Carbon fiber trunklid: nice or nasty?

[TurboLevin2NV]

I for one, love the look of CF trunklids. On SOME cars, anyway. It looks good on cars like the Lancer Evo, or The STi. Post your thoughts here about it.

 

[pimp racer]

I think it looks UGLY AS HELL IF THE CAR COLOR IS ANY THING ELSE BUT BLACK because if its black you wont notice it.

 

[emad]

I really only like the look of it if it's done on a dark colored car. When I see CF on a cyan car, i just feel like throwing up.

So long as the cf hood was put there for a functional purpose (reducing the weight of the car), then it really doesn't matter what car it's on I guess...

 

[Omnis]

i have a carbon fiber keychain thingy....i think that saves some weight!

no, but, carbon fiber looks cool, as said, with the right application to the right color, etc.

 

[donbenni]

There's a wack-ed Subaru race car that has a CF boot lid. It's black, white and red painted. Looks nice there.

I've seen a few modified cars where they have CF bonnets, roofs and boot lids and that looks pretty sweet. The black CF runs all the way along the top from front to back. I like it anyway.

 

[Ottoman]

If u're gonna get CF paint it the same color as the car..

otherwise u're trying to be ricey and show off

and the weight saving of a CF hood vs the stock aluminum one is like a WHOLE 15-20lbs on your average say civic... trunk another 10-15... big deallll


u wanna save weight? make the car tube Chasis

 

[VIPFREAK]

Pretty pointless if you ask me... unless your racing and need to cut weight.

 

[Klostrophobic]

They look pretty good, but they're useless.

How much weight can you possibly save?

 

[VIPFREAK]

Eh... a couple of ounces? you know what they say about a couple of ounces right? ah screw it... I got nothin...

 

[Victor Vance]

If you already got a cf hood then why not? I just saw an 11 second integra (not street legal) with cf hood and trunklid, it was nice 👍

However, the school-bus yellow it was painted was not nice 👎

 

[TheCracker]

CF hoods can save weight on a car, i think the reason they are black comes from Fords old trick that they used on their competition cars in the 60's which was to avoid sun light reflections from the bonnet/hood into the drivers eyes by painting them matt black. The early GT40's and rallying Lotus Cortinas used them, i think some of the Trans-Am Mustangs utilised this trick as well.

 

[DQuaN]

Nasty

And I think they are black because that is the colour of carbon fibre!

 

[Ottoman]

Nasty

And I think they are black because that is the colour of carbon fibre!

Exactly.. un painted Carbon fiber looks black cause it's made of black fiberous material...

 

[JohnBM01]

You know, I'm going to go a different way on this. I never really understood the carbon-fiber hood deal. You know, keep a car in stock colors, and just add a carbon fiber hood. I guess it's just a style trend. I think if you want to make a different look, just get a black car and slap on the hood. If the car color is close to the CF hood, then who will know that you have one slapped onto the car?

That brings me to the carbon fiber... trunk. Or as Europeans call them (or just British?), the boot. An example in gaming is Past 12 O' Clock Cinderella's Mazda RX-8 in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3. I talked about this car several times before, but this time, it's an example with CF. You see, I guess it's about lightening the rear of the car, which is perhaps the same reason you'll see the usual CF rear wing. And so... sorry about that. Just looking at this hot "chica" on this telenovela (undisclosed name). Anyhow, I guess people use that as a styling touch, not so much performance. Say what you want about carbon fiber and the tuners/modders that go about this, but if it's stylish to them, I have no problem. I don't think it's too bad. Just depends on the tastes of the person who modified the car.

So there you have it, TurboLevin. By the way, nice vectored car, Donbenni.

 

[TurboLevin2NV]

Sigh* you guys have your opinions, I respect that, but I have to disagree. Yes, I KNOW it sometimes is used as style points rather than for performance. But the next time you think, "oh, how much weight could that even SAVE me?" Well, look at the performance cars out there. If the manufacturers kept thinking the same thing, we'd never have beauties like the 360 Challenge Stradale, or the Nissan 350Z. The carbon trunklid is something fresh to me, and I like how it looks. And NO, not all people that don't get their CF painted are show-offs. Some don't bother to paint it because a) it saves money b) saves a pound or two. And little things add up. Take something simple, like a Nissan 1991 Sentra. Lame, right? If you're not going for looks, Carbon fiber parts can save you almost 30-40 lbs. Combine that with something like takin the rear seat out and voila: instant 150 lb. reduction. That turns into: better gas mileage, better accel, better power/weight ratio.

True, something like that is reserved for the hardcore, but I wouldn't mind putting one on my car. It looks, good, saves weight, and IMO is the better choice.

 

[Klostrophobic]

There is no doubt that carbon fiber parts save weight. But how much does the average trunk weigh, and how much does a replacement trunk weigh?

The weight difference is most likely negligible.

And paint does not weigh a pound or two.

 

[the_undrtaker89]

I think it looks really good on s2000. Maybe its just because gt3's mugen s2000

 

[I6-4-eva]

Carbon Fiber = 👍 plus it looks good.

SCC's project Civic EG shaved off 20ish-lbs with a Benen CF hood(9lbs) OEM hood was 30lbs+.

 

[Goomba]

I was thinking about getting one for my car because I'm a goddamn show off. I want it so I can get rid of this stupid dealership emblem that is riveted on there, and to lose the spoiler.

 

[JohnBM01]

I know I don't have any realistic examples, but when I played "Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3" and tuned parts of my car with carbon fiber, weight (in kilograms) drastically reduced. But when you add paint to a car, the car becomes slightly heavier. If you can measure one pound or one kilogram, usually one lb or kg is very, very light. So some things can perhaps be so light that it can generate at least one pound. I don't know how that translate to... paint on a car, but it's probably heavier than not applying paint to a carbon fiber car body part. And I know about carbon fiber, having read a little bit about it.

One of the latest cars to come out will likely get such treatment. Hear of the Scion tC? Yeah, the company where many dislike the Xa and Xb (I like the Xb better of the two). The Scion tC needs all the weight lightening it can get, plus a little more power. Did you know the tC weighs in at around 2900 lbs and change? I'm sure you'd want to beef up the motor, lighten the body, then hit the track and [attempt] to PWN the competition. I'm just wating to see who'll bring in a Scion tC into Speed Touring Car. The racing model will need to ditch the moonroofs and just make the top all hard-body. If you want to make it serious, I'm predicting that a great collection of tuning will lighten the car to be as light as the Scion Xb (2400-something), pack more than 350 but no more than 450, and will basically be damn near as dominant as the Alfa Romeo touring cars I've heard of in FIA Touring Car (if there's a such thing). I hope Scion can make a TRD-tuned version of the tC so that it can have as much horsepower as the Honda S2000 with a lighter engine, a semi-racing exhaust, and lighter bodywork.

Holy cow! Lot of Japanese cars for one day! And I almost entirely went off-topic. Well, carbon fiber is for performance, even if your car has as much horsepower as a Honda Beat or Subaru 360. And love or loathe them, the tuners who use them want to perform.