Hey everyone, sorry if this topic has already been covered. I've tried searching for it but wasn't able to find any results. Essentially what I want to know is the pros and cons of fiberglass, polyurethane, and carbon fiber when it comes to body kits.

I know a little bit already on each, however I was hoping that you guys would be able to give testimony as to which material you'd recommend. I've heard some pretty negative things about fiberglass and generally good things about polyurethane. I have not heard anything about carbon fiber. So any testimonies you guys could give is greatly appreciated. The only reason I ask this is because I've found a body kit that I think looks incredibly clean but wanted to educate myself a bit more before making an expensive purchase.

Thanks everyone.

 

Dont quote me on this but Frp is the most popular and if you get it from a good vendor then its ok. Polyurethane might be better because its more durable but it gets wavy and stuff. Carbon fiber is just going to be really expensive and essentially has layers of fiberglass underneath it. Unless you go with a higher quality carbon fiber kit and that is going to be really expensive.

 

Does carbon fiber fit well?

 

POLY is by far the best of all those.. if your going with something that's gonna last you a long time and wont chip or crack polyurethane is the one.
cf is good for a hood but not for body kit, only for looks...fiber glass TRASH.

 

??? I've heard that urethane experiences the most problems when it comes to paint chipping and spiderwebs

 

carbon fiber: lightest, strongest, $$$
Poly:- somewhat heavy, bends and flexes instead of breaking, does lead to spidering when bent (just paint needed, not a repair and paint like fiberglass)\
Fiberglass: possibly the lightest depending on how thick, cracks, chips, breaks, have to be very careful not to damage while driving, especially if your car is lowered. expensive to have a shop fix it, easy if u can do it youself. cheapest of all and a very wide selection.
hope this helps

 

Thanks man.

 

+1 on Poly being the "best". If the shop uses high-quality, flexible paint and flexible clear coat, you shouldn't run into spiderwebbing. Carbon fiber is awful purty though. (I gots lots!)

 

Can you paint carbon fiber or no???

 

^ Yep. They do it on race cars all the time. Carbon fiber is coated (or embedded) with resins just like fiberglass.

 

Fitment will vary not bc of the material.

Poly is great bc it is flexable and you can bottom out your front bumper w/o any major concerns. BUT bc it's not rigid, most good body shops will recommend (most will say you NEED) a flex additive for your paint which means more $ out of your pocket.

Fiberglass is great bc you get the most variety in kit options and it is strong enough. As long as you know how to drive your car you need not worry about fiberglass. If you intend on ramming into stall stoppers, curbs, or driveways then listen to everyone else and get poly.

Carbon is pretty much like fiberglass but with less variety. If you scratch cf it's pretty much useless bc u only bought it to show it off and it won't look good until you repair it with paint. BUT, you'll save $ by not painting it (as long as you don't f it up). Fiberglass or poly + $ of a good paint job usually costs more than getting cf.

My advice: know the road conditions or your area and make a decision based on that. Don't let poly fan boys sway you unless you actually think you'll need the durability of poly, as this will drastically limit your options. I have personally owned both poly and fiberglass and am actually surprised at the strength of fiberglass. Keep in mind I have an authentic jp kit, and lower quality kits may and will differ. I've also owned an aerosync bumper w/ absolutely no problems, but that was the only full bumper in poly at the time (very limited selection).

 

all of my cars have polyurethane on it. lip kit wise, polyurethane is hands down the best. entire bumper wise, where a FRP or carbon fiber bumper would break, poly urethane would just bend, thats why the paint messes up. Id rather mess up paint then buy a new bumper. >.<

 

If you really go sideways, as your sn implies, get poly for sure.

 

poly is for sure the best. Just like was stated above the painter needs to but flex in the paint or clear and no spidering will happen. Believe me i hit a 18 wheeler tire going about 50 miles per hour on the highway. Bumper was all in one piece and only had spidering of the paint and a the bumper was just a litte disformed.

 

this is partly true. if the kit does not fit it will probably not fit at all, but not all the time. fiberglass can be trimmed if the fit is close, so can poly. but if carbon fiber is off there is nothing you can do about that. so the material can affect the fitment, especially when it comes to carbon fiber.

 

What about polyurethane makes it superior to carbon fiber??? Judging from gerrfran's post it seems like carbon fiber would be the best.

 

gerrfran just made a personal assumption based on his personal feeling for carbon fiber. yet he forgot to mention that when CF gets damaged, you need to replace the whole piece. you can not repair it like poly or fiberglass.

 

Poly is flexible. Carbon is not. If I'm not mistaken, Poly is more durable. I feel the only advantage Carbon has over poly is weight.

 

Although his post is accurate, it is irrelevant. He attributes lightness and strength to cf (both true), HOWEVER:

lightness: yes it is light, so what? Do you really care about this ridiculously minimal weight savings? There are many things you could do to save MORE weight than carbon would save you (eat a salad instead of a burger, take a **** before you get in your car, remove all non-essential interior pieces, get the lightest wheels, exhaust, etc.) But most people don't do all of these things and its not like poly is any heavier than the stock bumpers you already have on your car.

Strength: yes cf is strong... so? Do you really think it is that much stronger than fg or poly? For practical reasons it isn't. If you hit something hard enough where a fg bumper will shatter, your cf will too. If you hit something hard enough that it'll take a chunk out of fg it might not do the same for the cf, but the cf will still be f'd up and will need paint to repair aesthetically, which defeats the purpose of you buying the cf in the first place. Poly will withstand the small stuff better, which is what you should be concerned about as far as practical strength goes.

 

+++1 coming from a person that had a polyurethane full body kit.