Where can i buy this front bumper???

 

what a great and informative thread. u def got my attention

 

same here, i own a cf hood too.. how do you guys maintain it?will i damage the coating if i use the wax that i use for the other parts of my z?

 

I have +07 Top Secret CF hood made by Seibon, Mastergrade CF hatch and Top Secret CF rear diffuser made by Mastergrade. This pieces looks to me clearcoted but, since I don't know much about CF I'm not sure if that's clearcoat. Does anyone know if I have or should to clearcoat this parts? Will they faid in color if not clearcoated?
Thanx.

 

Seibon parts also have a gelcoat with UV protection. It all depends on the quality of UV protection used and the upkeep of the hood throught it's life. Many people think they can just put the part on and never give it matinence. I would always recommend waxing, in the shade, with a good carnuba wax once a month.

 

hat I am concerned about is weight and strength vs. stock. From what I've heard and from this thread "dry-carbon fiber" is what you want to go with in terms of performance. Can you guys clear this up? IMO, simply putting carbon fiber on a car is pointless and ricey unless it serves a purpose....

 

There are factors that play into the actual tensile strength of carbon fiber, mostly how it is laid. Carbon fiber does have a high tensile strength but in an accident is will crack and shatter.

As far as weight. There are 3 basic kind of carbon; wet, vacuumed, and prepreg. With wet being the heaviest and Prepreg being the lightest. There are ups and downs to all 3 kinds. Here's some good examples of weights I use for comparisson reasons

SEIBON wet hatch- 18-19lbs and costs $600+

Asuka vacuum bagged hatch- 12-13lbs and costs $900+

SEIBON Prepreg hatch- 8-9lbs and costs $1500+

These are the weights I have found over the past 3 years of working with these companies.

 

Alright, I thumbed through this thread in an effort not to be redundent with my question. So I appologize if I missed it.

I am wanting to do as much carbon as I can (oem carbon pieces on a black G35 Coupe). I want the whole front end along with the fenders, and the trunk. I am wondering about the doors. I have had a hard time finding any posts of people that have done the doors, so my question is this.

Can the stock interior be used with the doors? Are there any drawbacks with function of the window, door controls...anything else? Basically, if someone could give me the pros and cons of doing this I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, this has been a great thread.

 

Again...Bueller...Bueller? Anyone?

Alright, I thumbed through this thread in an effort not to be redundent with my question. So I appologize if I missed it.

I am wanting to do as much carbon as I can (oem carbon pieces on a black G35 Coupe). I want the whole front end along with the fenders, and the trunk. I am wondering about the doors. I have had a hard time finding any posts of people that have done the doors, so my question is this.

Can the stock interior be used with the doors? Are there any drawbacks with function of the window, door controls...anything else? Basically, if someone could give me the pros and cons of doing this I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, this has been a great thread.

 

is there any way to repair the clear coat on a front end? mine is just getting beat up with debris and rocks, don't really want to paint it body color, thanks for any info

 

Here's a few pics of a forum members hood I Re-surfaced and cleared. Basically the process for this was lots of sanding, wet sanding, clear coating, wet sanding and a polish.

BEFORE:





AFTER:







This hood was not previously clear coated, the quality of the hood was just okay, It was obviously Wet carbon (hand laid). It was oxidized and yellow. With your bumper you should be able to do the same but it may take a little longer as you have openings and curved and odd angle surfaces to work with. Any competent body shop should be able to do this, I did this out of a small workshop I have access to and just helped out a friend. As you can see you can't completely remove the yellow but it is at least better then what it was before. Its all a matter of time and effort you put in to restore your CF piece, I know a few other members on here have done some CF repairs after I explained how to do them. Its not too complicated, but it takes some time and some patience to learn how to do it.

 

thanks a lot man, so basically any good body shop, for the right price could sand it down and re clear it and make it look new again is what im gathering

 

Yea Pretty much. If you find a good shop that knows how to work with carbon they can even fix minor cracks. I know we do fix some cracks on some CF pieces from time to time when they get shipping damage to the customer.

 

^ well i guess if worse comes to worse, i could ship it to you guys and have you fix it for me ha, care to give me an estimate? its a mine's carbon front lip, just to re-clear the whole thing looks just like the veilside lip

 

rough estimate, about $300 -$350, Its just a lot of labor for the sanding and such.

 

thanks man i will defiantly consider that once it gets a little rougher

 

So apparently I'm not the only one with these plans... I'm thinking painted carbonfiber. Seems most people are interested in removing it. I want to apply it. Now, I've heard that cf doesn't tale well to paint. Is there any special prep or process you need to follow? And why does it seem to be faux pas to paint cf? What's the big deal, if it's primary purpose is weight savings, to paint over that sexy sexy weave pattern?

 

From previous experience and from working with CF, the paint does adhere to CF, but I can always tell when CF has been painted unless its done right with lots of prep work. Honestly I love CF, but I'm getting tired of it and want to paint scheme it. Your basically gonna need a shop that has delt with CF before like DTM Autobody. Otherwise you can see slight distortion in the paint which looks like part of the weave is showing through.

 

+1 i wanna know too..

how to take care of our CF parts?

 

The stuff M6 said in the thread was actually me, a long time ago. But yes, CF can be lighter and stronger if made correctly.

As far as taking a hit on the road... Compared to Fiberglass its the same, but with the fiberglass (FRP and its hybrid composites) that people are using to make bumpers nowadays its more flexible which in turn helps prevent small nicks and cracks.

As far as washing and waxing are concerned, you can treat it the same as paint. I would always wash and wax my CF parts. Wax really brings out the gloss of the CF and 3d effect if its twill weave. I would HIGHLY recommend if your CF part does not come cleared, to CLEAR COAT the piece. Some companies charge an arm and a leg for parts but they don't clear their pieces (companies like: DAMD, VeilSide, Seibon, VIS, Mines, Top Secret, Varis). The Clear coat is what will really help prevent fade to yellow like the hood pictured in one of my posts above. It can really help the part last much longer and keep its silver black color.



Carbon fiber will may or may not hold up the shock of the small pebbles thrown at the car at say a speed of about 65mph. It will eventually get beaten up with small nicks and such but it really depends on who made the CF piece, thickness of the resin, type of resin, age of the piece etc. Always too many factors. But generally speaking it will eventually get nicks and cracks on the piece.

As far as weight savings, yes it can save weight but again, lots of factors here. Take for example the OEM hatch. It weighs approximately with the glass 70 lbs. with the glass.

I believe VIS and Seibons both weigh somewhere between 30-35+ lbs. in CF. Both I also believe use fiberglass backing. Both are hand laid Carbon fiber parts.

Asuka and Mastergrade both made hatches with built in spoilers which are Vacuum infused:

Mastergrades Hatch weight was under 20 lbs. for sure

Asuka weighed in their Fiberglass Hatch at 22 lbs.

Asuka Single sided CF Hatch : 16 lbs.

Asuka Double sided CF Hatch: 14 lbs. I believe

All weights are without glass. Assume the glass weighs about 30 lbs. You still have a significant weight reduction and savings.

Assuming Asuka was to make a double sided CF hatch in Pre Preg Carbon, or "Dry Carbon" I wouldn't be surprised if they could get close to the 10lb marker. LOTS of R&D would need to be done in order to achieve this. We will see what the future holds but maybe we may be able to get close to this.