Lee Willis
Posts: 1991
Joined: 7/27/2005
Status: offline
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My own opinions/perspective on carbon fiber are:
1) It''s not pretty and makes no sense as trim: people use it for the high tech look but to me it looks like grey-laquered burlap.
2) There isn''t a lot of weight to be saved with carbon fiber body pieces compared to cheaper options
-stock (steel) hood for a Camaro 56 lbs including hinges, etc.
- aluminum hood for the same car 38 lbs "
- fiberglass hood (with ram air box) -16lbs "
- carbon fiber hood (no ram air) - 11lbs "
The real bargain here is the fiberglass which cuts 39 lbs, the carbon fiber cuts only another 5 lbs.
3) Carbon fiber makes incredible sense when you use its strength it has phenonmenal tensile strength, so in racing bicycle spokes, etc., you use both its strength and light weight. In a car, building the basic frame, or "tub" from CF makes good sense, but you have to design the car from scratch to utilize CF''s unique material qualities: if you took a standard ''vette frame and structure and just converted it to CF, you would have a very light car but also one that felt like it was made of rubber - very flexible. You''d have to redesign that basic structure with boxes and braces for strength. You could end up with a very strong, very lightweight structure, cutting maybe 100 - 200 lbs, but only if you start with a fresh design.
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2007 Aston Martin Vantage Prodrive
Lincoln MKZ "Grandfather car"
''98 Z28 with iron LS 408, NOS, tricks, street driven mid 9s (sold to my youngest son for $1, Aug 28, ''07)
''02 SCd 427 cid ZO6, 704 RWHP, sold Aug. 28, ''07
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RE: Carbon Fiber - 
