Which of the 3, Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass/Urethane Hybrid, Fiberglass is the best to get for a front lip? The price difference from the Fiberglass and Carbon Fiber is nearly double. Is it really worth it?

Anyone with experience with fiberglass and fiberglass/urethane hybrid kits, do they chip/scratch/dent easy from rocks and road particals?

 

Obviously a eurathane lip would be the best since that is the most pliable and resistant to a impacts here and there - which an add-on lip is particularly susceptible to. The fiberglass/eurathane would be your next best choice. I believe it doesn't take much of impact to crack CF lips, nor full fiberglass lips since those have no pliability. If you can afford it I'd say go with full eurathane or any mix thereof since add-on lips often make it much easier to scrape when going over bumps and up and driveways.

 

How about urethane compared to carbon fiber?

 

to tell you the truth if you want flex, light weight, and duraqbility carbon fiber is the strongest out of all three....think about this....all your top end race cars are basically cf ferarri the new porsche thats on road and track and other high end cars..... ive seen an integra go through a pole smash up the whole front end but his carbon fiber hood was still in tact. not saying it doesnt break because everything does but cf is the strongest.
then your next alternative would be urethane due to flex and durability. its not as stiff as fiberglass so it tends to give a little when say you hit a bump or scrape....fiberglass is your cheapest alternative but iff you want something better thats gonna be painted go with urthane...its nice and cheap and does the job well.
thats just some stuff ive learned from experience myself and reading about it in articles.

NiLe C.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. While CF is very light and strong, it is not very flexible (at least compared to the others). It will bend very little, then snap. As someone who has played around with CF, along with having many CF bits on my bike, I can tell you that's not what you want for a front lip. It will be prone to chip there, and once it starts chipping it will become much more fragile. Fiberglass will do much the same thing. Plastic will be a much better choice.

Brad

 

i highly disagree with you.

properly cured Carbon Fiber is quite flexible without a hardening insert (i.e. honey comb insert) compared to a three layer pure CF vacuum bagged.

Fiberglass is probably the worse out of the three. but it is fixable.

Carbon fiber, although very light weight and strong, once its cracked its over, but that's after it is highly stressed. but my CF hood and wing for my maxima is insanely strong. i've stepped on my hood before and hopped up and down (dont ask..) and it always popped back to shape!

fiberglass/urethane mix is just another gimmic. urethane for it to be properly used is injected in liquid form and it has to shrink into shape, while fiberglass is strands of fiber that is attached to each other from resin...

you can get the flexiblility out of carbon fiber and/or fiberglass with the correct resin mixtures...

from personal experiences. CF or CK (carbon Kevlar) is the way to go, but you'll pay the price...

 

I'll be able to comment on the hybrid glass/urethane flexibility etc when I get my kit in a few weeks. Many kits coming out of Japan use the hybrid mix...i seriously doubt it's a 'gimmick' that has no added benefit. I paid extra for the **** so it better not be.