I have a 91 RS camaro and looking for a carbon fiber hood. Where can i get one and for how much? thanks

 

dont believe theyre made really.....
i think i've seen some pics of them from japan but i dont know of any companies that make them. Why do you want carbon fiber, not fiberglass?

 

Here the pic from japan!

 

I think that camaro looks awsome with the gta wheels and all. Also the black blisters set it off on the hood.

 

lol i think it kinda looks *****, but hey its my opinion, just think for as much as u pay MAYBE less u could get a nice fiberglass hood without the stock look ,

 

i have no problem with the carbon fiber.....it only looks riceey when its left like it is. You can paint carbon fiber, correct? haha

 

i didnt think carbon fiber is suppose to be painted? dont get me wrong, cause i may be wrong, but is this true?

 

When carbon fiber panels get hit in a wreck (even a mild hit) they "explode" and leave you wondering why you paid so much for it. Also the carbon fibers that are left exposed after something like that will cut you easier than a razor blade.

 

Un-true, look at all of the carbon fiber used in aircraft construction, it all gets painted, it needs the protection too.

 

sorry, i guess im wrong then, i wasnt for sure, but a lot of people here where im from say u cant paint them? is there like differerent qualities that u can paint and cannot?

 

yeah i wasnt sure if they could be painted cause most of the carbon fiber hoods i see (only see them on riceers) are unpainted.....some kids at my highschool actually paint their hoods black to give the carbon fiber look....its crazy. I'd want to paint it, leaving it black on a brightly colord car especially, just looks crappy IMO.

 

so no1 likes the fact that it is feather light and as strong as steel

 

LMAO, strong as steel?? umm no, they shatter when barely hit, but ok, they are light tho, but i'd rather have a fiberglass, thats just my opinion

 

Ummm they make whole chassis out of that stuff and drive shafts.Hmm some air planes r even made out of it.

 

yea i agree with u on that, but we are talking about hoods here, they are not stronger than steel hoods....

 

It is stronger than steel..in some applications. It has a higher shear strength than steel and higher tensile strength (in the right configuration) BUT it can not take impact damage like steel can. Steel flexes or stretches when impacted, carbon fiber shatters and or shreds, then it becomes dangerous.

 

well i guess its how u look at it then, many people may look at it in a differerent perspective than me,

 

as long as you paint it, it would be a great hood.

unpainted CF hoods have always looked tacky to me... same with most other CF stuff... its a material you use for its properties, not a "look"



anyhoo, CF is a great material for a hood... it weighs almost nothing, yet it wont move on you when you're going 150+mph.. and if you had a lift off hood of it, one person could take it off and put it on..




now if you smash your car into a truck hard enough to make it "explode", you will have more worries then "i broke my carbon fiber hood"

steel bends.. fiberglass cracks, CF cracks, but CF is also stiffer.. and it spreads the energy over a larger area.. so more area is effected.. it doesnt "explode", it just friggen breaks.


also,Morley... have you ever touched carbon fibers? they are soft like cloth. they dont cut ****. fiberglass is sharp and can cut you some though... and anyone that makes a carbon fiber hood that has pieces hanging off is a sucky hood maker.....


yes it can be painted. look at most race cars... (well, race cars other then in the US...) they are CF and painted...

 

it shatters, just like a lightbald, believe me i know, this lady in a eclipse had one, hit a deer and the damn thing totally shattered like dropping a lightbulb on the ground

 

was the deer alright??

CF to me looks tacky i give it a 1yr 3 max (if they come out with The Faster and More furious) before this fad disappers and you get tired of it.

 

i dunno why i like it i hate ricers but its just somethin about the contrast and the blisters standing out.

 

Ricers say they won't paint carbon fiber because it adds weight.

I don't know if it's any lighter than Fiberglass but it is stronger. It also doesn't warp like Fiberglass can. But it costs more.

No way is it stronger than steel. But it is more rigid than steel. So when you impact it, if strong enough to break the stuff it would shatter.

You hit CF, Fiberglass or plastic hard enough and the stuff will crack. Then hit it harder and the stuff will shatter.

 

well in anycase, the weight thing makes sence on our cars..


ive always wondered why FWD people want to take weight off their drive wheels though?

 

lol no the deer wasnt alright, wasnt too pretty haha, the insurance put the car under totaled, but hittin a deer going around 70 in a eclipse is not too good lol

 

Yea me too also does aluminum spoiler in the back cause down force in the back wheels so you get better tractions but why do that on a FWD car

 

anyhoo... where can i get one and how much?


lol, hey, i figure, its lighter, and im going to paint the car anyhoo.... better to have CF then fiberglass... unless the price is insane... then i'll just spend the money elsewhere.

 

CF is rediculasly priced if you want the look only buy the decals thats way cheaper and riceer

 

Yes I have, I work with the stuff each and every day in the aerospace industry. The actual carbon fiber cloth is soft, so is fiberglass, it is the resins used in carbon fiber that make it rigid enough to cut you. I've seen first hand how it can slice a person and how it "explodes" on hard impact, it isn't a prety sight.

 

fiberglass shatters like "glass" so does carbon fiber

 

Okay, if you guys care, I work with carbon fiber in Navy for a living and I think I can shed light on some of these issues. First, carbon fiber can and is painted all the time. Carbon fiber structures are susceptible to UV light and will degrade over time and that's why it's painted (in addition to camoflage). The reason people don't paint it is because it looks cool. Second, in terms of strength, carbon fiber is superior to mild steel with respect to its strength to weight ratio. As for impact resistance and bending, carbon fiber sucks. It will shatter like wood does when you bend it. Lastly, carbon fiber is sharp when it's embedded into a matrix or binder such as epoxy resin. It can make for some nasty splinters. Trust me. I know. It is not sharp before it's been embedded into a matrix. It's good stuff, but it's expensive. The new Super Hornet is about 95% carbon fiber. If it's good enough for us...enough said.

 

thanx for clearin that up 89 and the super hornet is 1 bad *** jet ever got to ride in 1?

 

shatters like wood is a much better way to put that.... it doesnt explode, it breaks like wood..... hehe..

ive only messed with the raw stuff a few times, it must not have had anything else on it, because it wasnt sharp at all..

 

Yeah, the cloth alone isn't sharp at all. Where this stuff really gets dangerous is if it catches on fire.

 

is the resin flammable? toxic?

cause i know carbon doesnt burn..

 

ANYTHING will burn if it gets hot enough.

 

Ever seen an F-16 stabilator hit a raido tower? Carbon fiber stabilator go BOOM is a billion pieces....explodes. When carbon fiber is impacted in a collision the result is mare dramatic than wood splintering.

 

not really. how fast do those travel? fly some wood into a radio tower at that fast and i'm sure the wood would shatter as well.

 

Yes, it shatters on a hard impact. But in general there isn't much you can do to it to make it crack. Hell, CF bends real easilly and retains its shape. It doesn't dent like steel or break like fiberglass. I am pretty sure one of the reasons why its not painted because the paint would have to be very resistant to cracking. Carbon fiber flexes so much that it would very easily crack any ordinary paint.

 

how flexable CF is (like fiberglass ) probly has alot to do with what resin was used...

for example i have some random pieces that came off a indy car when it shattered off the wall... they flex a lil... meanwhile i have a piece i got from a friend and its hard as a rock.

 

It helps keep the back end behind the front wheels.

 

The reason carbon fiber structures are nasty when they burn is because small fibers are realeased into the air which are easily inhaled into your lungs. Once those fibers are in your lungs, they're not coming out. On another note, carbon fiber is not flexible unless it's only a few layers of cloth (2 or 3). Several layers of cloth layed up in different directions is extremely stiff. Also, carbon fiber will splinter like wood unless were talking about cars that travel at mach 1. We just had a plane crash where I work and it didn't disintegrate or anything...

 

i think these guys do custom c/f parts if you ask em real nice.

http://www.carbonfibrefx.com/

about the paint thing - i know high end supercars like the ferarri f50 have painted carbon fibre body panels... so i guess it'd be a matter of finding out what paint is used on em, and then finding some.

 

there is actualy a good reason. FWD cars are prone to lift off oversteer, you lift off the throttle mid corner, the weight goes to the front wheels, and the back end unloads and breaks loose, the wing helps keep it loaded.

Back to the subject in hand,

there are two main ways to laminate Carbon Fibre, Wet layup and pressure cured.

Wet layup is very similar to fibreglass - its laid up and air dried in exactly the same way, and has similar properties. Its generally done for cosmetic reasons, wet layup isnt that much lighter that fibreglass, and its quite flexable

Pressure cured -

This is the stuff F1 tubs (chassis) and aviation components are made from. It uses the same materials, but in different ways, the carbon weave is laid in a particular direction, according to where the strength is requierd, and it is cured under pressure and high temp in an Autoclave (basicly a large pressurised oven)

Pressure cured CF is unbelievebly rigid, incredibly light, and generally supremely strong.

All carbon fibre splinters badly though, remember this - it was a carbon fiber wishbone through the head that killed Ayrton Senna.

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me and who is Ayrton Senna?

 

prolly my bad spelling. one of the greatest formula 1 drivers ever.

 

i think thats spelled right..


just keep in mind, most americans dont watch any racing then NASCAR type stuff...

 

yea sorry i looked him up on google and i couldnt find anything in english about him

 

http://www.fibreglast.com/phpBB2/ind...0e340842924966

and if you use a Automotive clean to coat it and keep the c/f look you will be fine. Most good clears have uv protectant.

 

the 2004 zo6 special edition has a carbon fiber hood. they are durrable. as for cost, there was a company that was making custom hoods and hatches for my 84 supra, i think the standard hatch was like $480. the hood was around 690 or so, but that was with a specified cowl (you could spec a taller cowl).

i will eventually do it for my supra, but i dont know if i would do it on my dailly driver f body or not, and i would paint it, but with a special paint that has a certain transperancy so you could still tell that it was cf. the red on the 04 zo6 hood is semi transparent, so you can still see the cf, but the blue and white are solid color and looke like a real slick fiberglass.

thanks
anthony

 

I'm more interested in CF doors with electric windows (lexan or glass, up to you). When I end up getting the Evo II kit I was thinking about having a local CF fabricator make me doors like this (but I'll use real glass since it'll be a street car). I also thought a CF replica of the Evo II hood would be cool.