Carbon fibre body panels and bonnets - Free Guides

One of the hottest looks actually improves the performance of your car. Carbon fibre body panels are becoming popular. Carbon fibre is a weave of carbon fibres to construct a flexible but light and very strong material that is stronger than steel.

Carbon fibre is now a very expensive product due to the demand. Many companies are now offering budget carbon fibre panel and carbon fibre bonnets.

One of the easiest panels to fit is a new carbon fibre bonnet. They come tailor made for you car with predrilled holes for the hinges, catches and windscreen washer jets. If you need to drill carbon fibre yourself you should cover it with tape and drill from the top down to avoid splintering, some people place a block of wood underneath but with a high speed drill setting this is not always necessary.When drilling carbon fibre panels be very cautious - check and recheck your measurements and use large sheets of paper as a pattern to double check.

You get what you pay for so don't expect a cheap carbon fibre panel to be perfect.

Before you fit any carbon fibre panel you should check it carefully for imperfections. Then after removing the old panel lay the new one in its place and check that the holes and hinges align perfectly. Sometimes bubbles appear in the resin layer and discoloration can also appear in patches. Generally you get what you pay for and many cheaply made carbon fibre panels have a large number of defects. There is no reason why you cannot paint a carbon fibre panel and just fit it for the extra strength and light weight properties but most people prefer to show off the carbon fibre weave pattern. Carbon fibre wings are the next easiest to fit and are often a bolt off and bolt on the new panel proposition. Expect to have to remove the front bumper also in most cases as the wings come off easier.

Carbon fibre bonnets are substantially lighter and can sometime flex at speed as the air gets underneath them so fitting motorsport style fasteners either side of the bonnet will help fix this and allow you to remove the bonnet release catch at the front freeing up a little extra space for air flow into the engine bay.

Carbon fibre body kits are rare but certainly gaining popularity. Wide body kits seem to be the best proposition and again the carbon fibre is rarely painted and left for all to admire but this makes it vital that they are fitted correctly as you can cover up gaps and imperfections with filler and paint over it when you are fitting a body coloured kit.

Companies such as Audi are fitting carbon fibre look strips inside the dashboard and a number of aftermarket options are now available including carbon fibre look dash stickers (also in wood and a number of other finishes) which go round the air vents and center console. If you want a carbon fibre look inside the car get a complete kit from one manufacturer so the parts blend together nicely and remember that sometimes less is more.

Carbon fibre stickers look good from a distance but close up they will always look cheap and tacky so they are best avoided. We expect to see some exciting developments soon in carbon fibre wheels replacing the alloy as the light weight option.

Alloy wheels - pure styling with a little function

Probably one of the most common styling modifications performed today.

Alloy wheels come in a wide variety of sizes shapes and colours. Generally the larger the wheel and the lower profile the tyre the nicer it looks.

There are practical limits though as large wheels will adversely affect handling and can even rub on the wheel arches on full lock. For more information on the practical side of fitting alloy wheels have a look at the alloy wheel article in tuning.

This article is purely discussing the asthetics of adding an alloy wheel to your car. Cars have different numbers of nuts on their hubs, the distance and size of these nuts also varies and the amount of internal space in the wheel for brake disks also comes into play.

Choose carefully, you will need to know the PCD and offset and bore measurements of your standard wheels and ensure that your new ones are within this tolerance.

Complicated wheel patterns can make cleaning a real problem and brake dust does tend to cause pitting especially on rough textured alloy wheels.

Mating a new alloy to low brake dust pads will help to reduce this problem.

Spinners add another layer of complexity to cleaning as well but make an interesting effect spinning at a different rate to the rest of the wheel.

When you get the wheels fitted ask for the balancing weights to be fitted to the inside as these can look really unsightly.

Many alloy wheels allow a better view of the brake disk and calipers so ensure that these are in good condition perhaps using a little caliper paint as well.

Chrome alloys look really good against dark paintwork (VIP style) but remember that most wheels can be painted and this opens a wide selection of possible looks.

Spray them dark for a sleeper look. When alloys get kerbed they can look really unsightly so a good choice of tyre would include a wide wall to help avoid these scrapes. Bear this in mind when choosing an alloy wheel as some designs stick out so much they are just asking for kerbing.

Spacers inside the wheel against the hub will make the tyres line up with the edge of the arches and this widening of the footprint can improve the handling of the car. Split rims are two parts which have multiple bolts connecting them together and this can also make the wheel fill the arch and allow a much wider tyre to be used.

Remember that if the wheel is much wider or bigger than standard you will need to get the suspension realigned and set up otherwise you can compromise your handling and safety.

Dashboard Styling - Adding a dash of style

Never overlook the interior of the car. You will spend much time looking at the dashboard of the car and you certainly don't have to stick with the standard plastic, and dials that come with the car. Often people concentrate on what others see outside the car but this often generates an anticlimax when looking inside the car. All the interior surfaces can be recovered. Leather is a popular option, but many new fabrics are available with soft finishes, even fur is available as well if you are brave!

(Please leave the faux fur alone as this look went out about 30 years ago!) Sit down and carefully plan your interior - take a look at show cars to get some ideas and see what is possible.

Keep the overall theme of the car - the interior should match the exterior theme. A motorsport style exterior would not go very well with a luxury interior and the converse is also true, a motorsport interior would look out of place on a luxury car.

A wide variety of gauge styles are available from chrome and polished housing to carbon fibre and even complete digital dashboards which look fantastic at night look the business. Even aircraft style heads up displays projected onto the windscreen are possible.

Adding dials and gauges can actually add function as well as form, allowing you to monitor engine oil pressure, temperature, boost, economy, voltages etc... Be sure to only add the dials you will use - less is definitely more otherwise your interior will end up looking like the inside of a 1980's space ship in a B grade movie.

Complement the dashboard dials and plastic makeover with a new sporty steering wheel, gear knob and pedals. Drilled aluminium pedals go with most car interiors but again all types are available and choosing pedals with a wider footprint opens up the possibility of heel and toe gear changes to most car types (and foot sizes).

The standard dials can usually be replaced easily by removing the instrument panel and overlaying a pre-printed panel. White backgrounds are popular and these have the added advantage of being easily seen at night.

Strangely when the dash illumination turns on at night the numbers will glow and the white background will go dark, at least that was the effect in my Corolla. Companies sell complete instrument binnacles, or kits to convert the standard one. Most will require some disassembly of the dashboard to install.

Seats come in all shapes and sizes. Beware of light colours as these can be very difficult to keep clean (although they do look fantastic. It is beneficial to choose similar colours and materials to the other surfaces in your car so bear this in mind when planning the car interior. Retro looks tend to last much longer than modern quirky looks but will not be as revolutionary.