I thought I ought to weigh in, since my hood found it's way into this thread.
What you see in the picture is what you see in real life. I might be a bit biased, but I think it looks terrific. My car has been on the road for about 10 months (and 6,700 miles
) and the hood looks as good as when it was first delivered.
Ron took great care of my hood, which was painted before he applied the coating.
I can't say enough good things about the service I got from Ron and the final product.