Carbon Fiber front fascia?
 

I went to the garage to clean off some bugs today and found yet another (relatively) deep knick down by the fangs (about 1mm x 1mm x 8mm). It's deep enough that a clearbra would not have prevented it, as with another cut I found about a month ago.

Anyhow, has any manufacturer (in the past with Z's) put out a carbon fiber front fascia? I don't mean as an overlay, I mean a replacement. ;)

I figure it'd be hard enough and resistant enough to not dent/ding/etc from road debris. The weight savings might be something, don't care about that...lol.

Personal preference would be that it would get painted to match the car...so it's a matter of eventually wanting to replace it when it looks bad enough and either spending the $200 or so to get a new plastic fascia (and whatever to have it painted), or, get a CF fascia at $xyz, then have it painted to match and likely not have to worry about dings/chips/cuts/etc.

you mean the whole bumper cover.... that's gonna be money


there's already a fiberglass bumper cover out..... it's pretty darn strong... stronger than OEM.... Zele is the way to go

Like how much (for CF) - ballpark?

I'll check into Zele.

the Zele one will be around 1500 i think... plus shipping

CF would probably be the same if made here in North America
but no one has done it yet


if the CF gets a knick, thats so not fixable... i would go with FB.. which is fixable

Thanks - good point about CF. I imagine that CF's epoxy base would be harder than the plastic used for the OEM fascia, correct? At least the damage would be minimal.

Also, it looks like Zele would be part of a body kit, which isn't something I'm entirely after. I guess I'll just deal until something comes out (or go OEM again)

One other thing - what's the exhaust on Zele's site? If I did something like get the body kit, that exhaust would probably be what'll fit best with the rear fascia...at least, as I understand it, they come pre-cut, right?

carbon fiber is not flexible... so yes it is harder
fiberglass is hard also, but fixable....
those Japanese kits are pretty darn tough though.... the OEM bumper would break before a FB would.

the Zele front bumper is a variation of OEM.... so it will match nicely if you buy the front bumper only....
the front bumper costs 1200 plus shipping

the rear bumper is 1100
the side skirts are 975

now get ready for it.... are you ready to see the price of the exhaust


it's a full titanium exhaust at 5800

LULZ!

I guess there's not a lot that can be done with the rear bumper with their body kit (I'm not familiar with body kits in general, so please forgive the ignorance!)

no problem

i would put the front bumper and keep the rest stock


and forget that exhaust.............lol


btw...those are real prices i posted from 370ztune

I don't think you would be able to paint over a CF front bumper. The CF most of us refer to is wet carbon so its already been clearcoated meaning you won't be able to apply paint afterwards. Correct me if I'm wrong but only dry carbon would be able to get painted on after, and you are going to pay an arm and a leg for any dry carbon pieces, heck I don't think they even have any out right now. For wet carbon, I know atleast of one other member completely CFing their car. The name is beyond me right now but I believe he's working with Seibon. I'm currently doing the same thing with a local wholesale company on creating a full wet carbon kit. I don't think I'll see much in weight savings but I love the look.

cf fenders would offer decent weight saving

I hope so, I'm patiently waiting to see how much weight it I actually shave off. Though honestly I did it for the unique look than any major weight reductions. Anyone know where I can get an overlay for the rear quarter panel in CF?

mmmm... i dont think you can....lol

think of it like this... the fenders are made from steel
(only hatch, door skin and hood are aluminum)

CF is lighter than aluminum... so there's definitely a savings

Sure you can. CF is painted over all the time. The clear-coat is just paint after all. You'll still have paint on top and that's what typically chips though, so there is nothing really gained from doing this to reduce road dings......I fact, it may cause more issues as the underlying CF (or FG) is pretty unyielding as opposed to the flexibility of the stock bumper material..

Actually the Hood, Doors and hatch are aluminum......

Roof is steel....My Auto-X numbers stuck real good up there..:tup:

my bad.... i meant that...lol

door skin is aluminum

Good to know all 'round.

Now that you mention it, my neighbor has a FG hood that has been battered pretty good.

+1 you can paint clearcoat...


heck even use adhesion promoter if you're anal as a primer. :tup:

OP: If your going to paint over the CF I would just recommend you get an FRP Front Bumper because CF will still get chips and gouges no matter what. You should probably get a clear bra next time you paint. I currently have a full Carbon fiber front end on my Z and a majority of my car is CF. I did paint this cf bumper but I also have another in full cf too.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5...MyASUKAcar.jpg

I get lots of compliments and looks with CF (majority from the popo) but I am getting tired of the look so I'm gonna be paint scheming the whole car pretty soon. The thing with CF is that if it is not prepped right, you can tell that the piece was cf that was painted. Dry carbon is actually much harder to prep because the weave will definitely show through if not prepped right. I'll post up a whole thread about carbon and the differences and such soon. I want to get you guys educated on some of the products that are out on the market. As far as price goes, currently for the 370 your looking to spend 1000k plus for just the front in CF.

We actually are having the Zele replica kit coming in pretty soon here, about less then a month. We also will be making the full Nismo replacement body kit (not the lip and add ons) in FULL CF Made to order.

I agree and disagree. If you had a REAL carbon fiber bumper with several layers of carbon fiber and you hit something at the minimal speed it would take to tear dent or damage a urethane bumper. The carbon fiber one would just get a few scratches. The only up side to urethane is its cheaper by 50% or more, and the braking point when being bent is farther than a carbon fiber one.

That is assuming the carbon fiber is pure carbon fiber (again with many layers) and saturated in the best epoxy resin you can find.

Carbon fiber is also cheaper to fix (not cheaper to replace). Just cheaper to repair since you don’t have to use special adhesive promoters and special types of putty.

I agree, carbon fiber is very strong when stretching and bending, but weak when compressed or exposed to high shock.

But, take for example a CF strut bar or wing, it won't bend or flex easily, but when hit with something at high speed or if something heavy dropped on it, it will crack. The high shock or impact will crack carbon fiber, not necessarily break it, but cause structural failure in which the carbon will be able to be bent or stretched more so then when not cracked.The crack will only get bigger and spider if more flexing and bending are applied to the piece. Once Carbon fiber is cracked, typically it is rendered useless. Even when repaired, it will never be the same strength as it was before.

As for applications of typical automotive carbon fiber, you won't need multiple layers necessarily. Typically you have different types of carbon for different applications. Most common in the auto industry are as follow: Hand Laid;made by layering up carbon fiber in a similar process to fiberglass, multiple coats of resin/material are laid to create a finished product often made with a mold, Vacuum infusion; a single layer (sometimes more) of carbon fiber material, laid into a mold and sealed with a plastic sheet (often times called "bagged," one end of a tube has resin and the other a vacuum in which the resin is sucked in over the carbon fiber allowing it to have minimal usage of resin (which causes weight and structural rigidity loss in cf) yet enough to make a strong durable part, lastly, we have Pre-Preg carbon or what some people call "Dry Carbon" not to be confused with the "Dry carbon look" where a flat clear is sprayed on to the finished product. Pre-Preg carbon is infused at the materials manufacturing plant with temperature curing resin. It has resin already bonded with the cf and must be stored in a container below freezing (don't remember the numbers off the top of my head). When applied to a mold, it is "baked" in huge ovens (again don't remember the numbers which can vary) which will cause the resin which it was impregnated with to begin its curing process. These are just a few of the different types of CF you will find.

The point of Carbon fiber is to create a strong rigid piece that also eliminates the need of multiple layering such as is found in Fiberglass or FRP which causes weight a majority of the weight. For example a hatch from a car can weigh in at about 50+ lbs. At hand laid levels you can cut that weight in half so about 25lbs. Vacuum Infusion we can achieve a little more then half or 3/4 of the hand laid weight so about 14-16 lbs. With Dry Carbon you can achieve a little less then vacuum infusion, about 10-13 lbs.

something to think about when boarding the upcoming Boeing 787.... :ugh2:
toray's doing billions of dollars business with them for all the large CF bits.

The kind of CF work that is used in planes is not quite the same as in the Auto Industry, Especially when making CF sub-frame pieces and such. The pieces would look more like the CF drive-shafts of the Z. It won't look pretty with all the weave and crazy patterns. Some pieces will look like that but some parts are Carbon Fiber yet don't even look like what most of us are used to. Just look under your Z and you'll see what I'm talking about. Carbon can be used in different applications but what I mentioned is most common in the Automotive Industry. I'm working on a thread to help everyone out and learn about CF and hopefully i'll be done this week with it. Hopefully it will help many of the buyers get educated on what they are buying.