Switching to carbon fiber?

[Thyshallsmite]

Has anyone done a full replacement of doors, fenders, trunk and hood? is it worth the weight reduction? how much did you lose? Think about doing this to my Zl1 (when i get it) so i could keep my warranty, but not sure if it would even be worth it.

[orangejuice]

Jesus. I think I read somewhere that the carbon fiber hood is only 21 lbs lighter than the OEM hood, but not sure. But why would you buy a $60k car only to disassemble it?

[BowtieBelle]

Originally Posted by orangejuice

Jesus. I think I read somewhere that the carbon fiber hood is only 21 lbs lighter than the OEM hood, but not sure. But why would you buy a $60k car only to disassemble it?

Unless you're planning on racing competitively and have sponsors and a ton of money-- this just seems like a waste to me...

[orangejuice]

Originally Posted by BowtieBelle

Unless you're planning on racing competitively and have sponsors and a ton of money-- this just seems like a waste to me...

and not to mention destroy a perfect car

[kjkjr27]

Originally Posted by orangejuice

and not to mention destroy a perfect car

Haven't most of us already done that with our cars?

[Parag]

Actually most fiberglass and cf hood weigh more than tge stock hood. The stock hood weighs 21 lbs. Lol. The doors are hella expensive

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by Thyshallsmite

Has anyone done a full replacement of doors, fenders, trunk and hood? is it worth the weight reduction? how much did you lose? Think about doing this to my Zl1 (when i get it) so i could keep my warranty, but not sure if it would even be worth it.

I'd say you could lose about 150 ish pounds - maybe, and that's if the doors weigh as much as I think they do. But you're going to get reamed on the cost aspect. Seibon is the only company I know of that makes all of these items, and they're expensive.

hood - $1,000 ish depending which one you get *stock hood is aluminum so you won't actually save any weight here*
trunk - $750
doors (pair) - $2,400
fenders (pair) - $832

total - $4,983

And then you have to pay for paint and installation.

[Thyshallsmite]

Originally Posted by stieger

I'd say you could lose about 150 ish pounds - maybe, and that's if the doors weigh as much as I think they do. But you're going to get reamed on the cost aspect. Seibon is the only company I know of that makes all of these items, and they're expensive.

hood - $1,000 ish depending which one you get *stock hood is aluminum so you won't actually save any weight here*
trunk - $750
doors (pair) - $2,400
fenders (pair) - $832

total - $4,983

And then you have to pay for paint and installation.

Yeah saw the pricing, though only around 150 though? hmm was hoping for more esp in the doors.

Also destroying a car? hardly switching to CF on all major panels and having it painted you'd never be able to tell would just be lighter is all, though doesn't seem like much.

[orangejuice]

Originally Posted by kjkjr27

Haven't most of us already done that with our cars?

Lol very true. Good point.

[awfarley]

Originally Posted by stieger

I'd say you could lose about 150 ish pounds - maybe, and that's if the doors weigh as much as I think they do. But you're going to get reamed on the cost aspect. Seibon is the only company I know of that makes all of these items, and they're expensive.

hood - $1,000 ish depending which one you get *stock hood is aluminum so you won't actually save any weight here*
trunk - $750
doors (pair) - $2,400
fenders (pair) - $832

total - $4,983

And then you have to pay for paint and installation.

This pretty much sums it up. Not worth it unless you have serious money to blow. I have to say it would look sick though

[Butcher]

Originally Posted by Thyshallsmite

Yeah saw the pricing, though only around 150 though? hmm was hoping for more esp in the doors.

Also destroying a car? hardly switching to CF on all major panels and having it painted you'd never be able to tell would just be lighter is all, though doesn't seem like much.

You could save a lot more weight, but you would have to give up a lot. For instance, you could probably put carbon fiber doors on your car that weigh less than 20 pounds each. However, the windows wouldn't roll down, you wouldn't be able to lock the doors, and they wouldn't seal very well with the rest of the body. There would be a lot of wind noise while driving ands you wouldn't be able to drive in the rain. Hell, you wouldn't be able to wash the car with a hose. Then there is the problem with the paint. If you want to save as much weight as possible, you would put a thin coat of primer on, and then the final color. after a day or two in the sun, the paint would shrink and the carbon fiber weave will start to show thru. That is kinda cool on a race car, not so much on a street car.

Those carbon peices are a lot of money. I'm not sure the performance gain would be worth the money spent.

[nhbouncer]

if you are going to spend 5K on parts and then another 5K on labor and paint I bet you could spend that 10K and get more power and handling performance out of the car with other mods that will far exceed the benefit of being a 150-200lbs lighter. just my 2 cents.

[White Shark]

I agree, I love the carbon fiber idea because my son is used car mgr at a chevy delarship and they had a hail storm and all the vett's had no damage and every Camaro got pounded, but if I had 10K to spend it would be on supercharger!!!