Carbon fiber wraps..

[H311RA151N]

If people think using wrap is cheap they why is it the new fad with supercar owners? I guess it's because after spending a couple hundred grand on the car they can't afford to change the color. Or maybe because it looks awesome and is a bit cheaper than a paint job. You can also get colors and designs that would be extremely expensive with paint.

With supercar owners I imagine they do it to help keep the resale value being as its only temporary and can be taken off without any negative effects. Also they can change it quickly and easily. Rich people get bored easily. I dont think it has anything to do with the price. And the quality stuff they use Im sure is alot better than what you get at Pep Boys.

I stated earlier in the thread that I wrapped my old RX7. That’s not cheap at all to me. I mean, it’s cheaper than painting but it’s a very neat and different idea.

You also get looks that you simply can’t get or it’s very hard to get with paint.

But wrapping your hood in CF wrap to make it look like real CF in most instances is lame IMO. I prefer the real deal and not a knock off. But that’s just me.

Its like puting a Type R emblem on your car. Someone comes up and says "is that a type R?" You can either lie and say yes or you have to say "No its not, Its just the emblem". Same thing with a CF wrapped hood.

Years ago there was an S2000 in Superstreet that had an entire carbon fiber body. I would take that over a CF wrapped S2000 any day. The price would be insane but it would also truly be what it looked like and not an imitation.

Its like a real rose and a imitation rose. You simply cant get all the effects of a real rose with a fake one. But, like carbon fiber hoods, the imitation can and most likely will last longer unless the proper attention is applied to the real one.

[Amiss]

My friend just got his e30 done.

[Domesticated]

My car needs a repaint. Mostly the hood, roof, and trunk. I thought about wrapping the hood just to get by as the rest of the paint when looking at the car is good. I wrapped my visors in 3M and they look amazing. Way better than the clear black. I want to wrap the whole car in satin pearl white. I saw a Cayenne Turbo with it. Black wheels, black windows. Looks incredible with it. I think it's about 500 for enough to do the car. I know guys are paying close to 3k to have their high end cars wrapped.

I'm totally down for anything anyone does to their car as long as it's done right. Whether it be parts or paint. You ever see that guy who uses a roller to paint cars? Looks pretty good.

[H311RA151N]

That BMW looks good!

Did he do that his self? If not how much did the labor cost?

When I did my RX7 it cost me about $350. And I did it myself. I doubt Id take the three days it took to do it again though.

[Amiss]

That BMW looks good!

Did he do that his self? If not how much did the labor cost?

When I did my RX7 it cost me about $350. And I did it myself. I doubt Id take the three days it took to do it again though.

No he had a shop do it, with body work it came out to $1,200 something. Doing it yourself is definitely more cost effective but I prefer a shop doing it unless it's something simple with not too many curves and stuff like a hood or trunk. These guys are faster and they're used to doing it so they're pretty good at it

[H311RA151N]

What kind of shop will do it?

[Amiss]

What kind of shop will do it?

Vinyl wraps? There are tons of shops that are either strictly car wrapping shops, that do body work and sometimes other misc things as well, or there are graphics design/advertising that print all kinds of advertising and signs and stuff and also wraps company trucks like this:

[JonnyD]

Saw this DIY on wraps and I don't like corvettes or full matte paint jobs but looks like he did an amazing job

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ajor-pics.html

I have to say this is pretty tempting to try

[Soufkackicustom]

Totally not true deeve. The carbon hoods are way lighter than oem and when I installed mine I instantly felt greater acceleration with casual driving. That means less strain on my motor and more miles per tank.

To the OP, buying a legit 3m carbon wrap for your hood or trunk is gonna run around 100 for a sheet large enough, and unless your paint is jacked up on your hood then you are really just going for looks. That 100$ could be best spend investing in a hood or a trunk that will slowly but eventually pay for itself in gas and motor maintenance.

You felt and noticed a diffrence in your car by swapping the stock hood for a cf one???? Iam have to throw up the bs flag on this one....the stock hood isn't that heavy...your not going to fell 10 lbs.....hell that's a good fart...I'll just eat beans all the time...then I'll have a racecar

[Madpol]

what do you guys think about the differnet wraps they have out know. I know to buy a real carbon fiber hood will run you 300 plus but some guys out here were i live are just getting the hood top and trunks wrapped. looks pretty good to me specially if your hood and top is peeling kinda cleans it up a little bit.. what is you opinions on this Ya or Na

i recommend doing a cf wrap if you dont have the coin for the real thing. this is mine. i get people asking if its real or not so it must be close to the real thing..


a full wrap could cost you around 2-3k plus and it is not an easy job to do unless you have the skills so i would not recommend a beginner wrapping a vehicle on their own.
the life of good CF vinyl is about 3 years.
there is different composition you can get aswell. Calendared is a still vinyl and does not form around bends or curves very well where as conformable vinyl is the sort you need for bumpers and side mirrors etc. i got calendered as i only used it on my hood and trunk and it was a bit cheeper.
i would not buy from ebay as they usually dont state what sort it is. i would guess its the calendered type as its so cheep. go to a sign writer supplies shop. they come in standard widths of 1220mm and around 1500mm and usually they sell in lengths of 1m. so you need to break out the tape measure and make sure you have about a 200mm extra on what you have measured to allow for "just in cases".
i used to be a sign applicator and did my own trunk and boot so if you have questions hit me up.
i payed about $35 NZD per meter for mine. the real good stuff can run into the hundreds of dollars per meter.

as for the guy who said they notised a huge difference with the real CF hood in acceleration i think your a bit dreaming sorry to say...yeah a CF hood is a lot lighter but wouldnt make a massive change like that....its like people who have there exhausts done and drive it for the first time and keep going on about how fast it is now...its a state of mind.

[xkjnboix]

You felt and noticed a diffrence in your car by swapping the stock hood for a cf one???? Iam have to throw up the bs flag on this one....the stock hood isn't that heavy...your not going to fell 10 lbs.....hell that's a good fart...I'll just eat beans all the time...then I'll have a racecar

If you cant afford CF then unbolt your trunk and throw it off your car and drive. Should feel a difference =D. Maybe if you drive multiple cars or dont have a strong attachment to your cb as a DD you wont feel it, but I felt immediate changes in many modifications ive done over the decade of ownership. Ie. Front upper and rear upper strutbars, energy suspension master kit, vigor rear sway bar, short ram to cold air intake, rice fart pipe back to oem exhaust, open headers to oem exhaust, and yes of course acceleration with cf hood over oem.

If you own a car 9 years and DD it you get used to it. I feel alot safer in my cb than newer other luxury cars.

[Amiss]

If you cant afford CF then unbolt your trunk and throw it off your car and drive. Should feel a difference =D. Maybe if you drive multiple cars or dont have a strong attachment to your cb as a DD you wont feel it, but I felt immediate changes in many modifications ive done over the decade of ownership. Ie. Front upper and rear upper strutbars, energy suspension master kit, vigor rear sway bar, short ram to cold air intake, rice fart pipe back to oem exhaust, open headers to oem exhaust, and yes of course acceleration with cf hood over oem.

If you own a car 9 years and DD it you get used to it. I feel alot safer in my cb than newer other luxury cars.

Suspension is different from weight saving mods, your body weight can vary between 2-10lbs every day depending on what you ate, when the last time you used the restroom was, when you last worked out, how much you've had to drink, etc. So you're telling me you can feel that difference?

That's like a backpack with books and shit in it weight difference

[xkjnboix]

weight is weight. even if YOU cant tell the difference, your motor/car CAN. Hell, take off your door pannels and top half of the rear seat and take a cruise or better yet drive around on a whole tank of gas. I bet you get better MPG. Even though its a small change, it is still a change in the right direction regardless if you notice or not.

I used to ride around without a passenger seat. Why? Exactly... why have it if there is a perfectly fine rear seat. Why lug all the extra crap around when its only me in the car.


Edit:
VVVV @domesticated Once again, that is completely subjective. Even if you cant feel it then your car can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5lHdZ8gF6E

[Domesticated]

My old Neon was completely gutted. Only had a nitrous tank, drivers seat, steering wheel, and cluster. I can honestly tell you that swapping hoods you won't notice anything.

[8ball]

Honestly, installing a full carbon fiber hood (that usually doesn't even fit well) when the weight savings isn't needed (as in, it's not a race car) isn't really any worse.
If all you're going for is the look, then wrapping a part is barely different than using a real CF part... and it'll fit better, and likely last longer.

There are cars on the market now that come from the factory with "carbon fiber trim". I bet many of them aren't actually carbon fiber at all.



The only problem I see with a wrap is when people claim it's real. Because that's just idiotic. Own what you have.











There was a time when I'd have criticized such a thing. A time when I'd make fun of someone for running cheap wheels instead of expensive forged pieces. A time when anything but "the real deal" was shameful. Then I realized that it's not about how many genuine parts you can slam on a car... parts that you'll probably never use for the purpose they were designed or... but how well you can make it all work together for your own purposes. If your car is a daily driver, and won't be seeing any race duty... why spend money on race parts? If your car is basically stock, and you want to autocross it... why take the hit on points by installing a real CF hood or trunk lid? The slight weight savings won't make up for that loss in points!

I thought about just vinyl wrapping my CF hood that I got for a steal cause it is ugly and I probably need hood pins any way.