Kremes as the energy ring stores out here.

 

[CommandPresence]

Coming from a law enforcement background, I can actually see this being pretty neat. Given it has texture, suspects wallets/keys/paraphernalia should stay and not slide off as easy. On the flipside, a decent table for stuff as well.

 

[Eltee]

Coming from a law enforcement background, I can actually see this being pretty neat. Given it has texture, suspects wallets/keys/paraphernalia should stay and not slide off as easy. On the flipside, a decent table for stuff as well.

Plus, if we employ a stun / face slam on the hood it's gentler on the suspect.

 

[Eltee]

Plus, if we employ a stun / face slam on the hood it's gentler on the suspect.

When the suspect is an assaultive resistor, of course.

 

[kobresia]

I was inspired to apply Rustoleum bedliner to my hood as a stopgap, thinking at some point I might get a nice hood with the correct paint code off a wreck. The chips from its previous service life, coupled with paint bubbling & peeling off the front edge and getting worse as the unprotected aluminum oxidized were just making it look like crap.

I think I like the look of the textured finish more, and it really cuts down on sun glare. It was super easy to apply, just typical prep to scuff the existing paint, with some filling primer to build-up and make a smooth transition for all the missing paint on the front edge, and that bed liner is really not very fussy in terms of dust or dry time, about the only rattle-can finish I've applied that I'm pleased with how it turned out compared to the effort I had to put in.

I might not even bother putting a shiny black hood back on, even if I was to come across one...

 

[peterk9]

You know we are going to want to see pictures, right?

Peter

 

[Rick]

 

[Kikinz24]

There was a 16 piu on copart about 3 weeks ago that had the hood painted in that stuff.. I was looking at buying in but for me I would convert it to a non piu to sell .and the price of a new hood is too much . To add into repair costs... And trying to strip that off would be a PIA