I noticed the bowing after it was parked for a year while i was gone, at the time it had factory steel hood springs, and a noticeable bow when i returned. After that i found repop light springs and have always left it open, and now that bow is gone. As for the water, the inner structure on mine runs right along the rear grates, and that isn't sealed, so when it rains some enters the inner structure. Thats my only complaint. It is strong. I let some local HS cheerleaders borrow it for pictures, didn't think they would lay across the hood, luckily the ones that did were small enough to not damage anything. I don't think the factory T/A hood would have handled that very well, but I could be wrong.